While all eyes are on the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, we’d like to turn your attention to the Carolina Panthers. Specifically, new head coach Frank Reich.
Reich, a retired quarterback for the Carolina Panthers and former coach of the Indianapolis Colts, has been named the team’s new head coach. According to Sports Spectrum, Reich has signed a four-year contract with the Panthers. But before his coaching career, he was a full-time pastor at Charlotte, North Carolina’s Ballantyne Presbyterian Church.
Reich has been praised by Panthers’ General Manager Bill Polian as “a great person, a talented football coach, a strong motivator and a man who connects well with players and has a great football mind.”
But beyond being a top-notch coach, Reich is also a devout Christian who has balanced his football career with his faith. Reich spent 13 years in the NFL playing for teams such as the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Detroit Lions and even the Panthers. Before transitioning to a coaching career in 2007, he took the time to earn a Master of Divinity from Reformed Theological Seminary, and served as the president of its Charlotte campus, as well as eventually pastoring at Ballantyne.
In a 2019 appearance on “Beyond the Game” podcast with NFL Hall of Famer Tony Dungy, Reich emphasized that his coaching platform is centered on magnifying the name of Jesus Christ.
“The No. 1 goal is to magnify the name of Jesus Christ first and foremost above all things,” Reich said. “Whether it was in ministry or in coaching, no matter what I was going to choose to do, that was going to be my mission in life. … I really thought [ministry] might be it, but at the end of the day, I don’t think that was God’s calling on my life.”
Reich still delivers sermons from time to time, speaking on biblical leadership, courage and more.
