: Welcome to Real Truth for Today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve, Senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now here's Pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Monday morning and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Hope you had a wonderful weekend. If you are like many, you are watching college football on Saturday and there was a big rivalry game. UT versus ut. The University of Texas versus the University of Tennessee. somebody I think made an AI song about UT versus ut. It was really an interesting song, well put together. AI is amazing how it can put music together just like that. But, but big game Texas came out on top 20 to 17. But the game was marred with some vulgar big play celebrations. And it just, in my mind there's just no place for that in sports. There's no place for that in college football, really. In any football pro, college, high school, peewee, if you beat a guy, you beat a guy. It's okay to celebrate but not to try and humiliate the guy. And what Colin Alred Simmons, Simmons did. And then Raleigh Brown, the running back who scored, he didn't get penalized. Simmons did. But just reveals a, deeper problem. First Corinthians 13:11. Paul says, When I was a child, I used to think, as a child, speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. Well, I've asked my friend Coach Greg Davis, the former offensive coordinator for the University of Texas for 13 seasons. He won a national championship in 2005 and produced Vince Young, one of the greatest quarterbacks, in college football history. He served his Last five years as Iowa's offensive coordinator under Kirk, Ferencz, and he won the Broyles Award for the nation's top college football assistant in 2005. Has coached 22 bowl games and helped develop quarterbacks who became household names. So. Coach Davis, welcome to the program.
Coach Greg Davis: Good morning, Jeff. Thank you for having me.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, thank you for coming on, Coach. So, you have been gracious to me as I watch the, Longhorn games. I text you during the games and you haven't blocked me yet. So I appreciate that. But, let's talk about the good things, Coach. it was a good day in college football is a good day for the University of Texas, number one in the nation. we would have liked to have won that game a little more handily than we did, but a win is a win. Give me your thoughts on that. That game.
Coach Greg Davis: Well, I think it is exactly as you said. I mean, sure. I mean, there's things that, that I'm sure we need to clean up that the University of Texas would like to have done better. And at the same time, you know, there's been four, four ball games. And I would say Texas is probably the only team in the nation that has played, two teams ranked, in the top 21 on the road. So they went on the road, they beat up a, very talented University of Tennessee team. And yes, there's things that we need to do better, but all in all, you'll take the victory and work on those things this week.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay. So, in the first half there was a play. Colin Alred Simmons had a monster game as far as the defensive player is concerned. Five sacks, he had a big sack in, I guess was the second quarter. They would have been. Tennessee would have been pinned on their eight yard line or something like that. And then he celebrates the big play with, what was called vulgar and idiotic simulating. The ref even said that a penalty, 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty for simulating urinating on the field. I've never seen anything like that. what did you think when you saw that?
Coach Greg Davis: When I first, when I first saw the flag, I did not know what had happened. And I'm thinking, oh, no, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna bail them out here because of, you know, a face mask or something. and then when, and then when they showed it again, I was, I had, I was around sports, my entire life. Coached over four decades. I've never seen anything like that. And, disappointing. To be sure. I don't know the player at all. but I do know that's not acceptable. And I'm sure coach, ah, Muschamp, who I do know and coached with, and coach, Sarkeesian will handle it this week. what you said earlier is exactly right, Jeff. We want the players to be excited when they make a play. back when I was, coaching, the last part of my coaching career, they had done away with celebrations. And I was so disappointed. I mean, a guy gets in the end zone for the first time or the 20th time, and he's supposed to just turn around and act like it's another day at the office. Sports is supposed to be fun, supposed to be, you know, and. But I think what you need to do is you need to celebrate with your teammates, the ones that help you get there.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Coach Greg Davis: and that's what was disappointing. Obviously it was a vulgar act. but I mean, turn it, just celebrate with your friends and, so though I was disappointed, well, it seems
Pastor Jeff Schreve: to me, that that the new thing now is not just beating the opponent, but then I want to humiliate you. I want to do something that is so crude and over the top to show you that I just dominated you. you know, I like the, I think Vince Lombardi started this saying, act like you've been there before. Show some class. We had the, golf team, PGA golf team. Scotty Scheffler, he was going up against a guy and somebody yelled in the guy's, downswing and he hit a bad shot. And Scotty, showed class and gave him like a 32 foot putt. He said, we'll, count that good. now Scotty's a UT guy, which is a good thing for the University of Texas, it seems like. Coach, there are certain sports that tend toward classlessness as opposed to others. Golf is kind of the last bastion of some class. How do you see that in college football today? Have we just gotten to the place where it's just classless?
Coach Greg Davis: Well, I certainly hope not, Jeff. you know, when you think about college football and the, number of people that set their weekends around it, to watch their teams, I certainly hope this is not the, the way it's going to be from here on in. And I feel certain that it won't be. but, you know, you're right. The, When you, when you beat somebody, when you, you make a big play, you know, it does you no good. It does your Team no good to belittle whoever you just beat. I mean, just, just turn around and be excited with your, you know, with your teammates, with your coaches, you know, making a play. So, and I hope, I hope the player will learn from this. like I said, I do not know him. I've never heard anybody talk about him as a person, but I hope that he will learn from this and grow from it.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, he's obviously a great player, great athlete, but it seems to me, seems to me as coaches, and I know you did this, coach, you take these young guys, I mean 18, 19 year old guys, and they're not yet men, but you want them to become men. So back to that first Corinthians 13 verse. when I became a man, I put away childish things. That seems to be a childish thing. And it seems to me it's not true across the board, obviously, but you have a lot of guys in sports that are young guys and they get in the pros or young guys in their 20s, they're still kids, they haven't, they haven't gotten to that place, in their maturity to say, hey, I need to put those things away. How did you view that when you were coaching, taking these, these young guys and turning them into men that make wise decisions?
Coach Greg Davis: Well, they are young. They are young men. They're still children. you know, even I think, you know, their brains are not totally developed. And you know, I worked with, I worked with a guy one time that said, you know, boys, boys do what they want to do, men do what they have to do. and so I think what you have to do is long before the situation occurs, it's kind of like, you know, raising children, you should respond to things that you think may happen long before they do happen. and one of the best ways I found was when you were watching film, of other players. I mean, you sit in a room with four quarterbacks and you're watching an offense, that's not yours, and you're preparing for somebody else and the quarterback that you're watching makes a mistake. You've never heard four guys get after a quarterback like they will. I mean, can you believe you did that, coach? Is that the dumbest thing you've ever seen? I mean, it's real easy to, point out others mistakes.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right?
Coach Greg Davis: so I think one of the best things to do in the coaching world, in the parental world is that, you know, you, you try to handle these before they come up. So Use that example to say, now, that's not the way we would have acted. That's not the way, you know, you should have responded. I mean, jump up and high five your. Your buddy. and. And if you notice, you know, he was immediately taken out of the ball game, which I thought was appropriate and necessary. I don't know if we'll put him out of the ball game or start. It doesn't matter. He was immediately pulled out of the ball game. I'm sure there was a brief conversation about, hey, we don't act like that. I feel certain, I didn't see it, but I feel certain. After the ball game, he probably was made available to the media.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: yeah, he apologized.
Coach Greg Davis: To apologize. when I was at the University of Texas, every Monday, we had a press conference that the coordinators and players went to. he probably is going to apologize again. and hopefully, you know, hopefully he learned from that. And not only he, but other members of the team, because it's not a good representation of not only college sports, but what you're trying to do as a coach.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Well, Coach, if you saw the fourth quarter touchdown, I know you did. With Relique Brown, the running back scored for UT to put him up 20 to 10. He did something equally as vulgar in his celebration. And it's like, good grief. Do you guys never learn?
Coach Greg Davis: M. I did not say that. Oh, you did not see that. I was actually my son in law, who was watching a ball game with me. I had stepped out to probably go get some pizza or something, and my son says, well, they almost entered again. I said, do what? And he was trying to describe to me, but that's. That's sad if that happened again or similar.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: So, Coach, I was talking to Coach, Scott Surratt, a mutual friend of ours, that, coach of the Carthage Bulldogs, one of the best high school football coaches that's ever lived. He was saying that he thinks they ought to start finding these players, that teams ought to find him. If you're paying that guy a million dollars a year or whatever they're paying him, to play and you do something stupid that hurts the team, you ought to get fined.
Coach Greg Davis: I would agree. Now, it's easy for Scott and I to say that. I don't know how you implement it because, of all the, you know, the hoops you would have to jump through, but, I mean, you certainly could be fine in professional sports.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right?
Coach Greg Davis: I mean, if you. If you do anything that is detrimental to the club. yeah, you can be fine.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, we're talking to coach Greg Davis, the offensive coordinator for the University of Texas for so many years, won a national championship in 2005. With Vince Young, we're talking about vulgar celebrations and the state of our country will be right back on Real Truth for today.
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Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to, welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff here talking to my friend, Coach Greg Davis. He was the offensive coordinator at the University of Texas for 13 years. Won a national championship in 2005 with a, fairly good quarterback. Vince Young being facetious there. I think Vince is the greatest college football player, most impactful college football player to have ever played. He could just totally take over a game. But we're talking about what's going on in sports today, especially as it relates to college football. We have, America is, very, very interested and excited about college football, football in general. But I'm a college football guy, not a pro football guy. And I really follow the University of Texas. That's the one team I get excited about. But, Coach, when we think about players today, you've been in sports for a long time, so you've seen the players evolve over the decades. What kind of a guy do we have coming into a program today versus what you had back in the 80s and 90s?
Coach Greg Davis: Well, obviously social media is, you know, it's a huge deal. I was asked right at the end of my career, Jeff, a sports writer called and said, we're doing an article on guys who have called plays for over 30 years. And, you know, we'd like to ask you some questions. And the first question was, you know, what is the. What is the difference between now and when you first started calling plays? And my answer was social media. when I first started calling plays, at Texas A and M University, back in 1979, nobody knew my name. M. There was no big, deal about offensive and defensive coordinators and play callers, and it was just, you know, it was just a team and, you know, and everything, you know, everything that was mentioned, about that football team, was the head coach. Yeah. I mean, seriously. I mean, there was no. There was no radio show that was 24 hours talk radio about. Well, what do you think about that third and three call on the minus 15? I mean, so, you know, in today's game, every. Every call, every decision and every action, is talked about for weeks. And so the kids that grow up now, they're seeing things that, you know, they're seeing celebrations, and they're seeing, hey, let's get an interception, and all 11 of us run to the end zone. I mean, what does that do? well, all 11, you run to the sideline and high five each other. so I, think they're. I think when a player came in years ago, they were much. I don't know what the right word is, Jeff. Docile. They were much tamer. and, they come in now, and they've just been exposed to so many more things.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Well, the documentary came out on Vince Young just recently on Netflix, wasn't, super, flattering, of Vince. His college years were good. His pro years were not good. But Vince did some things. He threw his shoulder pads into the stands, got, so upset. I never saw him do stuff on the field that was detrimental to the team like that. I wonder. You know him pretty well. How would. How would he respond to, like, some of these vulgar celebrations? What would he say about that?
Coach Greg Davis: I think he would say the same thing that you just did. I mean, you know, you hurt the team. I mean, you're. If I remember right, the sequence of events, after the penalty was, all of a sudden, Tennessee got a drive going, right. I don't believe it ended in points. I may be wrong.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: No, you're right, it didn't.
Coach Greg Davis: But the momentum shifted, for sure. Fill positions shifted for sure. And, you know, coaches, you know, for years, and rightfully so, there's no one player that's bigger than the team.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Coach Greg Davis: And So your question was what do you think Vince would think? I think he would be disappointed. I think he would, he would feel like, you know, that hurt the deep.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, he never, Vince never, he never acted like an idiot when he scored, even when he scored against usc.
Coach Greg Davis: Fact. In fact, I've often told many people that when he scored the touchdown at the end of the national championship game and we were fixing to have to go for two, to make it a three point ballgame, how many players would have, would have scored and tossed the ball into the stance. Right. You know, or spiked the ball because we were living in a, in a time then where you cannot celebrate other than being with your players. So don't even think about throwing it in the stands. What if he just turned and spiked it?
Coach Greg Davis: And now we got a 15 yard penalty. And you know, it's just it's disappointing what we're seeing. And hopefully coaches will use this situation, the situation with that you were mentioning off the air, the Alabama player getting punched, the Miami quarterback, you know, the late hit on the Miami quarterback when he was trying to slide, the the Oregon quarterback, the maybe they'll use this situation as an overall team experience. Man, this is not what it's all about.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Coach, let me ask you this. I talked about this yesterday in my sermon about anger. And we have anger on display pretty much every, every Saturday in college football and pro football. the coaches don't seem to get as angry, but college, they can really get angry. And arguably the greatest college football coach is Nick Saban. And he, he was not known for holding his temper. as we think about coaches turning boys into men. And I would think that that's, that's heavy on the minds of coaches that I'm molding these guys. I don't want to model being a three year old and having a temper tantrum on the sidelines. Why is that? Those guys, why did they seem to get a pass for not being able to control their temper?
Coach Greg Davis: Why do coaches get a pass? Is that the question?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, because the players are going to follow suit.
Coach Greg Davis: Well, I think that's, you know Jeff, I think that's a good question. The there's so much pressure on players and coaches to produce. and then, and then you put so much pressure on yourself. You know, I had people ask man, I mean it must be a lot of pressure, you know, calling plays at university. There's no more Pressure than, than a competitor puts upon himself to try to give his players, ah, you know, a chance to win the ball game. And at the same time, when you see a call, typically the coach's anger is over a penalty or a non. Penalty. That's what creates it. then you're, you know, you're responding in such a way that, yeah, I guess there's no other term. In some ways it is childish, but there's a whole lot on the line and, and you want your players to know. you know, Thom Landry was one of my idols growing up, growing up in the state of Texas and, and he was a very stoic on the sideline, you know, extremely stoic. Well, you know, there were people that said I could never play for Thom Landry. He didn't have any passion about the game. Well, that was silly.
Coach Greg Davis: Of course he had passion about the game. but that was, that was, you know, the way he was. so, you know, but that's what happens, Jeff. You get caught up in the heat of the moment and you know, you respond. But there is a difference in being upset and going over the top. There's a difference in celebrating and doing what we saw Saturday.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Coach Greg Davis: And that's, that's what you have to guard against.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, you think about, we, could make the case that the greatest coach in any sport was Jon Wooden. his record speaks for itself. Wooden never cussed, wouldn't never, God never lost his marbles out there. held things in check. He's extremely passionate, extremely well prepared. but he's a model for other coaches. Say, hey, be like this. You know, you think of Thom Landry, well, he's the premier, one of the premier coaches to have ever lived. even a guy like Dabo Sweeney, Dabo's a lot more emotional. But I don't think Dabo makes a fool of himself, do you?
Coach Greg Davis: Oh, no, no, no. And listen, we're, we're not, we're not talking about being emotional. You cannot be in that sport. I was in it for over four decades. You are going to be passionate. If you're good, you're going to be passionate. If the amount of hours is that you pour into it, you're gonna be passionate, you're gonna be emotional. The thing is it has to be a, controlled emotion so that you make good decisions for your football team. And that's Navo's emotional. Navo gets upset. I mean, but I think it, I think it's a control. I mean, you Know, you immediately, you state your case, which usually you lose when it comes to calls, and then you got to go on to the next play.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, you really do. Okay. The, the South Carolina player, Dillon Stuart, who's a stud player, he, wouldn't come out of the game when they were subbing for him. He waved the guy off. when you start having that kind of insubordination on the team. Now the head coach, Shane Beamer, suspended him indefinitely, which I think is the right move to do. You have to have controls on these guys. They can't just. The inmates can't run the asylum, so to speak. And so, Greg, as you think about our society and ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do and that kind of thing in sports that doesn't work. You have to be able to submit yourself to the, to the coach over you and ultimately to the head coach and the head coach to the school. As you said, the donors, they have a lot to say about things that happen. So, comment on that. suspending that guy. Would you have done that had you been the head coach?
Coach Greg Davis: Absolutely, absolutely. You, I mean, you summed it up. I mean, you know, there has to be, there has to be, you know, control and But typically Jeff and I always refer back to raising children. Typically that jins just didn't happen at that point. Moment that has been building. Yes, there has been incidents that were not immediately handled. and that's where the problem comes in. one of, you know, I was with Mac for 18 years. and one of his best qualities was things did not sit on his desk. He handled them. And so, so when a situation starts, you know, immediately the boundary is pushed or a guy steps over the line, it immediately is addressed.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Coach Greg Davis: And so that's where you know, the problem. The problem is we've let it get to be a problem. It should have been nipped in the bud a long time ago. I mean, we had a tremendous player at the University of Texas. I'm not going to call his name. He only played one year. He was one of the greatest athletes I was ever around.
Coach Greg Davis: But he couldn't conform. he couldn't do the other thing, things that were necessary, to play. And because of it, he had to be removed from the team. and so that's my take on that, is that, you know, those, and those situations have to be handled earlier. Yeah. but I do think he was right to suspend the player Coach, from
Pastor Jeff Schreve: your perspective, if you had a, if you had a Jon Wooden today, let's say he's coaching college football, how would that go over? That kind of stern, hey, we don't cuss. If you cuss, you're out. If you grow a beard, you're out. I mean, how would. How would that do?
Coach Greg Davis: Well, obviously, I didn't know Coach Woodman. I, did see his teams play and were marveled at the discipline and, all that. But I will say this about great coaches. They adapt with the times. So I don't know if Coach Rudin was coaching today, if his team would have no earrings, no beards. No. You know, I do think, would they be disciplined? Absolutely. You know, would they be situational, aware? Absolutely, they would. But I do think he probably would have adapted somewhat to the times. That doesn't mean you let everything you stand for go away. Not.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: All right, yeah, good point. Well, coach Greg Davis has been our guest coach. Thanks so much for coming on, talking about this important, important subject because it kind of reveals where we are as a society. And, we want our players to celebrate and have fun. It's a fun game, but you have to do that under control. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. When we come back from the break, we'll take your calls. 888-589-8840. That's 885-89840. Pick up the phone, give me a call, and let's talk.
: If you'd like to contact Pastor J.E. email pastor jeffromhisheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff Here we are going to open the phone lines. We like to do that in the last segment. 888-589-8840. That's 888-589-8840. If you have a question or comment, love to hear from you. And, had been talking to coach Greg Davis. He had to leave. But, we're talking about the issue in college sports.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: as a football fan, we all have our particular teams, our favorite teams that we root for. Whether we went there or that's just the team that we grew up loving or whatever. When you have a big play and then, you turn around and negate the big play because you couldn't control yourself and you did something so, so foolish that hurt the team, it's just, ugh, it's so frustrating to watch that. And as Greg Davis said, you know, the situation at the University of Texas where you have this great, great player, Colin Alred Simmons, five sacks, I mean that's, that's unheard of. But then to negate that with this vulgar act, pretending you're using the restroom on the field, that's not something that just you know, came to his mind at the, you know, in the moment. He had thought about that and that was terrible. I mean he needs to be that, that needs to be ah, addressed on the team. Obviously it will be and that needs to be stopped. like I said, they did it again, in the second half the running back did a similar type of thing that's just like, what are you doing? So I've couched this all around First Corinthians 13, verse 11. When the apostle Paul said, when I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child. When I became a man I did away with childish things. And the job I believe of a coach, especially a college football coach, is to take young guys, 18, 19, 20 year old guys and help them become men. And what I love about coach Mack Brown, as coach Greg Davis worked with Mack Brown for so many years, Mack Brown was really focused in, on this is a special time in your life as a college football player. But this is not even winning the national championship. His famous line, guys, don't make this the high point of your life. Go on and become great husbands and great fathers and make a difference in business and in you know, whatever endeavor you you go into. But this can't be the peak of your life, a great moment in your life, winning the national championship. Not very many people experience that but there's got to be more to that. And I've always admired Coach Brown and I think that's one of the greatest post game locker room victory speeches ever. And you can find that on YouTube. And I remember telling him face to face, I said Mac, that's the best thing I've ever heard a coach say to a team. And so you want to turn those guys, those young guys that are childlike in many ways into men and men that as Greg Davis said, what's the difference? A child does what he wants to do. A man does what he has to do, what is needed, what is required. Well we're going to the phone lines 888589-8840 and we have Lisa on the line from Alabama. Lisa, welcome to Real truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Good morning.
Caroline: I was thinking, do you think some of this over the top celebration, look at me behavior is because now these college players who may not be able to go on to the NFL and make money, are trying to make their money in college for their. Since they can be paid now for their likeness and all of that. Do you think that their behavior is for financial gain?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: yeah, that's a good point. You know, those guys, a lot of those guys that are making big money may, not even play on Sunday. They may not get to the NFL. And some of those guys are making way more money. Even the guys that get into the NFL. I'm thinking of Quinn Ewers. Quinn Ewers was the quarterback of the University of Texas. And, he went out, he had a year of eligibility left. And, it was reported that Oregon, Miami, some of the other schools said, hey, you can play for us for one year. I think they were going to pay him three or four million dollars, but he said no, and he went and played pro football. He's playing pro football now, but he's not making three or four million dollars. He's making much less than that. But here was his thinking. I want to be a Longhorn for life, because that's worth something. And I'm not just going to, you know, sell my birthright for a single meal, as Esau did, to put it in biblical terms. But, yeah, the only problem with that, Lisa, is when they do something that's over the top, vulgar, most people don't like that. They think, you know, you hurt the team. That is, you know, as they say, conduct detrimental to the team. And that's not somebody that, that, you know, advertisers want to capitalize on. Oh, that guy, he's great. He does all these, vulgar things. So I don't. I don't know if I think what you're saying is. It's got some truth in there. some of these over the top things. It's like, why are you doing that? that doesn't make sense to me.
Caroline: But do you think that because of our culture change that they may not necessarily see what they're doing is being vulgar? Because I know that as my children grew, my. I have three children that are, you know, years apart. And their, Their vision, they're seeing things. They're greatly different from one to the other because of their age. And because, you know, what one saw as being extremely inappropriate and vulgar, the. The next or the next would think, oh, yeah, not so bad. I understand that. So, I mean, this. I think the, you know, sexual standards are very different. You know, purity and. And all of that is not where it was when I was a child. You know what I mean?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Caroline: Well, thank you for taking my call.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, Lisa, I appreciate that. It's a good point. Well, in society, it does. It represents what we're seeing today in sports. Just like in high school, the students or even in elementary and middle school, the teachers see that, the coaches see that, the breakdown of the family, where we don't have discipline, with these kids, and they're not being taught, right from wrong. And so coaches get these guys that are great athletes, but they're children in terms of their emotional development, in terms of being able to say no to these activities that are going to be destructive. Coach Davis was talking about a particular player. I knew who he was talking about, although he didn't want to mention his name. That guy was phenomenal. But he couldn't stay out of trouble, and he kept getting in trouble. And, you know, Mack Brown was reported, to have said to his recruiters, hey, guys, I know I've signed off on all these players, but we can't get guys into the program that are so totally undisciplined, and they're going to do, you know, commit crimes and do these things that are, going to hurt the team. And so even if we have to pass on a. On a great talent, you got to watch the chemistry of the team because you are building a team. You know, football can't be won by one player. You have to have a team. Basketball, only five guys on the court. You can have one player that's phenomenal, and he can kind of carry the team. football is not quite like that. So I appreciate the call, Lisa. I appreciate the insight. We have Mary on the line from Texas. Mary, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Hi, Jeff.
Caroline: Thank you for taking my call. I really enjoy your show.
: Thank you.
Caroline: I'm calling to comment about the crowd behavior on college game day at the, Ole Miss. Is it Laine Kiffin, lsu, whatever team? And I looked at my husband. I was absolutely floored by the crowd. But I also understand it because of college age hormones, because, trust me, I have them, too, even as a Christian. And, the things that they were yelling and the, you know, commentators had to kind of ignore them. I think one of them turned around and tried kind of like, stop saying that is. It was vile. And then when Laine Kiffin was interviewed and it was not. It was, a live interview, but it was not in person. I'm sure because of security, they were calling him a name that was also vile. And I was stalked. That was on television to begin with, but it was a crowd. How could they have stopped that? And just on that note, not because of that, but I was like, it affirmed. This summer, I gave an etiquette course to my granddaughters and their friends and their moms. We had so much fun, and I feel like we've lost that in society. And I'm also going to end it by saying, I looked at my husband and also said, I remember being in college, I probably would have been shouting the same thing along with them. But now I just as an adult and like, where are we in society?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, great. M point, Mary. yeah, it is a reflection on society. And, as it says in second, Timothy chapter three, in the last days, men will be lovers of self. All the selfies, all the, you know, look at me, look at me. Society. Lovers of self. Lovers of money. Boastful, arrogant, revilers, Disobedient to parents. Ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips without self control. Brutal haters of good. Treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. These describe where we are today. These last days have come, and they're difficult times. And so, you know, hats off to teachers, to coaches, to, school administrators. That's not an easy gig. And as I said, it goes back to if the home breaks down and there's no discipline in the home, and the mom and dad are not, working together to provide discipline and correction for their children. Then they come, and many of these young guys are very, very angry. You know, Vince Young shared, in that documentary, he said, my dad was in prison. I didn't have a dad growing up, and I didn't know how to act. And then you have this tremendous talent, and people fawn all over you because you're so talented, you're so athletic. And so you kind of get a pass on, not controlling yourself and not being a person of discipline and person, of character and integrity. And so that's desperately needed for today. So I appreciate the comment, Mary. That's very good. We have Sarah on the line from Texas. Sarah, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning, Pastor Jeff, and thank you for taking my call. Yes, I'm calling from the Woodlands, and every day when I walk my dogs, and I just want to share all three of my kids are Division 1 athletes. And just recently, my son transferred out to, NCC State playing basketball. My oldest. And he. He is my emotional player. And I always try to get him to abstain from the cultural norms, which, yeah, he's doing amazing things now. Now, granted, he's also 24, so that frontal cortex is closing up on him and helping him be a better man. And one thing I just have to say, because my daughter, she played volleyball for Baylor, which obviously is a Christian school, and my youngest plays basketball for Montana State, is that we really sought coaches that love Christ.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Caroline: And we have been blessed that this transfer to NC State has given my son an opportunity to be with coaches who, no joke, all of them have, talked about their faith and love of Christ. And I think as parents of athletes, not only raising your kids to love him is so important, to look for coaches who do. And I'm not going to tell you that any of the experiences have been perfect that we've been through, and we're still going through it.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Sure.
Caroline: But we just preach daily to trust God's plan. And again, we. We really feel like our oldest were just so excited because he's been patient and hoping and praying that we get to see the best version of him, which is amazing. I just, again, I'm always like, hey, when you're on the court, can we abstain from any vulgarity, please?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes. Well, good for you on that. And, man, three children all playing Division 1 sports. That's pretty amazing. you know, I think about, Jon Wooden. We talked about Jon Wooden today. You know, even if you didn't play, just to be on UCLA's team and to be around a guy like that, you could learn so much. You know, Bill Walton just always went. He was effusive with praise over all the lesson that he learned, under Jon Wooden. And so you get a coach that really models a, behavior that you, can emulate, that's worth a lot. I had a lady tell me one time, this was back in 2003, 2004, and she said about Coach Mack Brown for the University of Texas. She said, I want my son to play for Mack Brown, even if they lost every game, because he's a good example to my son as to what it means to be a man, what it means to carry yourself in a godly way. And so I thought, man, that is great. What a compliment, to Coach Mack Brown. So thank you, Sarah. I appreciate you calling in and, excited for you and your husband as you watch your kids, compete. Well, thanks for listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas, and the founder of From Us Heart Ministries, From Us Heart. Assert every weeknight at 6:00pm Central Time right here on American Family Radio. Go out today, Shine for Christ and share what great things the Lord has done for you, and God will use you as his witness. God bless you.
: Welcome to Real Truth for Today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve, Senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas. Now here's Pastor Jeff.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, good Monday morning and welcome to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. Hope you had a wonderful weekend. If you are like many, you are watching college football on Saturday and there was a big rivalry game. UT versus ut. The University of Texas versus the University of Tennessee. somebody I think made an AI song about UT versus ut. It was really an interesting song, well put together. AI is amazing how it can put music together just like that. But, but big game Texas came out on top 20 to 17. But the game was marred with some vulgar big play celebrations. And it just, in my mind there's just no place for that in sports. There's no place for that in college football, really. In any football pro, college, high school, peewee, if you beat a guy, you beat a guy. It's okay to celebrate but not to try and humiliate the guy. And what Colin Alred Simmons, Simmons did. And then Raleigh Brown, the running back who scored, he didn't get penalized. Simmons did. But just reveals a, deeper problem. First Corinthians 13:11. Paul says, When I was a child, I used to think, as a child, speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. Well, I've asked my friend Coach Greg Davis, the former offensive coordinator for the University of Texas for 13 seasons. He won a national championship in 2005 and produced Vince Young, one of the greatest quarterbacks, in college football history. He served his Last five years as Iowa's offensive coordinator under Kirk, Ferencz, and he won the Broyles Award for the nation's top college football assistant in 2005. Has coached 22 bowl games and helped develop quarterbacks who became household names. So. Coach Davis, welcome to the program.
Coach Greg Davis: Good morning, Jeff. Thank you for having me.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, thank you for coming on, Coach. So, you have been gracious to me as I watch the, Longhorn games. I text you during the games and you haven't blocked me yet. So I appreciate that. But, let's talk about the good things, Coach. it was a good day in college football is a good day for the University of Texas, number one in the nation. we would have liked to have won that game a little more handily than we did, but a win is a win. Give me your thoughts on that. That game.
Coach Greg Davis: Well, I think it is exactly as you said. I mean, sure. I mean, there's things that, that I'm sure we need to clean up that the University of Texas would like to have done better. And at the same time, you know, there's been four, four ball games. And I would say Texas is probably the only team in the nation that has played, two teams ranked, in the top 21 on the road. So they went on the road, they beat up a, very talented University of Tennessee team. And yes, there's things that we need to do better, but all in all, you'll take the victory and work on those things this week.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Okay. So, in the first half there was a play. Colin Alred Simmons had a monster game as far as the defensive player is concerned. Five sacks, he had a big sack in, I guess was the second quarter. They would have been. Tennessee would have been pinned on their eight yard line or something like that. And then he celebrates the big play with, what was called vulgar and idiotic simulating. The ref even said that a penalty, 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty for simulating urinating on the field. I've never seen anything like that. what did you think when you saw that?
Coach Greg Davis: When I first, when I first saw the flag, I did not know what had happened. And I'm thinking, oh, no, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna bail them out here because of, you know, a face mask or something. and then when, and then when they showed it again, I was, I had, I was around sports, my entire life. Coached over four decades. I've never seen anything like that. And, disappointing. To be sure. I don't know the player at all. but I do know that's not acceptable. And I'm sure coach, ah, Muschamp, who I do know and coached with, and coach, Sarkeesian will handle it this week. what you said earlier is exactly right, Jeff. We want the players to be excited when they make a play. back when I was, coaching, the last part of my coaching career, they had done away with celebrations. And I was so disappointed. I mean, a guy gets in the end zone for the first time or the 20th time, and he's supposed to just turn around and act like it's another day at the office. Sports is supposed to be fun, supposed to be, you know, and. But I think what you need to do is you need to celebrate with your teammates, the ones that help you get there.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Coach Greg Davis: and that's what was disappointing. Obviously it was a vulgar act. but I mean, turn it, just celebrate with your friends and, so though I was disappointed, well, it seems
Pastor Jeff Schreve: to me, that that the new thing now is not just beating the opponent, but then I want to humiliate you. I want to do something that is so crude and over the top to show you that I just dominated you. you know, I like the, I think Vince Lombardi started this saying, act like you've been there before. Show some class. We had the, golf team, PGA golf team. Scotty Scheffler, he was going up against a guy and somebody yelled in the guy's, downswing and he hit a bad shot. And Scotty, showed class and gave him like a 32 foot putt. He said, we'll, count that good. now Scotty's a UT guy, which is a good thing for the University of Texas, it seems like. Coach, there are certain sports that tend toward classlessness as opposed to others. Golf is kind of the last bastion of some class. How do you see that in college football today? Have we just gotten to the place where it's just classless?
Coach Greg Davis: Well, I certainly hope not, Jeff. you know, when you think about college football and the, number of people that set their weekends around it, to watch their teams, I certainly hope this is not the, the way it's going to be from here on in. And I feel certain that it won't be. but, you know, you're right. The, When you, when you beat somebody, when you, you make a big play, you know, it does you no good. It does your Team no good to belittle whoever you just beat. I mean, just, just turn around and be excited with your, you know, with your teammates, with your coaches, you know, making a play. So, and I hope, I hope the player will learn from this. like I said, I do not know him. I've never heard anybody talk about him as a person, but I hope that he will learn from this and grow from it.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, he's obviously a great player, great athlete, but it seems to me, seems to me as coaches, and I know you did this, coach, you take these young guys, I mean 18, 19 year old guys, and they're not yet men, but you want them to become men. So back to that first Corinthians 13 verse. when I became a man, I put away childish things. That seems to be a childish thing. And it seems to me it's not true across the board, obviously, but you have a lot of guys in sports that are young guys and they get in the pros or young guys in their 20s, they're still kids, they haven't, they haven't gotten to that place, in their maturity to say, hey, I need to put those things away. How did you view that when you were coaching, taking these, these young guys and turning them into men that make wise decisions?
Coach Greg Davis: Well, they are young. They are young men. They're still children. you know, even I think, you know, their brains are not totally developed. And you know, I worked with, I worked with a guy one time that said, you know, boys, boys do what they want to do, men do what they have to do. and so I think what you have to do is long before the situation occurs, it's kind of like, you know, raising children, you should respond to things that you think may happen long before they do happen. and one of the best ways I found was when you were watching film, of other players. I mean, you sit in a room with four quarterbacks and you're watching an offense, that's not yours, and you're preparing for somebody else and the quarterback that you're watching makes a mistake. You've never heard four guys get after a quarterback like they will. I mean, can you believe you did that, coach? Is that the dumbest thing you've ever seen? I mean, it's real easy to, point out others mistakes.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right?
Coach Greg Davis: so I think one of the best things to do in the coaching world, in the parental world is that, you know, you, you try to handle these before they come up. So Use that example to say, now, that's not the way we would have acted. That's not the way, you know, you should have responded. I mean, jump up and high five your. Your buddy. and. And if you notice, you know, he was immediately taken out of the ball game, which I thought was appropriate and necessary. I don't know if we'll put him out of the ball game or start. It doesn't matter. He was immediately pulled out of the ball game. I'm sure there was a brief conversation about, hey, we don't act like that. I feel certain, I didn't see it, but I feel certain. After the ball game, he probably was made available to the media.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: yeah, he apologized.
Coach Greg Davis: To apologize. when I was at the University of Texas, every Monday, we had a press conference that the coordinators and players went to. he probably is going to apologize again. and hopefully, you know, hopefully he learned from that. And not only he, but other members of the team, because it's not a good representation of not only college sports, but what you're trying to do as a coach.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Well, Coach, if you saw the fourth quarter touchdown, I know you did. With Relique Brown, the running back scored for UT to put him up 20 to 10. He did something equally as vulgar in his celebration. And it's like, good grief. Do you guys never learn?
Coach Greg Davis: M. I did not say that. Oh, you did not see that. I was actually my son in law, who was watching a ball game with me. I had stepped out to probably go get some pizza or something, and my son says, well, they almost entered again. I said, do what? And he was trying to describe to me, but that's. That's sad if that happened again or similar.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: So, Coach, I was talking to Coach, Scott Surratt, a mutual friend of ours, that, coach of the Carthage Bulldogs, one of the best high school football coaches that's ever lived. He was saying that he thinks they ought to start finding these players, that teams ought to find him. If you're paying that guy a million dollars a year or whatever they're paying him, to play and you do something stupid that hurts the team, you ought to get fined.
Coach Greg Davis: I would agree. Now, it's easy for Scott and I to say that. I don't know how you implement it because, of all the, you know, the hoops you would have to jump through, but, I mean, you certainly could be fine in professional sports.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right?
Coach Greg Davis: I mean, if you. If you do anything that is detrimental to the club. yeah, you can be fine.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, we're talking to coach Greg Davis, the offensive coordinator for the University of Texas for so many years, won a national championship in 2005. With Vince Young, we're talking about vulgar celebrations and the state of our country will be right back on Real Truth for today.
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Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to, welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff here talking to my friend, Coach Greg Davis. He was the offensive coordinator at the University of Texas for 13 years. Won a national championship in 2005 with a, fairly good quarterback. Vince Young being facetious there. I think Vince is the greatest college football player, most impactful college football player to have ever played. He could just totally take over a game. But we're talking about what's going on in sports today, especially as it relates to college football. We have, America is, very, very interested and excited about college football, football in general. But I'm a college football guy, not a pro football guy. And I really follow the University of Texas. That's the one team I get excited about. But, Coach, when we think about players today, you've been in sports for a long time, so you've seen the players evolve over the decades. What kind of a guy do we have coming into a program today versus what you had back in the 80s and 90s?
Coach Greg Davis: Well, obviously social media is, you know, it's a huge deal. I was asked right at the end of my career, Jeff, a sports writer called and said, we're doing an article on guys who have called plays for over 30 years. And, you know, we'd like to ask you some questions. And the first question was, you know, what is the. What is the difference between now and when you first started calling plays? And my answer was social media. when I first started calling plays, at Texas A and M University, back in 1979, nobody knew my name. M. There was no big, deal about offensive and defensive coordinators and play callers, and it was just, you know, it was just a team and, you know, and everything, you know, everything that was mentioned, about that football team, was the head coach. Yeah. I mean, seriously. I mean, there was no. There was no radio show that was 24 hours talk radio about. Well, what do you think about that third and three call on the minus 15? I mean, so, you know, in today's game, every. Every call, every decision and every action, is talked about for weeks. And so the kids that grow up now, they're seeing things that, you know, they're seeing celebrations, and they're seeing, hey, let's get an interception, and all 11 of us run to the end zone. I mean, what does that do? well, all 11, you run to the sideline and high five each other. so I, think they're. I think when a player came in years ago, they were much. I don't know what the right word is, Jeff. Docile. They were much tamer. and, they come in now, and they've just been exposed to so many more things.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah. Well, the documentary came out on Vince Young just recently on Netflix, wasn't, super, flattering, of Vince. His college years were good. His pro years were not good. But Vince did some things. He threw his shoulder pads into the stands, got, so upset. I never saw him do stuff on the field that was detrimental to the team like that. I wonder. You know him pretty well. How would. How would he respond to, like, some of these vulgar celebrations? What would he say about that?
Coach Greg Davis: I think he would say the same thing that you just did. I mean, you know, you hurt the team. I mean, you're. If I remember right, the sequence of events, after the penalty was, all of a sudden, Tennessee got a drive going, right. I don't believe it ended in points. I may be wrong.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: No, you're right, it didn't.
Coach Greg Davis: But the momentum shifted, for sure. Fill positions shifted for sure. And, you know, coaches, you know, for years, and rightfully so, there's no one player that's bigger than the team.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Coach Greg Davis: And So your question was what do you think Vince would think? I think he would be disappointed. I think he would, he would feel like, you know, that hurt the deep.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, he never, Vince never, he never acted like an idiot when he scored, even when he scored against usc.
Coach Greg Davis: Fact. In fact, I've often told many people that when he scored the touchdown at the end of the national championship game and we were fixing to have to go for two, to make it a three point ballgame, how many players would have, would have scored and tossed the ball into the stance. Right. You know, or spiked the ball because we were living in a, in a time then where you cannot celebrate other than being with your players. So don't even think about throwing it in the stands. What if he just turned and spiked it?
Coach Greg Davis: And now we got a 15 yard penalty. And you know, it's just it's disappointing what we're seeing. And hopefully coaches will use this situation, the situation with that you were mentioning off the air, the Alabama player getting punched, the Miami quarterback, you know, the late hit on the Miami quarterback when he was trying to slide, the the Oregon quarterback, the maybe they'll use this situation as an overall team experience. Man, this is not what it's all about.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Coach, let me ask you this. I talked about this yesterday in my sermon about anger. And we have anger on display pretty much every, every Saturday in college football and pro football. the coaches don't seem to get as angry, but college, they can really get angry. And arguably the greatest college football coach is Nick Saban. And he, he was not known for holding his temper. as we think about coaches turning boys into men. And I would think that that's, that's heavy on the minds of coaches that I'm molding these guys. I don't want to model being a three year old and having a temper tantrum on the sidelines. Why is that? Those guys, why did they seem to get a pass for not being able to control their temper?
Coach Greg Davis: Why do coaches get a pass? Is that the question?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes, because the players are going to follow suit.
Coach Greg Davis: Well, I think that's, you know Jeff, I think that's a good question. The there's so much pressure on players and coaches to produce. and then, and then you put so much pressure on yourself. You know, I had people ask man, I mean it must be a lot of pressure, you know, calling plays at university. There's no more Pressure than, than a competitor puts upon himself to try to give his players, ah, you know, a chance to win the ball game. And at the same time, when you see a call, typically the coach's anger is over a penalty or a non. Penalty. That's what creates it. then you're, you know, you're responding in such a way that, yeah, I guess there's no other term. In some ways it is childish, but there's a whole lot on the line and, and you want your players to know. you know, Thom Landry was one of my idols growing up, growing up in the state of Texas and, and he was a very stoic on the sideline, you know, extremely stoic. Well, you know, there were people that said I could never play for Thom Landry. He didn't have any passion about the game. Well, that was silly.
Coach Greg Davis: Of course he had passion about the game. but that was, that was, you know, the way he was. so, you know, but that's what happens, Jeff. You get caught up in the heat of the moment and you know, you respond. But there is a difference in being upset and going over the top. There's a difference in celebrating and doing what we saw Saturday.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Coach Greg Davis: And that's, that's what you have to guard against.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Well, you think about, we, could make the case that the greatest coach in any sport was Jon Wooden. his record speaks for itself. Wooden never cussed, wouldn't never, God never lost his marbles out there. held things in check. He's extremely passionate, extremely well prepared. but he's a model for other coaches. Say, hey, be like this. You know, you think of Thom Landry, well, he's the premier, one of the premier coaches to have ever lived. even a guy like Dabo Sweeney, Dabo's a lot more emotional. But I don't think Dabo makes a fool of himself, do you?
Coach Greg Davis: Oh, no, no, no. And listen, we're, we're not, we're not talking about being emotional. You cannot be in that sport. I was in it for over four decades. You are going to be passionate. If you're good, you're going to be passionate. If the amount of hours is that you pour into it, you're gonna be passionate, you're gonna be emotional. The thing is it has to be a, controlled emotion so that you make good decisions for your football team. And that's Navo's emotional. Navo gets upset. I mean, but I think it, I think it's a control. I mean, you Know, you immediately, you state your case, which usually you lose when it comes to calls, and then you got to go on to the next play.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, you really do. Okay. The, the South Carolina player, Dillon Stuart, who's a stud player, he, wouldn't come out of the game when they were subbing for him. He waved the guy off. when you start having that kind of insubordination on the team. Now the head coach, Shane Beamer, suspended him indefinitely, which I think is the right move to do. You have to have controls on these guys. They can't just. The inmates can't run the asylum, so to speak. And so, Greg, as you think about our society and ain't nobody gonna tell me what to do and that kind of thing in sports that doesn't work. You have to be able to submit yourself to the, to the coach over you and ultimately to the head coach and the head coach to the school. As you said, the donors, they have a lot to say about things that happen. So, comment on that. suspending that guy. Would you have done that had you been the head coach?
Coach Greg Davis: Absolutely, absolutely. You, I mean, you summed it up. I mean, you know, there has to be, there has to be, you know, control and But typically Jeff and I always refer back to raising children. Typically that jins just didn't happen at that point. Moment that has been building. Yes, there has been incidents that were not immediately handled. and that's where the problem comes in. one of, you know, I was with Mac for 18 years. and one of his best qualities was things did not sit on his desk. He handled them. And so, so when a situation starts, you know, immediately the boundary is pushed or a guy steps over the line, it immediately is addressed.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah.
Coach Greg Davis: And so that's where you know, the problem. The problem is we've let it get to be a problem. It should have been nipped in the bud a long time ago. I mean, we had a tremendous player at the University of Texas. I'm not going to call his name. He only played one year. He was one of the greatest athletes I was ever around.
Coach Greg Davis: But he couldn't conform. he couldn't do the other thing, things that were necessary, to play. And because of it, he had to be removed from the team. and so that's my take on that, is that, you know, those, and those situations have to be handled earlier. Yeah. but I do think he was right to suspend the player Coach, from
Pastor Jeff Schreve: your perspective, if you had a, if you had a Jon Wooden today, let's say he's coaching college football, how would that go over? That kind of stern, hey, we don't cuss. If you cuss, you're out. If you grow a beard, you're out. I mean, how would. How would that do?
Coach Greg Davis: Well, obviously, I didn't know Coach Woodman. I, did see his teams play and were marveled at the discipline and, all that. But I will say this about great coaches. They adapt with the times. So I don't know if Coach Rudin was coaching today, if his team would have no earrings, no beards. No. You know, I do think, would they be disciplined? Absolutely. You know, would they be situational, aware? Absolutely, they would. But I do think he probably would have adapted somewhat to the times. That doesn't mean you let everything you stand for go away. Not.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: All right, yeah, good point. Well, coach Greg Davis has been our guest coach. Thanks so much for coming on, talking about this important, important subject because it kind of reveals where we are as a society. And, we want our players to celebrate and have fun. It's a fun game, but you have to do that under control. Well, you're listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here. When we come back from the break, we'll take your calls. 888-589-8840. That's 885-89840. Pick up the phone, give me a call, and let's talk.
: If you'd like to contact Pastor J.E. email pastor jeffromhisheart.org now back to Real Truth for today with Pastor Jeff Schrieve.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Welcome back to the program. Pastor Jeff Here we are going to open the phone lines. We like to do that in the last segment. 888-589-8840. That's 888-589-8840. If you have a question or comment, love to hear from you. And, had been talking to coach Greg Davis. He had to leave. But, we're talking about the issue in college sports.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: as a football fan, we all have our particular teams, our favorite teams that we root for. Whether we went there or that's just the team that we grew up loving or whatever. When you have a big play and then, you turn around and negate the big play because you couldn't control yourself and you did something so, so foolish that hurt the team, it's just, ugh, it's so frustrating to watch that. And as Greg Davis said, you know, the situation at the University of Texas where you have this great, great player, Colin Alred Simmons, five sacks, I mean that's, that's unheard of. But then to negate that with this vulgar act, pretending you're using the restroom on the field, that's not something that just you know, came to his mind at the, you know, in the moment. He had thought about that and that was terrible. I mean he needs to be that, that needs to be ah, addressed on the team. Obviously it will be and that needs to be stopped. like I said, they did it again, in the second half the running back did a similar type of thing that's just like, what are you doing? So I've couched this all around First Corinthians 13, verse 11. When the apostle Paul said, when I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child. When I became a man I did away with childish things. And the job I believe of a coach, especially a college football coach, is to take young guys, 18, 19, 20 year old guys and help them become men. And what I love about coach Mack Brown, as coach Greg Davis worked with Mack Brown for so many years, Mack Brown was really focused in, on this is a special time in your life as a college football player. But this is not even winning the national championship. His famous line, guys, don't make this the high point of your life. Go on and become great husbands and great fathers and make a difference in business and in you know, whatever endeavor you you go into. But this can't be the peak of your life, a great moment in your life, winning the national championship. Not very many people experience that but there's got to be more to that. And I've always admired Coach Brown and I think that's one of the greatest post game locker room victory speeches ever. And you can find that on YouTube. And I remember telling him face to face, I said Mac, that's the best thing I've ever heard a coach say to a team. And so you want to turn those guys, those young guys that are childlike in many ways into men and men that as Greg Davis said, what's the difference? A child does what he wants to do. A man does what he has to do, what is needed, what is required. Well we're going to the phone lines 888589-8840 and we have Lisa on the line from Alabama. Lisa, welcome to Real truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Good morning.
Caroline: I was thinking, do you think some of this over the top celebration, look at me behavior is because now these college players who may not be able to go on to the NFL and make money, are trying to make their money in college for their. Since they can be paid now for their likeness and all of that. Do you think that their behavior is for financial gain?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: yeah, that's a good point. You know, those guys, a lot of those guys that are making big money may, not even play on Sunday. They may not get to the NFL. And some of those guys are making way more money. Even the guys that get into the NFL. I'm thinking of Quinn Ewers. Quinn Ewers was the quarterback of the University of Texas. And, he went out, he had a year of eligibility left. And, it was reported that Oregon, Miami, some of the other schools said, hey, you can play for us for one year. I think they were going to pay him three or four million dollars, but he said no, and he went and played pro football. He's playing pro football now, but he's not making three or four million dollars. He's making much less than that. But here was his thinking. I want to be a Longhorn for life, because that's worth something. And I'm not just going to, you know, sell my birthright for a single meal, as Esau did, to put it in biblical terms. But, yeah, the only problem with that, Lisa, is when they do something that's over the top, vulgar, most people don't like that. They think, you know, you hurt the team. That is, you know, as they say, conduct detrimental to the team. And that's not somebody that, that, you know, advertisers want to capitalize on. Oh, that guy, he's great. He does all these, vulgar things. So I don't. I don't know if I think what you're saying is. It's got some truth in there. some of these over the top things. It's like, why are you doing that? that doesn't make sense to me.
Caroline: But do you think that because of our culture change that they may not necessarily see what they're doing is being vulgar? Because I know that as my children grew, my. I have three children that are, you know, years apart. And their, Their vision, they're seeing things. They're greatly different from one to the other because of their age. And because, you know, what one saw as being extremely inappropriate and vulgar, the. The next or the next would think, oh, yeah, not so bad. I understand that. So, I mean, this. I think the, you know, sexual standards are very different. You know, purity and. And all of that is not where it was when I was a child. You know what I mean?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Right.
Caroline: Well, thank you for taking my call.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, Lisa, I appreciate that. It's a good point. Well, in society, it does. It represents what we're seeing today in sports. Just like in high school, the students or even in elementary and middle school, the teachers see that, the coaches see that, the breakdown of the family, where we don't have discipline, with these kids, and they're not being taught, right from wrong. And so coaches get these guys that are great athletes, but they're children in terms of their emotional development, in terms of being able to say no to these activities that are going to be destructive. Coach Davis was talking about a particular player. I knew who he was talking about, although he didn't want to mention his name. That guy was phenomenal. But he couldn't stay out of trouble, and he kept getting in trouble. And, you know, Mack Brown was reported, to have said to his recruiters, hey, guys, I know I've signed off on all these players, but we can't get guys into the program that are so totally undisciplined, and they're going to do, you know, commit crimes and do these things that are, going to hurt the team. And so even if we have to pass on a. On a great talent, you got to watch the chemistry of the team because you are building a team. You know, football can't be won by one player. You have to have a team. Basketball, only five guys on the court. You can have one player that's phenomenal, and he can kind of carry the team. football is not quite like that. So I appreciate the call, Lisa. I appreciate the insight. We have Mary on the line from Texas. Mary, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Hi, Jeff.
Caroline: Thank you for taking my call. I really enjoy your show.
: Thank you.
Caroline: I'm calling to comment about the crowd behavior on college game day at the, Ole Miss. Is it Laine Kiffin, lsu, whatever team? And I looked at my husband. I was absolutely floored by the crowd. But I also understand it because of college age hormones, because, trust me, I have them, too, even as a Christian. And, the things that they were yelling and the, you know, commentators had to kind of ignore them. I think one of them turned around and tried kind of like, stop saying that is. It was vile. And then when Laine Kiffin was interviewed and it was not. It was, a live interview, but it was not in person. I'm sure because of security, they were calling him a name that was also vile. And I was stalked. That was on television to begin with, but it was a crowd. How could they have stopped that? And just on that note, not because of that, but I was like, it affirmed. This summer, I gave an etiquette course to my granddaughters and their friends and their moms. We had so much fun, and I feel like we've lost that in society. And I'm also going to end it by saying, I looked at my husband and also said, I remember being in college, I probably would have been shouting the same thing along with them. But now I just as an adult and like, where are we in society?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yeah, great. M point, Mary. yeah, it is a reflection on society. And, as it says in second, Timothy chapter three, in the last days, men will be lovers of self. All the selfies, all the, you know, look at me, look at me. Society. Lovers of self. Lovers of money. Boastful, arrogant, revilers, Disobedient to parents. Ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips without self control. Brutal haters of good. Treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. These describe where we are today. These last days have come, and they're difficult times. And so, you know, hats off to teachers, to coaches, to, school administrators. That's not an easy gig. And as I said, it goes back to if the home breaks down and there's no discipline in the home, and the mom and dad are not, working together to provide discipline and correction for their children. Then they come, and many of these young guys are very, very angry. You know, Vince Young shared, in that documentary, he said, my dad was in prison. I didn't have a dad growing up, and I didn't know how to act. And then you have this tremendous talent, and people fawn all over you because you're so talented, you're so athletic. And so you kind of get a pass on, not controlling yourself and not being a person of discipline and person, of character and integrity. And so that's desperately needed for today. So I appreciate the comment, Mary. That's very good. We have Sarah on the line from Texas. Sarah, welcome to Real Truth for today.
Caroline: Good morning, Pastor Jeff, and thank you for taking my call. Yes, I'm calling from the Woodlands, and every day when I walk my dogs, and I just want to share all three of my kids are Division 1 athletes. And just recently, my son transferred out to, NCC State playing basketball. My oldest. And he. He is my emotional player. And I always try to get him to abstain from the cultural norms, which, yeah, he's doing amazing things now. Now, granted, he's also 24, so that frontal cortex is closing up on him and helping him be a better man. And one thing I just have to say, because my daughter, she played volleyball for Baylor, which obviously is a Christian school, and my youngest plays basketball for Montana State, is that we really sought coaches that love Christ.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes.
Caroline: And we have been blessed that this transfer to NC State has given my son an opportunity to be with coaches who, no joke, all of them have, talked about their faith and love of Christ. And I think as parents of athletes, not only raising your kids to love him is so important, to look for coaches who do. And I'm not going to tell you that any of the experiences have been perfect that we've been through, and we're still going through it.
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Sure.
Caroline: But we just preach daily to trust God's plan. And again, we. We really feel like our oldest were just so excited because he's been patient and hoping and praying that we get to see the best version of him, which is amazing. I just, again, I'm always like, hey, when you're on the court, can we abstain from any vulgarity, please?
Pastor Jeff Schreve: Yes. Well, good for you on that. And, man, three children all playing Division 1 sports. That's pretty amazing. you know, I think about, Jon Wooden. We talked about Jon Wooden today. You know, even if you didn't play, just to be on UCLA's team and to be around a guy like that, you could learn so much. You know, Bill Walton just always went. He was effusive with praise over all the lesson that he learned, under Jon Wooden. And so you get a coach that really models a, behavior that you, can emulate, that's worth a lot. I had a lady tell me one time, this was back in 2003, 2004, and she said about Coach Mack Brown for the University of Texas. She said, I want my son to play for Mack Brown, even if they lost every game, because he's a good example to my son as to what it means to be a man, what it means to carry yourself in a godly way. And so I thought, man, that is great. What a compliment, to Coach Mack Brown. So thank you, Sarah. I appreciate you calling in and, excited for you and your husband as you watch your kids, compete. Well, thanks for listening to Real Truth for today. Pastor Jeff Schrieve here, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Texarkana, Texas, and the founder of From Us Heart Ministries, From Us Heart. Assert every weeknight at 6:00pm Central Time right here on American Family Radio. Go out today, Shine for Christ and share what great things the Lord has done for you, and God will use you as his witness. God bless you.
Pastor Jeff Schreve welcomes longtime college football coach Greg Davis for a conversation about sportsmanship, self-control, discipline, and the responsibility of coaches to help young athletes grow into mature adults. They discuss vulgar celebrations, emotional outbursts, social media, team discipline, and the importance of handling problems before they become larger issues. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 13:11, Pastor Jeff emphasizes the need to put away childish behavior and develop character, integrity, and self-control. The discussion also explores the influence of coaches, parents, culture, and Christian role models in shaping the next generation.
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