When Nate Scheelhaase was promoted to offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams last winter, he stepped into one of the NFL’s most auspicious jobs, and for a Super Bowl contender, no less.
asserted
he → promote → less
Fresh out of college, Scheelhaase moved to Louisville, Kentucky, in 2014 to work with teenagers at Southeast Christian Church, one of the largest megachurches in the U.S.
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Scheelhaase → move → U.S.
During that time, he regularly stopped by a few dozen high schools to visit with students.
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he → stop → students
For two high schools’ football teams, he volunteered as a chaplain.
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he → volunteer → chaplain
The role entailed building trust, finding common ground and helping those he spoke with work for something bigger than themselves.
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he → entail → themselves
“An impactful year,” said Scheelhaase, 35.
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Scheelhaase → say → ?
Without intending to, though, Scheelhaase honed skills while he was a youth pastor that he says helped him rise quickly within the coaching industry.
“I would say that there’s a lot of carryover,” Scheelhaase said in an interview.
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Scheelhaase → intend → interview
“From a ministry standpoint, just being around people from all different walks of life, different journeys, being able to meet them where they’re at — that’s also a football locker room.
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that → meet → where
That’s a staff locker room.”
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That → ’ → ?
James Naismith, basketball’s inventor, is said to have believed he could better embody what it meant to be a Christian using sports than the pulpit.
uncertain
it → say → pulpit
Many of football’s conventions, including the huddle, numbered jerseys and padded goalposts, came from Amos Alonzo Stagg, who had gone to Yale to study divinity and began coaching to fulfill a vision of “muscular Christianity.”
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who → include → Christianity
Careers in sports have often led to careers in religious roles.
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Careers → lead → roles
Rocky Seto won national championships at the University of Southern California and a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks during 16 years on Pete Carroll’s coaching staffs.
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Seto → win → staffs
In Seattle, Seto’s role eventually evolved to include a weekly address delivered in front of the entire roster and staff.
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role → evolve → roster
He obsessively prepared his material.
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He → prepare → material
“How am I going to capture the whole room?” Seto said.
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Seto → go → room
“It’s basically convincing them that if you learn this, this is going to help us win, help us be better.”
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us → convince → this
That experience made him feel prepared to give his first sermon.
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him → make → sermon
It was 2017, and Seto had just left the Seahawks to become the pastor-in-waiting at Evergreen Baptist Church, in suburban Los Angeles.
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Seto → leave → Angeles
Standing in front of another packed room of congregants, Seto felt his new job’s mission mirrored that of his last one — to deliver hope.
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mission → stand → hope
“You come to church in some ways to take a peek into heaven for a moment, and then we break.
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we → come → moment
It’s like a huddle, and then we break out to basically fulfill the Great Commission outside this building, right?” he said.
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he → ’ → building
The information has to be almost like, ‘This is the greatest thing you need to know.’”
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you → have → ?
As Scheelhaase’s career was ending in late 2013, all he knew was that he didn’t envision a future in coaching.
He had gotten married a few months earlier, and he had seen enough coaches get fired and hired to question raising a family in an industry with fleeting job security and a nomadic career path.
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coaches → end → security
Meetings with Illini alumni in corporate jobs in Chicago also failed to inspire him.
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Meetings → fail → him
Unsure what to do, Scheelhaase called Jason Epperson, a local pastor who served as Illinois football’s team chaplain.
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who → Unsure → chaplain
Epperson had just taken a job at Southeast in Louisville, where there was a youth pastor role open.
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Epperson → take → Louisville
The idea intrigued Scheelhaase, who had grown up outside Kansas City, Missouri, as a devout Christian.
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who → intrigue → Christian
When he arrived at Southeast in early 2014, he was trying “to figure out different ways to just connect with people in the area and show them that I was interested in just who they were more than just what they were doing,” Scheelhaase said.
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Scheelhaase → arrive → what
“Which I think is always a good spot to start.”
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I → think → ?
Chris Burke, an ESPN baseball analyst who lived in the area, first noticed Scheelhaase because of his athleticism during pickup games inside Southeast’s gym.
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who → live → gym
Other things about Scheelhaase soon stood out, too.
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things → stand → Scheelhaase
“He looked perfectly suited for that job,” Burke said.
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Burke → suit → job
“You can tell he got a kick out of being around young people.
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he → tell → people
He communicated well with them.
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He → communicate → them
He had the patience.”
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He → have → patience
When a local mother told Scheelhaase that her eighth grade son’s father had recently died and that she needed others to be there for her son, Scheelhaase gave him rides and went to practices.
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Scheelhaase → tell → practices
The son was Nate Hobbs, the future San Francisco 49ers defensive back whom Scheelhaase still describes as one of his closest friends.
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Scheelhaase → describe → friends
Scheelhaase stopped by Trinity High School, a local powerhouse, with a “confident humility,” said Andrew Coverdale, Trinity’s offensive coordinator at the time, who is now the passing game coordinator at Kentucky.
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who → stop → Kentucky
Scheelhaase didn’t expect students to listen to him just because he had been a college quarterback.
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he → expect → him
…and 34 more, not listed.
The Aporia
