Statesboro head coach: Football is my ministry

How far is it from the pulpit to the sidelines? Not all that far, according to Steve Pennington, Statesboro High School head football coach. When Pennington graduated from Louisville High School in Louisville, Georgia, coaching was the farthest thing from his mind. “My aspiration was to go into the ministry. I was in my first or second year at Georgia Southern when, after sitting in several different history classes, I didn’t think that the ministry was something I wanted to do. I always loved the outdoors and I loved sports,” he says. So he went to the physical education department and changed his major. From that point, Pennington knew he would be a football coach.

That doesn’t mean, however, that he turned his back on ministry. Football became the platform through which he would build a career ministering to young people. For Coach Pennington, the two career paths aren’t that different. “I’ve been ministering to kids my whole career. My ministry is through coaching. I’m just doing it in a different format,” he says.

Pennington has been coaching for 34 years. Twenty-six have been as a head coach and 15 have been spent at Statesboro High. In that time, he has been a part of two state championships – once in 2001 with the Blue Devils when he was defensive coordinator and once in 2005 as head coach. (Statesboro played for a state title in 2004 but lost to Warner Robins in the finals.)

Pennington attributes his success to his focus on building relationships. And that’s where ministry and coaching intersect. He cares about his players and he – along with his coaching staff – understands the impact he can make on the lives of the players in his programs. Pennington spent two and a half years as a graduate assistant under the late Erk Russell when Pennington was pursuing his master’s degree at Georgia Southern. He noticed that Coach Russell had an innate ability to motivate his players. And he did so by building personal relationships with the kids. “It didn’t make a difference who you were. He had a genuine sense of interest in the well-being of others. That has a major bearing on motivation. If you genuinely hope for the betterment of people and their welfare, they will get motivated,” he says.

Don’t mistake Coach Pennington’s belief in building relationships and taking an interest in the lives of others as evidence of a laid-back and feel-good program. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Blue Devils program is one marked by discipline and structure. The expectations are high and the work load is tremendous. “When our players come in, they know what our expectations are. They find out we run a disciplined program. We are forthright about that from the get-go. If you stay on that path, you will have a chance to do something right. Those who are willing to be a part of that will be winners in life and on the field,” he says.

Steve Pennington wants to win football games. Every coach does. But he also knows that the lessons he can teach his players through football will carry over into life. He teaches them about faith, responsibility, getting up when you get knocked down, never giving up, and working hard each and every day. Along with the structure and discipline is consistency – consistency in work ethic and expectations. The relationships he builds with his players and the respect they have for him allow Pennington to run a disciplined program. All of those factors, when combined with each other and blended together, make for a successful program. And that helps him deal with the issues and struggles that he faces on a daily basis. “The Good Lord has put me in this business and He knows my weaknesses. Because of His love and grace, I can overcome the fears that I have. I’ve been too blessed to be stressed,” he says.

Steve Pennington’s career has touched five different decades. He has coached both of his sons. He has struggled with balancing family time and work time. And he has watched the game of high school football grow in complexity. “Used to, you just lined up in the I formation and went. Now you have these spread teams and complicated schemes. Technology allows you to breakdown every aspect of the game with the touch of a button,” he says. The temptation is there to let football completely overtake a coach’s life. Because of the technology, there is so much information available that coaches could spend days in the film room. Pennington, however, doesn’t want that to happen. “We practice two and a half hours. I want my coaches out of here by 7:30. If a coach is happy at home, he will be happy on the job and will be a better coach. We always talk about quality of time, but you’ve got to have a certain quantity of time in order to have quality time. Sometimes, practice and planning are overrated.”

Coach’s Corner/Coastal Georgia/January 2014
Steve Pennington
Statesboro High School
Statesboro, Georgia
Robert Preston Jr.

Photography by Tina Helmly Photography
Statesboro head coach: Football is my ministry