One Godly Gridiron: The Religious Brother Coaching Football at Mullen High School in Denver
- Guest Contributor
- 6 minutes ago
- 5 min read
This man in black is forming young men through faith, discipline and Friday night lights at one Denver Catholic high school.
By Ryan Brady
On Friday nights at Mullen High School in Denver, under the stadium lights, it is not unusual to see a black cassock pacing the sideline. Parents from opposing teams sometimes do a double-take. Players from public schools wander over after the game to ask questions. But for Mullen’s freshmen, Brother Andrew Brebeuf has become a familiar presence — theology teacher, football coach and spiritual father.
“I was here to form young boys into men and to teach them what the difference is between being a boy and being a man,” he said.
Brother Andrew, 30, grew up in Ohio as an athlete, playing left tackle and defensive end and dreaming of coaching one day himself. He attended Ohio State University, “mostly just because I love their football team,” and initially studied engineering before changing his major to philosophy as his faith deepened. During a Holy Hour in college, he sensed the Lord asking him a direct question: “What if you gave your whole life to me?” At first, he admitted, he was afraid.
“But the more thought I gave it, I just logically, I couldn't argue it. I was happier and happier,” he remembered.
Before entering religious life, but still searching for a deeper purpose, he enlisted in the Army and served for six years as a combat engineer.
“I thought the Army could [satisfy my heart] because it would be so meaningful, serving others and living for something more than yourself. But it still didn't,” he said.
That realization eventually led him to discern the priesthood “as a way to lay my life down for others.” The structure, discipline and team-oriented mentality of the military prepared him well for religious life.
“The military is so similar to religious life,” he said. “You're part of a team, and it's not about you, and as long as your team wins the victory, that's what matters.”
Now a member of the Servants of Christ Jesus, a young Denver-based community inspired by the spirituality of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Brother Andrew is in formation for the priesthood. As part of that formation, the community assigns its brothers to teach in high school for three years.
“Our superior said that the goal is to become a father before we're called Father,” he explained. “Because it doesn't just happen overnight.”
Teaching, and especially coaching, has become training for that now and future fatherhood.
Though he once thought coaching might not be possible as a religious brother, an unexpected conversation with Mullen’s head coach opened the door. What followed has been, in his words, “one of my favorite things I've ever done.” Yet he is clear about his priorities.
“If we win every game this year, but you don't become better men, then I failed you as a coach,” he told his players. “That's not my goal this year. I have a bigger purpose for your life.”
(Photos provided)
For Brother Andrew, football is not merely a sport but a uniquely powerful place of formation. He believes one of the great struggles facing young men today is apathy. Echoing Pope St. John Paul II, he speaks of a “disease of superficiality” among the young.
“It's hard for them to care about anything,” he said. “The sports field is the one place a young boy doesn't have apathy. It's the one place where they really care, and they want to get better, and they are willing to be pushed beyond what is comfortable for them.”
That desire to be great, he believes, can be purified and redirected.
“I think two virtues Christian men need are magnanimity and humility,” he said. “We need to desire to be great and be willing to do whatever it takes, even if it's hard. And we need the humility to recognize we can't do it on our own, and we need help.”
Those virtues can be taught in the classroom, but usually need to be learned and actualized on the field.
“If you can teach kids that in football, then they can understand that with their faith and desire to become saints no matter what it takes and realize they can never do that on their own,” Brother Andrew explained. “And they need both help for brothers around them and fathers, but also supernatural help from God.”
He insists that the natural and supernatural cannot be separated.
“I think sometimes in our faith, we supernaturalize things so much that we forget that the supernatural builds off the natural,” he said.
Without virtue — discipline, sacrifice and perseverance — a lasting relationship with God is difficult to sustain. Football provides a concrete arena where boys see the consequences of their actions.
“When they see, I got a stupid penalty because I couldn't control my emotions and that cost the team the game … then I begin to realize my actions affect everybody else,” he said. “It's not about me, but I have a way bigger impact on the world than what I realize I do.”
Those lessons extend far beyond high school athletics. Brother Andrew often reminds his students that they are created to be leaders and that others will follow them, for good or for ill. The weight of that responsibility can be sobering, but he believes young men need to face it before it’s placed on them as adults.
“They need to see the weightiness of what it means to be a man,” he said.
Ultimately, success is not measured by scholarships or championships but by Heaven. He invites students to imagine walking into eternity and being greeted by people grateful for their witness — or, conversely, to consider the cost of leading others astray.
“Our lives are so much bigger than ourselves,” he said.
At Mullen, that vision is reinforced by a football culture wrapped in prayer. The team prays before and after practices and games, often inviting opposing teams to join them at midfield.
“They see that there's more to life,” Brother Andrew said.
For some parents, the sight of a cassock on the sideline has been moving. One mother thanked him after noticing the way he consoled her son after a difficult play. Others have remarked that seeing a religious brother coaching makes them reflect on their own faith.
The most meaningful moments, Brother Andrew said, often come in defeat or difficulty. After early-season losses, the coaching staff realized they were not challenging the team enough. Increased discipline — and plenty of up-downs — followed.
“Some of them would call me Coach Up-Down,” he said with a grin.
Over time, the players began asking to be pushed harder, having seen the fruits of accountability and effort.
“God was teaching me how to push and challenge kids to be magnanimous and rise above their own standards,” he reflected.
Throughout it all, Brother Andrew sees fatherhood unfolding in unexpected ways.
“Fatherhood is one of the greatest gifts God gives to men, and it is a sacred honor,” he said.
It requires both compassion and courage — the willingness to comfort and the willingness to correct. In a culture marked by fatherlessness, he recognizes the privilege of walking with young men at a pivotal stage of life.
“I just think, ‘What do I wish I had when I was 15 years old?’ and then I give it to them,” he said. “And hopefully they're better men than I am when they're 30. That's the goal.”
If that happens, the wins and losses will matter very little.
“I'm confident I'm going to be a better priest because of football,” he said. “If football makes me a better priest, praise God for it.”
