Coaching With Care - Chad Prewett

00:01 - Speaker 1 What God taught me as I'm trying to teach them. What God taught me was I want them to be tough, but I also want you to make sure that they know you care about them, and so you can coach them as hard as you love them. And so if you love them hard, you can coach them hard, and so it really changed me between coaching girls basketball and having my own girls at home. It helped me understand that if I can make them understand that I love them as human beings not just what they can do on the basketball court that they're going to give me way more on the court than I can ever ask for. Hi, this is Chad Pruitt. I am a basketball coach here at Auburn University. I'm married to my wife Tanya three beautiful girls. We are also involved in the Unite Us ministry, and this is my Faithly story. 00:46 - Speaker 2 Welcome to Faithly Stories, the podcast that brings you inspiring tales from conversations with church leaders as they navigate the peaks and valleys of their faith journeys through their ministry work and everyday life. Join us as we delve into their challenges, moments of encouragement and answered prayers. The Faithly Stories podcast is brought to you by Faithly, an online community committed to empowering church leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers. Learn more at faithlyco. Get ready to be uplifted and inspired as we unveil the heart of faith through stories from the front lines of ministry. On the Faithly Stories Podcast. 01:28 - Speaker 3 Could you tell me how your faith journey started? 01:31 - Speaker 1 Yeah, great opening question here. You know, I was lost, like we all were at one point in our life. And I'm 18 years old and got invited to church from a little girl that I had been checking out for a few weeks. And she invites me to church from a little girl that I had been checking out for a few weeks. And she invites me to church. And it was actually a Christian concert called David and the Giants music concert. And so at the end of the and I'm lost, as you can be, I'm involved in everything that I should not be involved in. And at the end of that service he asked for anybody who didn't know Christ didn't want to miss heaven. I just remember, not even knowing why I did, I just shot my hand up and said that's me and I went forward. That was in 1990. Tanya and I later became married. That was a time where I literally people talk about repentance as you go in one way and literally turn around and go in the opposite way. That's what happened that night, october the 1890. 02:25 - Speaker 3 Did you grow up in a family that believed? 02:29 - Speaker 1 So, yeah, so our family was one that went to church almost every Sunday and we were in different denominations at times, but just never had a personal relationship with Jesus and so never knew that my life, it mattered, how I lived, and so when I think back to those times, yeah, I had a foundation of who God was, but I didn't have any personal relationship with Jesus. 02:49 - Speaker 3 The reason why I ask is because throughout all these podcasts, there's always like a seed that God plants in our early years. I realize, even if we don't realize it, and I see that that seed is the urging of like the way I'm living isn't the way I'm supposed to live. So for you, like what was going on, that you felt really lost. 03:06 - Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean I was involved in drugs and alcohol and, you know, in really, really, really heavy way. You know there had been a few warning signs leading up to that time where I think God was trying to get my attention. But that night he just called. He called my name. I tell people all the time he called my name. At the end of the service the guy sings a song about Noah and you could actually hear him building the ark in the background. You could hear rain start and then the door shut. You know the door shut and nobody else could get on and the guy basically says don't miss it, don't miss it. I remember that just gripping my heart and it's like God, I haven't known you the way that I need to know you, but I know I want to live with you forever. And so that night God called my name and unashamedly I stood up and probably surprised everybody in that building that I stood up and gave my life to Christ. That night. 03:58 - Speaker 3 Do you feel like you were seeking something in the drugs and alcohol? Cause, like my own experiences, was anytime like I seeking something in the drugs and alcohol. Because, like my own experiences was anytime like I like, anytime I like made substances like a thing in my life. I realized I was coping with the pain that I wasn't dealing with from a childhood. So for you, like, was the drugs and alcohol providing something for you? 04:17 - Speaker 1 Yeah, you know I grew up without a father in my house. My father left when I was just a young child and never really knew him, and so when I think back during that time really just trying to find myself especially from age 12 to 18, just looking for acceptance and really anything that I could fill that void with Basketball was a huge part of it, but also substance abuse became kind of part of who I was. 04:42 - Speaker 3 So you have this experience. Were you like a super apostle or like how did the transition and progression go for your faith? 04:50 - Speaker 1 Yeah, well, it was interesting because you know the town was probably eight or ten thousand, you know. So I was kind of known as the party animal of the town. So when that happened, everybody's like what in the world is going on? That Chad Pruitt gave his life to Christ, and so it gave me an opportunity to literally use my witness and my testimony. And I always tell people say, look, I don't know what God has done for you, I don't know what you think of God, but let me tell you what he did in my life. And what he did in my life is to set me free from drugs and alcohol, but also gave me a purpose almost immediately. 05:24 Later that year or the next year, my wife, we got married. The first year of college I played basketball, she was a cheerleader and we literally just jumped in with both feet in discipleship and learning everything we possibly could about God and our relationship with God. And God put his hand upon both of us and called both of us, and we didn't know what that meant for a long time. But he put his hand upon us and said I'm going to use you, and he definitely has. 05:48 - Speaker 3 Did you find a church that helped you with the discipleship or who helped disciple you? 05:52 - Speaker 1 Yeah. So there was a really strong church in our small community and the pastor of the church, don Davis, just really took me under his wing and mentored me, showed me what a man was supposed to be like, showed us how to have a godly marriage, even as young as a young married couple, and again allowed us to get involved and plugged into discipleship and understanding more of who God was. And you know, I look back during that time and the reason I am who I am and what God has done in my life, the reason I am who I am and what God has done in my life. I point back to that pastor who took time to mentor me and to spend time with me and to show me what a real father looks like. 06:31 - Speaker 3 So one thing I didn't realize about coaching because once I started watching Hard Knocks they show you the behind the scenes I didn't realize it was so much about like motivation and just like keeping guys focused, but also just like helping them grow up. You know, as men and for you dealing with young men, how did your early years experiences have the mindset of mentoring young people? 06:52 - Speaker 1 When I you know, I'm 52 now. So when I look back at it, I'm like God, you had this all along. You knew exactly what you were doing. So everything. There's always purpose in the pain if you give it to God. 07:02 And so when I look back and I think about the times where I was lonely or I was looking for something else that somebody else had in a father figure, I looked at what God was doing in my life and I looked at the things that I was missing, and even as a father and my wife as a mother, we wanted to make sure that we provided what we did not have, that we provided what we did not have. 07:24 And so it was awesome to see God really just himself became my Abba Father, my Abba Father, just to be able to call out to him and to know him in such a cool way. And so, when I look back, I coached high school basketball for 19 years. God immediately gave me a platform to be able to share to so many high school young men about the importance of relationship with their earthly father, but also their heavenly father, and then that obviously transitioned very well into college. I've been coaching college now for 11, this is my 11th year at Division I college basketball level, and I love to be able to sit down and talk about my relationship with God and my relationships with others and how important they are, and so mentoring young men has obviously been something that God has specifically called me to do. 08:10 - Speaker 3 What is it about basketball that like stuck with you, because I'm always interested at like why people choose the sports that they do. 08:17 - Speaker 1 Yeah, well, I was a pretty good basketball player back in the day and got a scholarship to play basketball. I thought at some point I might play professional basketball, whether it was in the NBA or overseas. I realized pretty quickly that I wasn't quite good enough for that, and so I immediately wanted to become a basketball coach, and so this has been something that I feel like God has called me to. It hasn't been something I just wanted to do. It was God prepared me for this moment to be a minister of the gospel, you know, in the workplace, in the sports world, and it's been really cool to see how God's used me in this area. 08:52 - Speaker 3 How are you able to do that? Because I know some people like I live in New York and so anytime you break up faith in like your workplace or school, there's just a hesitation, just because of the culture. But I don't know, like in the South or where you grew up, is that more like people are more receptive to it? 09:06 - Speaker 1 Yeah, absolutely. 09:07 I mean, I think you know, here at Auburn there is a very strong faith community and we don't apologize for our beliefs or in how much we believe that God should be a part of your life. 09:18 One of the things that we talk about in our program is we want to do the things that God will bless, and so we want to act a certain way. We want to present ourself a certain way. We want to represent the name on the front of the jersey, but also the name on the back of the jersey, your family name, and so how can we help them become better men? And we believe that's through the gospel, through God's word and we have a full-time chaplain here as well that we raise, support for and pours into our guys on a daily basis, and so that's the culture here. But I always say people don't always know God, like maybe myself or you do, and they wonder how can I know him? That's why the power of a testimony is so important, because you can never talk me out of what God did in my life, and so I love to share what God has done in my life personally with these young men, and so they can experience some of the same things. 10:12 - Speaker 3 What's the biggest difference between high school basketball and college basketball? 10:15 - Speaker 1 Wow. Well, I mean there's obviously some very clear differences in the talent. From a high school standpoint. You may have one great player. You know, at this level we've got many, many, many great players. 10:27 I think the pressure of this level is way, way different than it is at the high school level. 10:33 You know, at the high school level you're dealing with a lot of guys who are not going to do this for a living, you're not going to do this for a scholarship, but their enjoyment of the game. 10:42 I think you can probably make a bigger impact at the high school level, because I think young men are still trying to find themselves and you have a chance to kind of shape them, especially if you're able to pour in some godly principles into their life. At this level it gives you an opportunity, as they're trying to become men I mean, they're starting to make life decisions at the college level so it gives you an opportunity to share your experiences in that way as well. So those are some of the easy differences I can point out. Obviously, we're number two in the country right now, so you're talking about one of the best basketball programs in the country here at Auburn, and so you know what we've been able to use in our platform we've been able to use to talk about the goodness of God has also been a great, great benefit to be in here. 11:21 - Speaker 3 On a professional level. What are your thoughts on the NIL? 11:23 - Speaker 1 Well, I mean, I think it's easy to be really negative about it. I think some of the positives that we've seen is it's allowed these young men to be able to provide some for their family. You know, a lot of our guys now are giving a lot of that money back to their families back home, and I think that's something that obviously hasn't been able to be taking place over the last few years. In a negative sense, it's become a little bit more about money, which I don't like. It's not why we all got into the game, but it's something. I think that there's positives and negatives. What we're trying to do is to find the best thing that can as we continue to work through it, the best thing for our program and look as people across the country begin to talk back and forth on the good and the bad of it. I think what we've got to do is find a way for it to be positive. 12:09 - Speaker 3 What's interesting is, when the issue of NL came out, it hit me oh, as Christians, we also are in the name, image and likeness of Christ right, and so there are these parallels. I found about being an athlete and how you want to leverage that. 12:22 - Speaker 1 Yeah, I just love the platform that this level gives you. Social media immediately gives you an opportunity to talk about not just God, but it gives you an opportunity, because of so many people following your program, to tell them hey, man, I need God in my life and I think I want to share that as much as I possibly can with the people who follow me and know me. And it's something in our family. We call ourselves the Proo Crew. The Proo Crew, for years and years and years have tried to use our platform, regardless of where we are, regardless of who we're talking to, for the kingdom, and we want to continue that here at Auburn. 12:57 - Speaker 3 So what are your thoughts on the tension of the expectation to win and get results, but also to doing it the right way? And sometimes you know when you're having turnover with talent or not you're not going to have winning seasons. So, like, how do you balance that, especially at a place where you're expected to win? 13:13 - Speaker 1 Yeah, we always talk about playing for the audience of one. So, you know, at the end of the day, it's just about I'm playing for God and God. Only you know he has goals and we have goals and dreams, and we've given, we put more pressure on ourself than anybody externally can put on us. And so, you know, I tell people all the time I'm one of the most self-motivated people I know. Nobody has to push me to want to work harder or to spend more time, and so when I look at those people who struggle with those expectations, I think you've got to have something that brings you back to why you're here, and we're not here just to coach basketball. 13:51 We're here to make a difference, and God has given us the avenue of college basketball, but that's not why we're here, so allowing us to use those opportunities. Look, when we win, we give God glory and praise, and when we don't win, we give God glory and praise, and he's trying to teach us something through those losses. And so I think it's all about the way you view those expectations and look, it gets the most of all of us at times, I'll be honest, you know, because those expectations are real, those pressures are real, and when you don't perform like you want to perform or the fan base thinks you should perform, it can bother you, and so you have to learn when to tune out social media and when to tune out those voices in your head, just like we do in any profession. 14:33 - Speaker 3 But it's hard, you know, like when you're, like you said, like as a young person, trying to understand these things, it's helpful to have other people. So, for you, what advice would you give young men who feel like they don't have a mentor? 14:45 - Speaker 1 Yeah, well, first of all, I think you've got to seek out a mentor. I think there's some intentionality that has to take place on your side to make sure. When I look back at my walk with Christ, one of the most important things in my life have been mentors and accountability partners. And so you know, I need somebody that can ask me tough questions, I need somebody that holds me accountable. And look again, I'm 52. I've been serving God for many, many, many years, but at the same time, we all can slip and fail and do the things we shouldn't do if we don't have somebody in our life that will continue to push us toward Christ. And so when I talk to young people, I'm telling you look, find you a buddy, Find you somebody that's going to ask you the tough questions, who's going to lead you toward Christ, not pull you away from it. 15:27 - Speaker 3 What is United Ministry? 15:29 - Speaker 1 So it's called Unite Us. You away from it. What is United Ministry? So it's called Unite Us, and it is a ministry that where we take the, my wife and I take the gospel to college campuses across the country. A little over a year ago, god gives my wife a vision and it is thousands and thousands of people worshiping together in our basketball arena. So she comes to me and she tells me about this vision. She says I don't know what it means, but God showed me all these people worshiping together, these young people worshiping together in our arena, neville Arena, here at Auburn. And she says I really want to do an event. 16:04 September, the 23rd of September, the 12th of last year, 2023,. We have what we called Unite Auburn, and we didn't sell tickets. We had no idea how many people were coming. It was a free event. Well, almost 6,000 showed up and at the end of it, thousands and thousands of people gave their life to Christ and rededicated their life and got free from sin. And at the end of the event, a young lady comes up and says I want to get baptized. And so the speaker comes over and says well, what do we do? What do we do here? And so we ended up going to a local pond and baptizing for almost three hours and baptized 250, 300 young people that night. 16:46 Well, within 48 hours, god had spoke to my wife again about getting a team together and doing it quickly, and she said I don't know what that means. Well, within a week, we had 10 or 12 different universities reach out and say can you bring this to our campus? So last year, or this current year, 2024, we were on 11 different campuses across the country. We saw over 5,000 college students give their life to Christ. We baptized almost 2,000. We saw thousands and thousands get connected with the local church, and so we're just excited about what God's doing through Unite. We're getting ready for Unite and Unite Us events in 2025 with another probably 10 to 15 events, and so we believe in taking the gospel to places where other people are not. I'll be honest with you A lot of people are staying away from college campuses because of how liberal they are and how they're going further away from God. But what we're finding is there is a remnant. God has given a remnant of young people, believers on each campus that are standing boldly for Christ. 17:47 - Speaker 3 Yeah, it's amazing how like a small act of obedience like sparks this big thing. You know that God does, and I feel like a lot of times we feel like we need to do something for God, but God actually just invites us to do what he's doing right. 18:00 - Speaker 1 Yeah, no doubt you know. What's interesting is, you know God could have called anybody to this ministry. He ended up, you know, calling my wife, who you know, at 50-something years, 51 years old. When God called him she had been a former teacher and she was looking for a purpose and all of a sudden, god just says you know what? I got something for you. And he called her and called us to this ministry and it's been really, really good. It's not something we planned or sought out, it is literally a calling from on high. And so we just say, yes, lord. 18:28 - Speaker 3 Is there a website or where can people find more information? 18:31 - Speaker 1 yeah, unite us movementcom. Um is our website. Unite us, uh, on instagram, as well as twitter and all the social media there's. 18:39 - Speaker 3 there's tons of things out there about, about us, and we're just excited to see what god's gonna do in 2025 so, on the topic of social media, um, because, like a lot of young athletes, you grow up with it and so probably posting a lot of stuff, but, like, as a coach, is that a distraction or do you encourage it? Or like, how do you have that conversation with your athletes? 18:59 - Speaker 1 yeah, I mean, obviously it can be. It definitely can be a distraction, and when we think about you, know where we are at this level, with all the eyes looking at us across the nation, really across the world. It is something that we do, some social media education for our guys of when to be involved, when not to be involved, how to handle tough questions, et cetera. But I think you've got to be able to be able to turn that off when those negative thoughts are coming. But I'll be honest with you the positive thoughts can be just as damaging if you're not careful, if you start thinking more highly of yourself than you should be, and so we've seen that in all areas of our life. I think, personally as well as professionally, how important it is to have some control and some parameters around social media use. 19:43 - Speaker 3 So I have more of a personal question. So you said you had three girls, right? 19:46 - Speaker 1 Yes. 19:47 - Speaker 3 So like because I realized, like raising boys and girls are very different and in my mind I find it kind of funny that, like God put you in a sphere of all these young men, but at home you have all these ladies. So for you like like, what is that dynamic as a father to young ladies, but also as a coach to young men. 20:05 - Speaker 1 Well, it just proves God's got a sense of humor for sure. You know, I prayed for I prayed for boys the whole time. You know I was like God, give me, just give me, a boy. You know, I want a boy and I kept having girls, and so now they're 28, 25 and 22. And you know, I get a lot of questions asked to me all the time, like how did you raise three girls and how did you get them to follow God, and all those things. And it's interesting to me that he allowed me to coach high school girls basketball and to have three girls on my own, but then put me in the division one level with guys, and so it allowed me to learn more about females and how they are motivated. 20:48 I think you mentioned motivation earlier. We all have something in our life that wants to be pushed. We want to be pushed, we want to be motivated, we want to be more, we want to reach our potential. And so what I found early on is I treated my girls when I coached high school girls basketball just like I treated my guys. I treat them as athletes. Now you may have to word it a little bit differently with the females, because they're a little bit more sensitive, you know. But I think for the most part I try to treat them the same way and I push them and I think if you look back or you were to ask some of the former females that played for me, they would say you know, he pushed me just about as hard as I've ever been pushed and I believe that part of what God's given me the gift to do is to help people reach their potential. 21:29 - Speaker 3 When it comes to potential, like, how do you know, as a coach, if you're pushing too hard or not hard enough? Because that's something I always struggle with, because I grew up in an era where, like you, just push past the pain, right, and then you'll figure it out later. But that caused detriments to me, where I grew up more calloused than anything you know. So for you, like, where is that sweet spot? 21:48 - Speaker 1 Yeah, that's a great question. And look, there was times where, especially as a high school coach, I was probably too hard. You know, I pushed and, pushed and pushed. In fact my. I remember my wife coming to a practice, a girls practice, one day and I would just, we were running back and forth, we were running lines for 15 or 20 minutes and girls were going over to the garbage, can puking and all that stuff. She said you Girls were going over to the garbage, can puking and all that stuff. She said you got to back off. 22:12 But I didn't believe in that. I believed in toughness. And so what God taught me, as I'm trying to teach them, what God taught me was you. I want them to be tough, but I also want you to make sure that they know you care about them, and so you can coach them as hard as you love them. And so if you love them hard, you can coach them hard. And so it really changed me between coaching girls basketball and having my own girls at home. It helped me understand that if I can make them understand that I love them as human beings, not just what they can do on the basketball court that they're going to give me way more on the court than I can ever ask for, and so that was a great lesson for me. And that probably works in any form of work or any level you're at is, if you can make them understand that people around you know that you care about them as people, not just about what they can do for you, you're going to get a whole lot more out of them. 23:03 - Speaker 3 Yeah, it's funny because a lot of the things I try to like transfer and teach others is life's lessons. I had to learn the hard way and like I feel like life is just one long classroom with God. 23:14 - Speaker 1 Yeah, and it's like this like, do we want to learn it now on the first time, or do we need to keep getting those teaching lessons, those teaching opportunities, learning opportunities, you know. So I want to learn quickly so I don't have to go through that over and over and over. And I believe that you have so many teaching moments throughout the day and it's easier for us to talk about because we're on the court and so we can talk about teaching moments. But you know how about in our relationships? You know how about? How do we treat people? What is God trying to teach us throughout the day? And I always say, god, let me learn quickly, I want to be a quick learner for what he's trying to teach me. 23:47 - Speaker 3 So what are some big lessons you learned from your wife, besides not being so hard on your athletes? 23:53 - Speaker 1 Well, she's the most compassionate person I've ever known. As a coach, I had very little compassion. I still don't have a ton of compassion, but I had very little for sure when I first started, and so she taught me how to have compassion for people and to empathize with people and to try to put myself in their spot. You know my feet in their shoes. She taught me how to love. 24:15 I grew up with brothers. I grew up without a father and with brothers and then, as I said, as only God can do, he gives me three females, and four females in the house with my wife, and so she helped me understand the importance of making each one of my girls and herself feel loved and appreciated. And when I look back, you know God a lot of times will combine you with somebody who meets you where you're not, and so I was very tough, I was very stern. I love discipline. At the same time, I had no compassion. So when I look back at, what she added to our marriage was she brought that compassion and love that I didn't have, and together make a pretty good team. 24:57 - Speaker 3 Yeah, whenever you read the gospels, a word that keeps popping up is Jesus had compassion on people. And so even when he was feeding the 5,000, the disciples were like we had no food. And he's like you feed them. And I think he was just really trying to test them Like do you care enough to do the thing that you know is impossible. And that always hits me, because I'm also the type, like that wants to do less and not more. But God's really been pushing me to do more for people. 25:21 - Speaker 1 Yeah, I mean, one of the things that he's been talking to me lately about is just trying to see people through the eyes of Christ. So when I come to work, am I just focused on me and my problems and trying to win a basketball game, or am I going to pass people and look for opportunities to meet their needs? If you look at what Jesus did in his ministry on this earth he moved around from place to place, just meeting needs. He just met needs. And so you know, as believers and as christians, we should be trying to emulate the same things. And so you know, who are you going to meet today? Who are you going to pass by today? That just needs an encouraging word. It just needs to, just needs to be given some hope. That you just needs a prayer, if somebody stand with them, maybe for a healing or a salvation of a loved one. 26:16 - Speaker 3 And so if we could just have ourselves look through those lens differently than the world's lens and look through with the eyes of Christ, I think we would see way more opportunities for God to use us. So do you incorporate like time for because I'm pretty sure like an athlete schedule is jam packed Right and the coaching like there's a thing like the professional sports, like you sleep in the office, like you don't even have a house life outside the office, so where do you, how do you incorporate these kind of life lessons in your program? 26:34 - Speaker 1 yeah, you, you hit the nail on the head. I think we're known at this level for spending 12 to 15 hours a day in the office or in the gym and so, so you know, you have to find ways to be super intentional with your own quiet time. Look, you can't give away what you don't have right, so you can't teach what you don't know, so you've got to spend time with God to be able to give that away. So, being intentional with your own time. And then you know, even when, even with my wife, you know, I remember when I first took the job here at Auburn and you know my my days are a lot longer and I'm not getting home till after dark I remember us making a decision to start walking together every evening. 27:14 Now, I didn't do that for exercise, which is which is obviously another benefit to doing it, but I did it to be able to spend time with her and to talk about what happened, you know, throughout that day. And so I do think you know there's a lot of coaches who struggle with that, with their families, and I think you've got to be super intentional. Our athletes have to be super intentional between workouts and class and tutors and mentors and strategists. You know nutritionists, you know, I think, constantly working on something that helps them to become better, as they're all trying to become pros. You know, I tell them all the time you've got to have time to spend on yourself, along with God, to make sure that you're in a spirit, in a better place spiritually to be able to handle all those other things, and so I think intentionality is the word. I think you've got to be super intentional. It's not going to just happen. 27:57 - Speaker 3 Do you mind if I ask you about your daughter Maddie? Sure, yeah. So as a father, like, how did you feel like her being more prominent in the public eye? 28:08 - Speaker 1 Yeah, that was. That was a tough one on me. I'll be honest with you. That was tough and I remember my wife coming to me. 28:15 Tanya comes to me and she says I want you to pray about something. I want you to pray about Maddie going on this show and I want you to make sure that you just don't say no right away. Let's pray that God, that God directs us in this. And I was like, but no, I don't have to pray about this, I know she's not supposed to be on the show. And you know, I look back and it just the wisdom that Tanya had just to basically say, look, let's pray about it and make sure, because what God's done in her life and the ministry because of that show and since that show has just been incredible. So you know us living our life and I say you asked the question about her, but it was actually our whole family got thrust into the public's eye and it was. 28:57 It was tough. I'll be the first one to tell you it was tough. The, the media, social media really just dug into every possible thing that we had ever said or done and questioned a lot of that, and so it really brought us back to our roots of who God is and we just said OK, god, you led us down this road. Now just stand with us as we figure out how to best answer these questions or what to do and not to do, but obviously God and his sovereignty knew what was best. You know the thousands and thousands and thousands, maybe even the millions of people that Maddie and our family has been able to impact. Just lets you know that you can't put God in a box. 29:34 - Speaker 3 I also ask because, you know, personally I think it's always a harder decision for fathers of daughters. There's this because they're born and you feel like they're yours, right, but really like they're gods, and you're just kind of like renting them until they become their own person, and there's always these periods in lives where you kind of have to let them make their own decisions. So, like internally, what were you struggling with? And then how did you come to terms with just letting it go? 29:58 - Speaker 1 Yeah Well, I was, you know, and I'm not a. I'm not a person who gets very anxious or I don't have a lot of fear, I don't worry a lot, just normally. It's just how God made me, and so some of that was the first time I'd ever felt a little bit of that fear kind of creep into my life as I'm watching my daughter, you know, being praised in so many ways but also being attacked in so many ways. She stood up in front of you, front of millions and millions, and shared her faith and that's really, really good. At the same time, it brings out all the haters. 30:33 And so when I look back at that time, the biggest thing I struggled with is I wanted to stand up for her. Every single time somebody attacked her, I want to say you don't understand, you don't understand my daughter, you don't understand our family, and we just had to give that. There's a scripture that says this battle is not ours but the Lord's, and we literally just had to give all of that to God and just say God, you have a greater purpose. And obviously we see that now. It didn't take long for us to see that. But what Maddie's been able to do, what Tanya's been able to do what our family's been able to do, even Grant, maddie's husband, grant, who is now speaking and sharing and doing podcasts as well. What has God done around our family? You just have to look back and say God, only you. 31:15 I look back during that time and, yeah, there was times where I wanted to stand up for her and I wanted to do, but more than anything else, I just wanted to stand beside her and say, look, God's got you and I got you. 31:25 - Speaker 3 So another curiosity I have as fathers is I'm not a father, so, like for you as a father, I think one of the most difficult decision is accepting the person your daughter is going to marry. So for you, like, what was that journey like? 31:38 - Speaker 1 Yeah Well, to be honest with you, I never felt anybody was good enough for her for years and years and years, and I think most fathers would probably feel that same thing. But Maddie and our family made it such a matter of prayer for not just a good guy, but the guy, the right guy. And it brings me back to think about the time when she was in her baby bed and her bassinet, where Tanya and I just would lay our hands on her and just say, god, protect her, god, let her be a dreamer, let her do things that nobody ever thought she could do. And then we begin to pray for her future husband. And so, as you give those things to God, you realize that God didn't just have a person for him. He had the right person, and Grant was the right person. He makes her better, he leads her. You know, makes her better, he leads her. 32:27 I've never seen her this happy, and they've been married almost two years now, so it's been one of those things to really, really, really watch. They're about to have their first child I'm about to be a grandfather here shortly, so we're just excited about this new phase of life and I got two more daughters, so I'm still having to overcome that. Hey, you're not good enough for my daughter thing, so I'm not done with that quite yet. 32:49 - Speaker 3 I want to transition to your athletes. Like I'm pretty sure like some of your guys can go pro and whatnot and I'm always curious as to like one, if they get a lot of media attention, is that a distraction to the current season and how do you help them transition into the pro level? 33:00 - Speaker 1 Well, we have several guys that have been drafted, not just drafted in the NBA, but have been first round lottery picks, and so you know, this is a program who produces great players and pro players, and we have some guys on this team that will fall into that category. And again, I think, going back to the same thing we talked about with my own daughter as she's going through that show, I mean I think you've got to find a way to keep your athletes grounded. Focus on the process. Let's don't focus on the end result, because if you focus on the end result, it's not going to end up the way you want it to. And so let's literally it sounds like coach speak but let's just get better today, let's get better today, let's get better tomorrow, let's do the things that we think God might bless and let's, at the end of it, let's look back and see where we come and where we need to continue to improve. 33:44 But I think that foundation of hard work I believe in that foundation of hard work I think nobody should outwork you. I think that's got to start there. But when you can combine that with some talent, which we have here at Auburn right now, you know you got a chance to play for a long time. And so you also have, on the flip side of that, danny, you have young men who come here and they want to be professional players and it doesn't work out. And so you know, when you talk about that mentoring, you've got to do it both ways. You've got to be able to put your arm around the young man who didn't realize his dream and who isn't probably quite good enough to make that happen. And I think and that's where God can continue to use you either way, you know, in the success on the mountains and also in the valleys, when you realize that that person, that player, is just not quite good enough. 34:31 - Speaker 3 Yeah, what I'm learning from this conversation is that cause I used to hesitate from like any kind of fame or celebrity Cause, like you said, like they will find every little thing and then twist it and I don't want that scrutiny, you know. But you know, like you said, it offers a platform where, if you have a public voice, people are more willing to listen to you. And what greater way to honor Christ in his name? So you really changed my mind on celebrity, not that I'm seeking it, but like, if it ever comes, you know, yeah. 35:00 - Speaker 1 Yeah, I think you have to. I think, look, god called us to shine the light, to not put a bowl over the light and so, like, if you really believe that I I said this not too long ago to some some people you know we believe in dreams in our family and we're dreamers. We raise dreamers. I got three girls who are dreamers. So you can't pray for god to raise up dreamers and world changers and then hold them really close to you. You know it doesn't. It works. And so I think the same thing about who you are I would say to anyone give God every part of your life and let's see what he wants to do. For some people, he called to be in the public's eye. For some people, he called to be behind the scenes. Both roles are super important. One's not better than the other, but I think if you do have a platform and if you are in the public side, then what a great opportunity for you to stand up unashamedly and talk about who you are in Christ. 35:50 - Speaker 3 Thank you. What are you hoping for at Faithly? 35:52 - Speaker 1 Well, let me just say this because we are connecting with pastors and on-campus ministry leaders all across the country as we go to these college campuses. There is a huge need for what you're doing, these college campuses, there is a huge need for what you're doing, and so when, when, even in the short time that I've heard about faithfully, there is a place for it and I would encourage anybody to get involved with it because it allows you to. You know, now I have, I am connected with people now at 11 different universities and and in a in a deep spiritual way, and I already had connections on a lot of different other universities because of what I do. But now I'm meeting the on-campus ministry leaders who are in the. You know they're down in the trenches every day with these students, you know, trying to disciple them and draw them closer to Christ, and so I love what this is doing and I do believe there's a huge need for it. 36:44 - Speaker 3 How can we be praying for you and your family? 36:52 - Speaker 1 I think right off the bat. I think about our Unite ministry. We are in the process of nailing down seven or eight campuses for the spring. We're already also talking to several universities for the fall, and so this is what God has called us to do right now. 37:02 Obviously, I coach basketball too, so it makes it challenging at times, but it's also, as you said, it's also given me the opportunity to talk about it more and to put more eyes on it because of people following our sports team and because of our family's name. So I'm just praying and we're asking people to join us in prayer for what God wants to do. He is sending revival to college campuses and he's allowing us to be a part of it, and so we just continue to pray for God to continually go before us. We believe that prayer precedes his presence, and so we're asking for people, for believers all across this world, to pray for hearts to be open as we go on these college campuses and for people to be set free and to find freedom in Christ and run to the cross. 37:44 - Speaker 3 Thank you, this was amazing. 37:46 - Speaker 1 Well, I'm glad you had me. Anytime I get a chance to talk about what God has done in our life and the place. Look, I'm sitting here at Auburn University as a Division I basketball coach because God answered a dream of mine. It's a dream that my wife and my mother prayed about for years. I prayed about it for years. I wrote it on my mirror for years. This, for years, I prayed about for years. I wrote it on my mirror for years. This is what I wanted to do, and God gave me this opportunity, and now we're able to use this and this platform and branch off into Unite and what Unite is doing, and just looking forward to God continuing to use our family. It's not our life, but His. 38:17 - Speaker 3 You're making me want to dream better. All right, that's it for the podcast, guys. 38:20 - Speaker 2 Thank you for tuning in to the Faithly Stories podcast. We pray this episode gave you the encouragement you needed to continue on your journey. The Faithly Stories podcast is brought to you by Faithly, an online community committed to empowering church leaders, pastors, staff and volunteers. The Faithly digital platform offers innovative and practical tools and resources to enhance connection, foster collaboration and promote growth within the church and ministry space. Remember to subscribe, rate and review our podcast to help reach more listeners like you. Stay tuned for more uplifting tales from the front lines of ministry on the Faithly Podcast. Stay bold, stay faithful and never underestimate the power of your own story.