Tommy Tuberville encourages Bearcats' voluntary prayer
Tom Groeschen, tgroeschen@enquirer.com 6:04 p.m. EDT August 21, 2014


The Worship team of Bethel Cincinnati kicks off the service with music at University of Cincinnati's Lindner Center for the football team on their first day of training camp. (Left to right) Antrione Archer, director of player welfare and development, Kylie Parks, Van Dobbins III and Bree Anna Dobbins. (Archer was just participating for this event. Pastor Brian Taylor, head pastor at Bethel Cincinnati church, led the service.)(Photo: The Enquirer/Liz Dufour)

Munchie Legaux suffered a severe knee injury in a football game last September against Illinois, and the University of Cincinnati quarterback initially wondered if some heavenly power had turned on him.

Instead, Legaux prayed and kept his faith during long months of rehabilitation. The fifth-year senior said his left knee is back to about 95 percent efficiency and, along with the physical work, Legaux said his spiritual beliefs helped convince him that he would play again.

Legaux is among many Bearcats players who attend chapel or religious services when possible, most notably a weekly gathering at Bethel Cincinnati church near the UC campus (Clifton Cultural Arts Center).

"It's not mandatory, you don't have to be there, but we have a pretty good amount of attendance," Legaux said. "I would say 80 percent of the team comes out. It helps out a lot, because it gets your mind off of football and helps with guys keeping their faith in the Lord."

For head coach Tommy Tuberville and the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, prayer plays a key role.

Prayer has been part of athletics from time immemorial, and the grueling nature of football sees players praying not only for victories but for safety.

In UC's case, the school is a public institution and religion is not forced upon the athletes. Constitutional guidelines of the separation of church and state are stipulated in the Establishment Clause of the first amendment.


(Left to right) UC football players Eric Lefeld, Dominic Mainello, EJ Junior (headphones) and Kevin Schloemer at worship service. Pastor Brian Taylor, head pastor at Bethel Cincinnati church, led the service at the Lindner Center on UC's campus during the first day of training camp. (Photo: The Enquirer/Liz Dufour)

In college football, pregame, on-field prayer circles are not uncommon when teams arrive at the stadium. While groups against the practice sometimes raise eyebrows nationwide, UC is among schools whose players voluntarily participate in such gatherings.

UC coach Tommy Tuberville, in his second year with the Bearcats, said he always has had either a chaplain or spiritual adviser for his teams in 19 years as a head football coach. Tuberville previously was head man at Mississippi (1995-98), Auburn (1999-2008) and Texas Tech (2010-12).

"We don't push any type of religion," Tuberville said. "It's voluntary. We give them an option of on Sundays, we have something for guys that want to be involved. Mostly it's about life skills, for when they make decisions on their own."

Pastor is former player

Bethel Cincinnati pastor Brian Taylor guides the Sunday service that includes UC players. One well-attended recent service was at UC's Lindner Center on the day before preseason training camp began. Bearcats players rose and clapped to the music, and also prayed while holding their copies of "The Athlete's Bible," a life skills book.

Taylor, a former Vanderbilt University defensive back, knows what players go through since he lived it himself. Taylor became connected to the Bearcats after talking with Antrione Archer, the UC football director of player welfare and development.

"It's just a joy for me, and I get a chance to be around a game I love a lot," Taylor said, while visiting a recent UC practice at the Bearcats' Higher Ground training camp in West Harrison.

"This is really a launching pad into the rest of their lives," Taylor said. "I'm just trying to be another resource here, another person they can look at and say, hey, I've got some real questions I've been wrestling with and who can I talk to?"

UC tight end Tyler Cogswell, like many Bearcats players, is far from home but seeks to continue lifelong religious practices. Cogswell, a redshirt freshman, is from Plantation, Florida.

"I think it's a really good way to bring a lot of people closer together, bring the whole team together as a family," Cogswell said. "The other thing is you can always lean on God. He's always there for you."

UC, Tuberville not alone

Tuberville is hardly the first UC football coach to have some sort of spiritual guidance available. Butch Jones, Brian Kelly, Mark Dantonio and various predecessors took care to let players have their religious freedom, with some more vocal than others about their faith.

Dantonio, for example, had Bible verses in his "Winner's Manual" that he distributed to players but said they weren't required to read them. When he was hired at Michigan State in November 2006, Dantonio declared at his first press conference that his relationship with God was more important to him than winning games.

Those kinds of things sometimes get public school coaches in hot water.

One such case occurred last April, when the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison, Wisconsin-based nonprofit, sent a letter of complaint to Clemson University regarding head football coach Dabo Swinney.

The complaint charged that Swinney and his staff had pushed too much Christian indoctrination into his program, and called it "unconstitutional behavior." The complaint urged the school to cease Swinney's emphasis on prayers, Bible studies and other religious activities, including busing players to local churches for Sunday services.

Clemson, in turn, said it supported Swinney and his program and had found no improprieties.

"We do things the right way and always have," Swinney later said. "We'll continue to run the program the way we always have. Anything that we have in our program from a spiritual standpoint is and always has been voluntary."

Tuberville grew up Christian

Tuberville, for his part, grew up in Camden, Arkansas in the Church of Christ and has spent most of his coaching life in the Southeast. Religion always has been important to Tuberville, who turns 60 in September.

"I had two parents that were Christians, and we went to church," Tuberville said. "They taught me how to read the Bible and study the Bible. We had some FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) groups in our high school when I grew up, and I became associated with them. It's a huge organization in athletics, and it's done a lot of great things for athletes."

Tuberville said he has heard occasional backlash about the religious side of his football teams. Yet, nothing has deterred Tuberville from his mission of being more than just a football coach.

"We do pray, but the biggest thing is we want them to be accountable to themselves so they'll be good men and good fathers when they graduate," Tuberville said. "There's more to it than just the church part. It's about learning to be a man."

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/c.../14386737/