The Florida Baptist Witness interviews recently retired Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden, who confessed he regularly subjected his teams to Christian devotionals and used his position of power to evangelize to each and every player. My emphasis:
Because of his conviction that he was called to coach, Bowden, a longtime Southern Baptist, said he believed it was his duty to share Jesus Christ with all his players – even though doing such is not politically correct in today’s college football world.
While he did not coerce players to profess faith in Christ – and no player was rewarded or punished with getting or losing playing time over their faith commitments – Bowden told the Witness it was his job to share his views, not unlike college professors share their views in the classroom.
“I felt like it was my job to witness to every player I coached,” he said, noting every evening before a game he would share a devotional with the team.
…
Bowden said the pre-game devotionals were one way he could communicate the importance of faith in Jesus Christ.Although he said he was “reminded of the separation of church and state” at times, Bowden said the devotionals never became a point of controversy because “we won too many games,” he quipped.
*Sigh*