A Coach’s Greatest Legacy Isn’t on the Field

Leslie Frazier knows devoted playbook discipline! One of the few to both coach and play in a Super Bowl, when a knee injury ended his 5-year playing career. It began his legendary 26-year NFL coaching run. As the Seattle Seahawks Assistant Head Coach, Leslie brings NFL rival coaches and his fellow assistant coaches together into a deep brotherhood by way of devotional calls.

Leslie Frazier: “Find that devotional, that one thing that can help you to grow your faith, because if you get disconnected from scripture, it tends to lead to disconnection from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Question: “Coach, we know about the routine weekly schedule during the NFL season. But beneath that, a Tuesday morning appointment. (For whom and why?” 

Leslie Frazier: “Yeah. In the year 2000, Tony Dungy and a couple other coaches talked about a way to support coaches spiritually. It was Black Monday that coaches experience when there are people let go of their jobs and going through a very, very difficult time. So, we started a call where coaches from around the league could just share what's going on in their lives and be encouraged. Just about every team represented and during the season you can get so caught up in trying to prepare your guys and get a win. So, that phone call really makes a tremendous difference for all of us.”

Seahawks Offensive Coordinator Klint Kubiak agrees, saying, “I think the more time we spend together as coaches, especially in the Word together, the stronger our bond gets.  With Coach Frazier leading it, he's just an example of what success really looks like as a coach. I think he takes his faith way more seriously than he does anything else and it rubs off on all of us young coaches that aspire to emulate that.”

Question: “For this bonded band of brothers, the material you use is aptly named, Scripture-Union …”

Leslie Frazier: “A daily devotional that we could all kind of follow and delve into and discuss. And Tom we ended up getting into the Word through the - Encounter with God - that’s provided for us by Scripture-Union, to be challenged, to grow in the Word of God.”

Seahawks Run Game Coordinator and Senior Offensive Advisor, Rick Dennison adds, “just to know that you're in that journey not alone, uh, with other people, but also with the Lord. On a day-to-day basis, open your Bible, garner something, meditate it on the day. If you do that, then it gives you a focus and a starting point.”    

Question: “You've been in this high pressured, high profile, intense occupation for a long time. What drives people to reach out for help and support?”

Leslie Frazier: “Yeah. The stress of trying to win. But it is so rewarding when it all comes together for your team and your organization. Such a high-profile lifestyle but because of that of that pressure to win and how isolated you can feel when things don't go right, uh, you can sometimes find yourself, you know, in depression. It can be very, very difficult and a lonely, lonely life.” 

Question: “Normally elite, independent achievers that yield to the power of teaming, not as competitors, but as brothers. What's the draw that makes that happen?”

Leslie Frazier: “How can I balance being a pro football coach and at the same time growing my faith? That’s what the coaches that are a part of the call, that's what they're seeking. They want to, of course, be successful with what they do, but not at the expense of my relationship with Jesus Christ. I don't want that to become secondary to winning, and that's part of what the Coaches Fellowship helps with and bring us back to what's most important.”

Question: “Is the strength of this brotherhood drawn more from commonality or differences?”

Leslie Frazier: “There are differences. We all come from different places, different backgrounds, but we're all trying to achieve the, the same goal and that's to win the Super Bowl. But there are many ways to go about getting that goal accomplished and you want to be able to do it in a Christ-like way and really be able to impact your players in a positive way. Yet at the same time trying to win ball games. So have success at it but do it in a way that honors our personal Savior.”

Question: “When hanging up that call with the brotherhood, coincidentally looking across the field (Leslie: “um-hm”) as an opponent, how do you see them?”

Leslie Frazier: “That's a good question. Prior to the game, we're greeting one another, because of our respective distances and the teams that we're on. And after the game, to be able to go over it, give them a hug and be able to pray with them, gives you a peace and a comfort to know that we're competing, but that love is not diminished because of our competition. Tom that goes way beyond football, because those relationships are established on the right foundation. Friends long after our careers are done with.”

Question: “The practicality, coach, of scripture.  How does that become a light unto your feet?”

Leslie Frazier: “The greatest witness, Tom, in our profession is your actions. The way I handle adversity, the way I handle success, the way I greet them, the way I deal with them, that's what speaks to who I am and what role Christ plays in my life where they can still see there's something different about this coach. That allows me to be able to really show the grace of God even in those moments as we are demanding perfection from our players.”

Question: “The ripple effect, the multiplication that comes from it. How does that pay forward?”

Leslie Frazier: “Seen a lot of people come and go in this profession and the one thing that has sustained me through all the ups and downs of an NFL career is my faith. And my prayer is that our assistant coaches - they see the Christ that lives within me. And then you see those coaches will go on and influence their players, other coaches in a way that it honors what we say we believe in.”

Seahawks Defensive Line Coach, Justin Hinds says, “through the fellowship and then being able to pour into the guys has allowed for us to really give them direction. You want to make sure that you truly know and love your players from a different extent, know them as men, meet them where they're at, and then obviously introducing them into who Christ is into their life.”

Question: “What's your charge? Put us in the huddle, coach us up …”

Leslie Frazier: “Forty years ago, January 26th, I was injured in the Super Bowl, ending my career. What it didn't do, Tom, was separate me from Jesus Christ.  He's the constant. His love for us is unconditional. Know who you are in Christ. Just stay steadfast in what you believe.”