Church and state, life coaches and confidants — how chaplains fit within college sports

Good morning,

Thanks for checking out NIL Wire. After talking politics with family at Thanksgiving, we delve into religion today! I hope you enjoy this piece on what chaplains do at public universities.

Also, as we near the end of the year, I would like to do a mailbag, answering readers’ questions about NIL, revenue sharing, the business of college sports … or who you think the Cleveland Browns should draft in the first round. Send me a tweet or email me at [email protected]. Remember, there’s no such thing as a dumb question!

— Kyle

We’re running an end-of-year sale on NIL Wire premium subscriptions!

Today’s story, like all of the our reported pieces that land in your inboxes on Thursdays, is for premium subscribers only. But if you haven’t upgraded yet, you’re in luck: Premium subscriptions are available at a reduced price of $5.95 per month or $59.50 per year, for a limited time!

Click here to upgrade now, and you’ll get access to the best of what NIL Wire has to offer — today’s piece about team chaplains and past stories about a Bachelor-esque NIL deal, Boise State’s “gothlete” and more. Subscriptions also make a great gift for the other college sports enthusiasts in your life!

Thanks as always for reading!

Church and state, life coaches and confidants — how chaplains fit within college sports

Few subjects are more polarizing than religion. 

Add public schools to the equation, and you’d better buckle up or duck from the incoming right hook. 

And yet if you peek behind the scenes of most major college athletic programs, you’ll find something that often flies under the radar: chaplains. Prayer and scripture are part of their daily jobs, but chaplains double as life coaches, trusted counselors and confidants when life gets messy. 

“It’s just building relationships,” said Iowa State chaplain RJ Sumrall, the development director for Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Des Moines. “There are some guys that don’t want any parts of what I have to offer, but they’ll sit and just build a relationship and talk about life. Hopefully, down the road, they’ll ask deeper questions. 

“I get everything — girlfriend issues, family issues, personal issues, mental health. People would be surprised by how normal my conversations are with everyone. It’s not, hey, let’s sit down and dive into the Bible, or, hey, did you read this scripture? It’s really not that at all.”

Become a paying subscriber of NIL Wire All-Access to get access to this post and other subscriber-only content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.