In today’s modern college football, there is no offseason. When the season ends, the coaches focus on recruiting and preparing for the next season. The players roll right into offseason workouts and conditioning.
Players also have to figure out how to manage the increase in their free time during the offseason, both on campus and at home. This can be a time when coaches worry the most about what decisions those players are making with their free time. The vast majority of players make the right decisions, but there can be a few who don’t make the right choices. The reality is a coach or coaching staff will probably never be able to prevent 100% of their players from making poor decisions. Human beings have and will always make bad decisions that nobody can prevent. But that doesn’t mean coaches have to accept that reality and carry on with the status quo. They can make a difference and decide to do everything within their power to change the status quo. They can decide to address off-the-field behavior head on. They can decide that coaching the X’s and O’s of life is just as important as coaching the X’s and O’s of football.
At the University of North Carolina, Head Coach Larry Fedora believes that answers to questions like this lie within what kind of culture you create around and within your program. Establishing a culture based on integrity and respect is not something Coach Fedora did in year two or year four; it’s something he established the first day he stepped on campus in 2012. He decided he wanted somebody around his program that could help the staff teach and reinforce to the players the X’s and O’s of life. A guy that helps the staff shape the person off the field while the coaches shape the player on the field.
That guy is Mitch Mason.
Mason, who is employed by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, serves as the Team Chaplain for UNC’s football program. But to the players on the team, he’s just Coach Mitch. Coach Mitch is the guy in the program that’s helping to teach those X’s and O’s of life. He’s the one trying to guide the players and coaches through life’s playbook and after sitting down with him and hearing him describe his job, it’s hard to believe one guy can handle everything that comes his way. Of course, it helps that he’s been where these players and coaches have been. He has played and coached in college football and professional football. He’s walked in their shoes; something most people can’t say they’ve done.
Coach Mitch is usually the one doing the listening, but this time it was his turn to talk and discuss a wide range of topics about UNC’s program and college football as a whole.
Q: How did you come to work for the FCA in Chapel Hill?
“Well, Coach Fedora had an FCA background. When he was headed to UNC he contacted the area FCA representative, Johnny Evans, and said he wanted an FCA Chaplain here working with his team. Johnny knew of me down in Clemson and he put the two of us together. We met and hit it off great from day one. It was that simple.”
Q: What about the job interested you early on?
“I think the challenge of what UNC was going through when we got here is what caught my interest. Coach Fedora didn’t have to tell me about it because we followed it at Clemson. In fact, a lot of people there told me not to come to Chapel Hill. They said there’s a dark cloud brewing there and I shouldn’t go near it. I think we’re called to serve and we’re called to go where help is needed. UNC was that place when Coach Fedora called me. But the minute I met Coach Fedora, I knew that he had a heart for people. He’s a guy with integrity and great character. My experience at Clemson taught me to have a heart for people and listen with a servant’s heart. I knew after talking with him this was the place I needed to be.”
Q: What exactly did Coach Fedora say to get you to move your family to Chapel Hill?
“He said he wanted a guy that would provide an outlet for the players. He wanted to change the culture here from the inside out. In order to do that he wanted players to be transparent with us and tell us how they’re feeling and what’s going on with them in their whole lives, not just their football lives. So Coach Fedora wanted me to be the guy that could relate to the players and give them a place to go where they could open up and be themselves. It was his focus on the players’ lives that drew me in.”
Q: Why were you able to be that guy?
“My background, and not really by design, has really prepared me for this position. I grew up playing football in Florida where football is king. I played in college and did well and know the player side of this equation. Then I coached for a period and I feel like that’s helped me in knowing the coaching side of this equation. I feel like that has given me a look at both sides of the player/coach relationship. I coached in arena football and then I coached at West Point. I learned the pressures that both coaches and players encounter. All of that experience has helped me know how to respond to players when they need a sounding board for their problems and concerns.”
Q: How hard was the transition when you guys got to UNC? Could you jump right in or did people have to take time to figure out your role at first? –
“Well, the FCA model is “To and Through the Coach.” I really wanted to be the guy the players could come and just talk to about what’s going on in their lives. It wasn’t about coming in and setting up Bible study groups. It was about being a servant to them in whatever capacity was needed. I found early on that my role was to be a bridge between the current players from the old coaching staff and the new coaching staff. Coaching changes can cause a lot of stress on the players for many reasons. They trusted the coaches that recruited them, they didn’t know the new staff, and there can be a fear there about their future with a staff that doesn’t know them. So it was my job to be that bridge to allow those guys to express themselves privately and process what was going on. Then I could relay to the coaches what they truly felt and thought which could help the coaches then relate to the players and get to know them better. It took a good year and a half to do this and build my role here. I wanted people to understand that my role here wasn’t to just come from a religious perspective. It was to really come from a servant’s perspective to allow guys in this intense, pressure-filled environment to open up and talk about what was going on in their hearts and in their lives.”
Q: How has your role helped the coaches relate to the players more effectively?
“Players want to tell a coach what they want to hear. But I get the real deal, the truth about how they’re feeling and what they really want to say sometimes. Now, what I talk about with the players stays between the player and myself. However, there are times when I know that coach needs to be aware of what a particular player is thinking or feeling. So I’ll suggest to the player that they need to talk directly to the coach about it. Or I’ll offer to do it for them or help them figure out the how, the when, and where that conversation should take place. There are also times when, without giving the specifics of what the player has said, I can still give coaches some tips or keys on how to communicate with a particular player. When a coach knows that key it allows them to connect better with the player and both the player and the coach benefit from that improved communication and relationship. The worst thing that can happen to a player, and the program, is for that player to keep his thoughts and emotions bottled up. The staff wants to know when something is wrong with a guy, whether it’s football related, academic related, or whatever is going on in that player’s life. We want that guy to have a place where they can talk and get those issues resolved and improve their experience here at UNC.”
Q: Normal students have time to learn the ropes when they get to college. Student-athletes have to grow up immediately when they step foot on campus because so much is demanded of them on Day 1. Does your role help new players transition to college life?
“The coaches have to focus so much on the actions these guys take. My job is to focus on the heart behind those actions. College football is intense and the pressure is immediate whether it’s on campus or from friends and family back home. My job is to keep their minds grounded and to remind them to keep doing the hard work they’ve done to get here in the first place. I remind them about being a great student first. I remind them to make their parents proud in how they act as men. We talk about being grateful about this opportunity and taking advantage of the opportunity to grow as person, as a student, and as a player. All of these little things add up to being a major part of how you perform on Saturdays. Let’s face it, if you’re not taking care of your class work, of your relationships, of your work ethic in practice and in the weight room; all of those stresses will weigh on you and that will prevent you from being the best you can be on Saturday. The healthy spirit will produce the healthy life. The hardest things to do sometimes are the things you have to do when nobody is there to cheer you on.”
Q: The players all have personal lives that coincide with their football lives that can be tough at this age. How much do they talk about those topics with you?
“Honestly, most of what I talk about with the players has to do with what’s going on in their lives off the field. The other coaches take care of coaching the X’s and O’s of football. I’m here to really take care of coaching the X’s and O’s of life. I love seeing these guys go through life, learn from life, and then mature from what they learn. That’s one of my favorite joys of this job is seeing these guys grow and then be mentors to each other. That’s very gratifying.”
Q: Can you think of teammates from your playing years that would have really benefited from having a position like yours available to them while playing football in college?
“The word stability comes to mind. It would have been a stabilizing force for a lot of guys, me included. For a lot of guys, their emotions and the level of support they felt they had were performance based. When they played well everybody loved them and they felt that love. When they didn’t play well, they didn’t have that. That’s when they let emotions get the best of them and they wouldn’t make the best decisions. Having a guy you can go to in these situations can be an outlet for that stress and help give stability to guys who are teetering on the edge.”
Q: Why do you think the players end up trusting you?
“You have to be there when nobody else is there. That’s when the trust is built. I actually enjoy the offseason and these summer months the most. This is when they tell me about their goals and their dreams. And we talk about how to reach those goals, how to manage the tough times and how to avoid the pitfalls ahead. By the time the games come I’m on the sidelines to do one thing. I’m there to remind them about the goals they set. Remind them to react to tough situations the way we talked about after practice that week or during the summer. I’m there to keep their minds right. And they know I’m always here. I’m at every workout. Every practice. I’m the guy they vent to before and after practice about how they’re being coached. The guy they tell about the bad news they got from home that morning. I’ve had players that call me with a pregnant girlfriend. I’ve performed graveside funerals. I’ve given marriage counseling. Just about everything that life brings our way walks through that door and into my office. Again, it goes back to availability and dependability.”
Q: With what’s happening in the college football world from a negative standpoint with off-the-field conduct issues, do you believe a position like yours should be more widespread and could help prevent these issues from occurring?
“I think about that a lot. I think more teams could definitely benefit from a position like mine having a presence in their programs. A lot of times guys make bad decisions in their lives when the stresses of their lives have built up and they don’t have a person there to talk to them and settle them down and keep them from boiling over. We’ve reached a point where guys on this team know that when they’re getting frustrated with life, they know to come seek me out. It’s time to talk with me. Whether they’re comments like, “Man, my girlfriend and I broke up and had some words. I’m so upset right now,” or something like that; just having that outlet to talk to and think through what they’re feeling and how to and how not to react to those situations is vital in my opinion to helping guys grow up and not make bad decisions. Having that person in place that can talk to them before they go out and act out on those feelings or make bad decisions is important.”
Q: How common is it for college football programs to have people like you working with their programs?
“Under 50% of college programs have a team chaplain. Most, if not all of the SEC has one. Most ACC schools have gotten on board now. Outside of those 2 conferences, it’s sporadic. But the need is becoming more and more apparent in my opinion. When you look at some of the cultural aspects of players in different programs, guys come from many different backgrounds. Think about a kid from a single-parent home whose mom has been the central voice and decision-maker in that guy’s life. When they get to a big-time program and that voice is replaced by a guy they don’t know that well, in addition to the other coaches who are yelling and screaming at them in practice; that’s where you get some confrontation. I’m the one that can step in and talk things through with the player and help them grow up and adapt to their new environment and help navigate them through those growing pains. I’m the link between knowing where they’re coming from by getting to know them and their parents during the recruiting process and then knowing where they’re going and helping them get there.”
Q: Do you communicate often with the parents to understand how they were raised at home and what works and not works in getting the player to open up or what they respond to when the going gets tough?
“All the time. All the time. I’m a father and I wouldn’t want my child to go anywhere where I didn’t feel confident that somebody was there to look after my child. So I’m in contact with the parents constantly. I need their knowledge of their sons to help me know how to help them in different situations. The parents can come to me and I can come to them. It’s beneficial for me and the coaches to have that access and dialogue with the parents. And I let the players know that I do communicate with their parents, not in a sneaky sort of way, but in a teamwork type of way.”
Q: During the recruiting process do you find that parents know about your position or don’t know a position like yours exists?
“I get some of both. Some parents are surprised and some parents have met other team chaplains at other schools. Either way the parents are excited and some are even relieved to know there is somebody there in the program that will be looking out for their son in every part of his life and college experience. Having been a college football player and a coach, I see the whole picture now as well. During the recruiting process a guy gets so much love and attention and it’s all easy. I say easy because the hard work hasn’t started yet. What happens when you get on campus and you’re just another guy in a room full of players that were highly recruited just like you? Times can get tough and I’ve seen good players crumble and start doubting themselves and their decision to come to your school. That’s where I can step in and remind the player why UNC wanted him here. I can communicate with the parents and keep them in the loop and together we can lift those guys up. The parents, when they learn about who I am and what I do, appreciate knowing their son has that somebody extra looking out for them. It helps the coaches and parents know there is somebody there to help remind these guys about good decisions and bad decisions off the field, in their academics, and even in the locker room. The X’s and O’s off the field in life are more important than football. But it goes hand-in-hand because guys that have their life in order off the field will do better on the field in the long run.”
Q: You guys took over an incredibly tough situation when you arrived at UNC. If critics of the program were sitting in front of you now, what would you like to tell them about the culture that has been created here in Chapel Hill inside of this program?
“I think that we’ve made it all about transparency and relationships. Accolades can impress people, but confessing your failures can impact people. It’s been our job to face it all head on and rebuild the trust and integrity that needs to be in place to have a culture here that we can all be proud of at UNC. I would just tell people that we’re people of character in this program. We’re not trying to cut corners, short-change anybody, or do anything but doing things the right way. We promote an atmosphere of openness and transparency that can help everybody deal with the ups and downs of this sport and this world.”
Q: Have you and Coach Fedora sat back and evaluated how this position has benefited the program to date?
“I think we agreed that it was very important early on that we established an outlet to the players to speak their minds and be heard. So much in this business tends to be transactional in nature. I wanted to make sure there was a mechanism for our program to be more relational. I wanted the coaches to know there was a guy here to be available for their players. When they’re busy working or on the road, the coaches liked knowing somebody was here with their players when they couldn’t be there. The most important ability for me was availability. And it was important for the players to know there was a guy here in their corner off the football field. The success early on with this mission has then been expanded in the best way possible; and that’s by players passing it down to younger players as something they could benefit from during their time here on campus. It’s interesting because I don’t take myself serious, but I take this job very serious and don’t take it for granted one bit. I’m grateful to be here in this chair for them when they knock on that door.”
After spending time with Coach Mitch, it’s safe to assume that the players and coaches, Coach Fedora particularly, are grateful that Mason is in that chair when they come knocking. His work is a great model for how coaches and athletic departments can do more to develop student-athletes and help provide a fuller college experience for their players.
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