Championship high school coach places God first, then family and football

The successful high school football coach featured in a new Fox Nation documentary encourages his players to prioritize faith and family over football. “The message that we’re telling these young people every day is [that] God will come into your world,” Denny Duron of Evangelical Christian Academy in Louisiana says.

The documentary “God. Family. Football.” (trailer below) takes a closer look at the team that has won 14 state championships while producing numerous college players and seven active NFL players.

“There are so many players that feel like God is compartmentalized and he belongs in the sanctuary on Sunday morning, and he never leaves there,” Duron said. “But we teach these kids the truth, and that is, we have a wonderful God who is active in every area and facet of our lives, and he will come into your world. And so every day, we start by saying, just before practice, we’re all in our gear, and we’re about to get after it: ‘God bless our worship. in Jesus’ name,’ and we believe that everything that we do that honors him becomes an act of worship.”

He pointed to Matthew 6:33: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

“We have kids from everywhere and this is a Christian school, but you don’t have to be a Christian to come here,” he said. “You don’t have to sign anything that says that you have a pastor or you’ve had some kind of experience with God. We want kids from everywhere, because we feel like the message of the gospel is able to transform their thinking and their lives, and God just has drawn these kids. We can’t recruit them. God just has to draw them here, and he’s done that for over 35 years, and we’ve seen so many kids’ lives changed.”

Duron came out of retirement in 2020 to coach Evangel. The school, he said, has always emphasized faith.

“We were very active in the Katrina crisis, and I can remember standing at the buses as they pulled up from New Orleans and these precious families getting out their clothes, still soaked from wading through the floodwaters,” he told Fox News of the 2005 hurricane that displaced countless families from New Orleans. “When the storms come, we have got to be in touch with a God who genuinely cares. In tragedy or in goodness, he sees us through.”

Alan Goforth | Metro Voice