Coach Fee and his wife are always on the lookout for where God is moving. He said, “Through the years, we’ve sought out the Lord, and He has put in our path new opportunities that have increased us.” One of these opportunities was FCA, which he had known about since college but had never been involved. Several years ago, his wife started noticing the potential impact FCA could have. She bought him the FCA magazine. He began to read about the impact of FCA in the lives of coaches and athletes. He said, “Four or five years ago it just clicked, and I thought ‘I’ve got to find out more about this.’ I went online and found the sports camps and said, ‘I’m going to do this.’”
Coach Pat Fee - Purpose Over Points
A story on the impact of a coach in Weyauwega, WI
We’ve all witnessed coaches who are consumed with the scoreboard at all costs, where coaching is only about a series of transactions that lead to points. Every decision is made with the end goal of how it will impact the scoreboard.
And then there are the coaches who are the exact opposite, where it’s only about how athletes feel. When they make decisions, they couldn’t care less about whether any points are scored during any game in the season.
Both types of coaches make any sports enthusiast cringe (some of you did when you were reading about one or the other above), but there is another type of coach. This coach values purpose over points and transformation over transactions. The scoreboard matters but is not the be-all, end-all. Instead, it’s the relationships, the teamwork, and the pouring into lives that becomes central to the game.
Coach Pat Fee is one of these transformational coaches, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes has empowered him to continually grow into that role.
Meet Coach Fee
Fee is from Birchwood, a small town in northwestern Wisconsin. He played football at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh and began coaching there while majoring in physical education and minoring in coaching and history (yes, history). He has since been teaching and coaching at the high school level for over 25 years. The last 19 years have been spent on the eastern side of the state at Weyauwega-Fremont (wai·uh·WEE·guh / FREE·maant for the non-Wisconsites) where he teaches weight training and history and has served as the head football coach and head strength coach.
Getting Involved in FCA
With that resolve, he reached out to Andrew Draper, Northland Region’s Sports Camp Director. Their first conversation, Coach Fee knew he had found something special. He said, “Draper told me how it worked to coach at camp, and he said to bring my family. I was like ‘What? That isn’t normal!’ Usually, you’re leaving your family, and he said to bring them.” That was the first indication that this wasn’t your normal sports camp, and the camp experience confirmed it in huge ways. He said, “It was deeper - it was this Holy-Spirit led awesomeness, that iron sharpening iron.” It has since become a great ministry to him and his family at the same time he ministers to the campers.
As he has become more and more equipped and empowered to coach and lead through sports camp and FCA staff, he now supports the huddle at the high school. It is led by a volunteer, but he plugs camps and comes alongside the leader when needed. And his son is a huddle leader (another reason camp is such a great place for coaches and their families).
Trusting God’s Plan
Coach Fee joked that his story is not a rags to riches story but seemingly, a riches to rags story. He was asked by the school district to step out of the head football coaching position this year. It was amicable and he is still the head strength coach, but before FCA, this may have devastated him. He said, “FCA has given me that deeper ability to see more as a coach. It’s been that thing to ground me and get me deeper in the Lord, to make me look past this. The Lord has told me to stay at peace and follow Him and get into His Word and pray and fast and see what the next step is.”
And God has been gracious in the process. Around the same time he was asked to step down from coaching, former athletes reached out to let him know the impact he had on their lives. One was just named Utah physical education teacher of the year and credits Fee and another coach for his success. Another is doing high performance work and coaching in California and wanted to meet with Coach Fee when he was back home recently. Fee said, “I see my success more in how many of my kids have introduced me to their own children and how many of their weddings I go to.”
Looking Forward
He may not know what the future holds, but there are a few things he does know. He knows he and his family will be part of sports camp this summer. He is thankful camp has moved from Luther College in Iowa to the University of Northwestern – St. Paul and believes it will allow the camp to grow and increase attendance of Wisconsin campers. He said, “I think this location is just going to explode.”
He knows that he will take what he’s learned about purpose and transformation and bring that to whatever he does next, whether as a teacher and strength coach or something completely different.
Above all, Coach Fee knows that God has a plan and that it’s a good plan. His identity is not in who he is as a coach but in who he is in Christ as a child of God. FCA has been a part of the journey that’s led him to that place and will be part of whatever plans God has for Coach Fee next.
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Photo courtesy of North Dakota State University
A story on the impact of a coach in Rainy River, Minnesota
To and through the coach. This strategy brings the mission and vision of FCA to fruition: to see the world transformed by Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes and to lead every coach and athlete into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and His church. FCA has seen the incredible impact a single coach can have when engaged in a growing relationship with Christ, equipped to lead and serve fellow coaches and athletes, and empowered to do the work. To the Coach Brock Thompson attended the weekly FCA huddle at Blair High School in Nebraska. He grew in his faith, but it wasn’t until years later that God really grabbed hold of his life. He attended the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. In the fall of his senior year, he took a job coaching a high school girls soccer team. That was a major turning point in his life. He says, “At the end of that season I remember feeling called - like this is my path. I had changed my major four times thinking healthcare. That was the first time I felt called to go down a new path.” After graduating with a degree in Biology Education, he served as head coach of the women’s soccer team for three years at Mary (at the age of 22) and then at the University of North Dakota. Thompson admitted that his early years of coaching were more about his own achievements than the teams he coached. He says, “I wanted to coach at the highest level. My focus was on climbing the ladder of success and coaching the biggest and best place I could.”
“If not us, then who, if not me and you? Right now, it's time for us to do something. If not now, then when will we see an end to all this pain? It's not enough to do nothing. It's time for us to do something.” The sentiment of these words, sung by contemporary recording artist Matthew West, is what drives Coach Tom Milbrandt as a math teacher, football coach, and FCA huddle coach at Valley City High School in North Dakota. He doesn’t want to take life for granted for even one moment, and he knows God has him at Valley City to bring the light of Jesus to every student and athlete he meets. Five years ago, he made a transition from Maple Valley High School to Valley City. He says, “I never thought I’d end up in a bigger school. I was nervous about going from a smaller, class B school with two hallways to a bigger city and class A school, but it’s my opportunity to reach more kids.” Coach Milbrandt has a positive impact on 500 kids every day, from those he coaches in 7th grade football, to his math students, to every student he passes in the hall, and to the FCA huddle members. Coach Milbrandt is driven by what Christ has done for him. He says, “I serve because that’s what I feel led to do. I love the Lord and want people to see that. It doesn’t mean I’m perfect – I fail – but my sins are covered, and I want kids to know that. Knowing Christ, the world’s going to look different to you and you will look different to the world, and even your everyday language will look different. If I can model that to kids, what better place to do that than in a public school?” On the Field Coach Milbrandt has been coaching since he returned to his hometown of Hankinson, North Dakota, during the summers while he was in college. It was during that time that he was moved toward a career in education and coaching. He says, “You have much different relationships when you coach. It’s on a more personal level and makes a greater impact on your athletes’ lives.” He knew even then that he wanted to have an impact on as many people as possible, and he knew that coaching and teaching was a great way to do it.
It’s easy to underestimate the impact one person can have in a world with such great need, but the Fellowship of Christian Athletes has witnessed time and time again the influence one coach can have on an athlete, a team, and a school. God uses coaches to influence young people on and off the field every single day through their words and actions. One such coach is a young man named John Dewitt. Coach Dewitt is a native of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. During high school, he played football, wrestling, baseball, and ran track and cross country. He grew in his love of running and found he was especially fond of the longest distances, like the two-mile run for track. When he attended UW-Oshkosh for secondary math education, he kept running, again gravitating toward the longest distance - the 10k. He regularly ran 80-110 miles per week in college (that’s 15-18 miles per day!). After college, he just kept running and extended up to the marathon, where he has qualified for two U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. He has no plans of stopping and feels he has great running years ahead of him. A Teacher and Coach for God Dewitt’s love of running made him a natural for coaching track and cross country at Nathan Hale High School in West Allis, Wisconsin, where he has taught upper-level math classes since 2014. While he trains athletes and prepares students for post-secondary education, he is at West Allis for so much more than that.
