Pray Play

PrayTOPlayChristian coaches and chaplains are convertingfootball fields into mission fields“If somebody comes into my territory, my zone, I want to hit him hard.… I’ll hit him with all the love of Jesus I can muster.”Gill Byrd, San Jose State, San Diego Chargers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1991) 1“God does not give a damn what goes on in athletics. Nor should he.”Bob Knight, Indiana University basketball coach (1985) 2Public universities and their employees cannot endorse,promote, or favor religion. Yet, many football coaches at publicuniversities bring in chaplains—often from their own church oreven members of their own family—to prey on and pray withstudents, with no regard for the rights of those students or theConstitution. These coaches are converting playing fields intomission fields and public universities are doing nothing to haltthis breach of trust. They are failing their student athletes.The purpose of this report is to expose this unconstitutionalsystem, encourage universities to fix it, and stimulatefurther efforts to protect students’ rights of conscience.The facts laid out in this report, often inthe words of the coaches or chaplainsthemselves, leave universities noroom to defend these chaplaincies asaccommodations of student athletes’religion or as truly voluntary options.Nor can religion, historically a divisive force, be claimedto unify today’s diverse student body. Barely half of collegestudents (54%) now consider themselves Christian, yet100% of the chaplains we investigated are Christian.If an athlete is willing tochallenge this system, FFRFwill help.Though this report focuses on chaplaincies for football teams,they exist for other collegiate sports as well, particularlybasketball. The chaplaincies vary in structure, but arefunctionally identical. Chaplains lead teams in bible study,chapel services, and pre-and post-game prayers. Chaplainsreceive money, tickets, meals, and free travel on theuniversity’s, or more accurately, the students’ and taxpayers’dime. Occasionally, so do the chaplains’ wives. Coachesregularly fundraise for the chaplain, using their influenceand position to direct funds to religious organizationsrather than the school or athletic program. At least onechaplain appears to preach creationism to his athletes.These chaplaincies raise serious legalissues for the university, and the coercivenature of the coach-athlete relationshipexacerbates those issues. Coaches controlmany aspects of their players lives and arenow extending that reach to athletes’ private religious beliefs.An atheist football player on a ranked football team, speakingto us on condition of anonymity, told us that the head coachhad him lead a team prayer. The player felt he had no choicebut to comply. Coach suggestions, even if they violate the3 Pray to Play Freedom From Religion Foundation