Jamey Chadwell: Trusting God to Lead Through Change

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Leadership and service are buzzwords we hear often, but for new Flames Football Head Coach Jamey Chadwell, they’re guideposts for the way he approaches his life and career. Raised by a football coach in Tennessee who trained him to serve others at each opportunity, Chadwell is primed and ready to tackle his first season at Liberty University.

When asked how he was approaching his first season at Liberty, Chadwell said his chosen word for the year was embrace, because “when you embrace something, you go after it.” One of the ways he’s living this out is by prioritizing his relationships with his players and coaching staff.

“The biggest thing right now is to earn and gain the trust of our team,” Chadwell said. “If you have any type of relationship, you’ve got to have trust in there. It will be the determination of whether we have a chance to have a positive impact.”

To do this well, Chadwell keeps his focus on the Lord by grounding his coaching philosophy in biblical wisdom. He said he hopes to uplift current Christians on the team while bringing unbelievers to a saving knowledge and relationship with Christ. This includes serving as an example of how to live a godly life for those under his direction, a goal in which his coaching staff can support him through their own examples of Christ-like leadership and servanthood.

“When you’re around other people who are seeking similar pathways and really trying to bring God glory, then it lifts you up,” Chadwell said. “In all the jobs that we all have in sports, there’s a lot that goes into that, and you can lose that charge a lot. But if you have people you’re around who are always trying to lift you up and bring you that bolt, it’s like when you plug your phone in; you need that battery replenished. There’s something special about that you can’t replicate.”

With his coaching staff and years of coaching experience behind him, Chadwell serves his team by example and approaches leadership with four core principles:

1. Competition: Compete in everything you do to become the best person you can be.
2. Discipline: Choose to live with discipline every day.
3. Accountability: Hold yourself accountable to each other and Jesus Christ.
4. Purpose: Define your purpose and the why behind it.

To speak with Coach Chadwell about this topic, please email radio@liberty.edu to schedule an interview.