Praying highschool coach returns to gridiron Friday night time, will take a knee after the sport

High college soccer coach Joe Kennedy, who misplaced his job in 2015 for brazenly praying on the sector, returns to the sidelines at Bremerton High School in Washington state Friday night time — and he says after the sport he expects to pause on the 50-yard line to “take a knee.”

The coach is again after the Supreme Court dominated final yr that the previous Marine had been unfairly fired for exercising his proper to freedom of faith together with his postgame, midfield prayer.

There are projections that as many as 10,000 spectators, a 20-fold enhance over the same old 500 who attend a typical BHS recreation, plan to be available to indicate help for Mr. Kennedy’s return — or to protest.

Mr. Kennedy had labored for eight years as an assistant coach on the public excessive college exterior of Seattle earlier than he was let go, and he routinely prayed after video games, usually with gamers becoming a member of in.

But after an opposing coach commented on the prayers, cautious Bremerton officers stated the observe needed to cease.

When the coach refused, the varsity district selected to not renew his contract for 2016.

In the years since, Mr. Kennedy’s authorized struggle to regain his job — and retain his proper to wish — made him a logo of hope and tenacity for evangelicals and conservatives who see the hassle to ban faith from the general public sq. as overzealous.     

Mr. Kennedy, who put in 20 years within the Marine Corps, understands why his case resonated with so many individuals, however he stated listening to individuals name him “the praying coach” made him really feel “almost like a fraud.”

“I’m probably one of the worst Christians out there,” he informed The Washington Times.”My complete philosophy is making an attempt to like God and others, and I really feel that daily, I spend half my day thanking God, after which within the night, asking Him for forgiveness for screwing it up.”

By his telling, “screwing it up” was frequent in his early years.

“I was the kid you never wanted to be around,” Mr. Kennedy stated of his highschool years. “I lied, I cheated, I was very violent. I ‘acted out’ and got kicked out of every school in Kitsap County.”

He joined the Marines after an undistinguished highschool profession “because I knew I needed something. And the Marine Corps saved me and I knew I needed that discipline.”

Mr. Kennedy nonetheless had some tough edges: “I’ve got eight plates and sixteen screws holding my jaw together. All my joints are just gone.” He additionally has “a big plastic piece” in his nostril which is “all bent up,” he stated.

“I’ve been a fighter my whole entire life, and obviously I’m not a great one because of all the damage I’ve sustained,” Mr. Kennedy stated. “But I never give up that fighting spirit, and that’s the way I believe all Americans should be and that’s the kind of Christian I am.”

He stated, “I’m not that loving, squeezy Christian guy, I’m the guy who will punch you in the face and then pray for you.”

The strain to finish, or at the very least transfer his prayers off the sector to a extra remoted spot, made him offended.

“I wasn’t going to leave my guys just because somebody thought that prayer shouldn’t be in school,” he stated. “Well, that’s too bad for them. They’re just going to have to suck that up. I mean, the First Amendment seems very clear in my book, it seems so simple.”

It was within the Marines that he discovered the self-discipline he promised to deliver to the younger males on Bremerton High’s workforce when he interviewed for the job. He informed the varsity he didn’t know “the Xs and Os” of the sport — “O” standing for offense and “X” for protection in soccer play diagrams — however he knew find out how to construct character.

He stated Bremerton is “a blue-collar town, and these people are doing the best that they can, but there’s not a lot of father figures” in a few of the houses.

The soccer program, he stated, “is the place where they can actually just let go of all the worries and just work on their own personal development.”

That doesn’t imply Mr. Kennedy is a pushover. When a father or mother tells him their baby talked again that morning or cursed at them, he would cease the observe and inform his participant to do push-ups or leaping jacks whereas saying “I love you, Mom” in entrance of the stands.

He additionally taught the teenage boys on his workforce find out how to be respectful of ladies, watching their language and serving to the cheerleaders by loading and unloading their gear on the workforce bus.

Getting from a troubled childhood to somebody whose pleasure helps younger males to reach athletics and in life is the stuff of books and movement photos.

Coincidentally, “Average Joe: The Coach Joe Kennedy Story” releases on Oct. 24 from Salem Books. In it, the 20-year Marine Corps veteran tells how he went from being an atheist who lived a rough-and-tumble life to changing into a non secular liberty hero.

A movie, additionally titled, “Average Joe,” is in manufacturing, his publicists stated.

For now, Mr. Kennedy and his supporters are completely satisfied to rejoice the end result of his win, a return to teaching and serving to younger males.

“I’m glad that Americans have more religious freedom now, and it will become part of the culture the way our country was originally designed, where people could feel free to express their religious beliefs and not have to worry about hiding those things,” he stated.

Mr. Kennedy stated his household is pleased with his accomplishment, though he stated his children had been extra impressed when his identify was trending on Facebook and Twitter, the social media platform now generally known as X, or when ESPN interviewed him and Sports Illustrated put him on the quilt.

“They don’t care about the Supreme Court,” he stated. “That’s so far removed.”

The authorized victory on the excessive court docket introduced him again to Bremerton — the coach and his spouse had been in Florida caring for her father — a port metropolis of 44,122 individuals throughout the Puget Sound from Seattle.