Tony Bennett, Virginia Men's Basketball Coach (Photo Courtesy: UVA/Twitter @UVAMensHoops)
On March 16th, 2018, coach Tony Bennett and his Virginia Cavaliers men’s basketball team made history by losing to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, thus becoming the first #1 seed to ever lose to a #16 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The potential for embarrassment and scrutiny could not have been higher, but Coach Bennett’s post-game words at the press conference showed a man of class and grace. At first, I was upset that something horrible like this could happen to such a man and coach of character. Just the day before I had a shared a post on Facebook from Sports Spectrum that highlighted the following words from Coach Bennett: “I have great things in my life-my love for my wife, my love for my family, my love for coaching, my love for basketball. Those are wonderful things, but when you line them up in comparison to Christ and the relationship you have with Him, with what He’s done for you and with that He’s given you, they don’t compare. That’s the greatest truth I know.”
As I continued to see his post-game words retweeted and shared on Facebook over the weekend I began to realize that maybe this was a good thing. Maybe this was an opportunity for people to see that who you are as a person is more important than winning and losing. And maybe it is an opportunity to show that the greatest truth Coach Bennett knows, and the promise that God gives each of us, does not change whether we win the championship or lose an embarassing game.
What many people like to do is point to Virginia’s loss and blame Coach Bennett’s style of play. That he is too focused on defense. That his offense is not high-powered enough, etc. This is a debate that can go on and on and the fact is, there are many different strategies and philosophies that can win games. However, on any given day, any strategy and philosophy is subject to lose.
What we really need to guard ourselves against is buying into the idea that when good things happen to us, God loves us more and when bad things happen to us, we have done something wrong or He loves us less. If you think God is helping you win a sports contest because He favors you, then you are saying that he loves you more than your opponent who you just defeated, and God loves all his creation the same.
We can’t only praise God for the wins.
When God says that He has plans to prosper us and not harm us, what He means is that through what Christ did for us and through His promises we can have a calm inner peace to handle everything that is thrown at us. He is talking about prospering us with internal rewards, not external rewards.
It doesn’t mean we won’t feel emotions. I’m sure Coach Bennett and his players felt a variety of emotions after all the effort they put into doing something they love and falling short. But no matter our level of talent, resources, or confidence, we will experience adversity at some point. God doesn’t promise to take away all our discomfort. He promises to give us a reason to be strong enough to deal with any disappointment. And that reason is Jesus Christ.
He also promises that we do not have to do it alone. In times of great disappointment or adversity like Coach Bennett’s historic loss, this is an opportunity for us to open ourselves up to God’s love, strength, and guidance.
In verse 13 of Philippians 4, God tells us that we can do “all things through Christ.” This does not mean that if we try hard enough we can win a national championship, be elected President of the United States, or win a Nobel Prize. We may or may not achieve some of those things. This means that whatever circumstances we experience or whatever we achieve or don’t achieve God will provide us the strength to not only survive, but to thrive and honor Him.
We should be careful not to isolate verse 13 without paying attention also to verse 12: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
So how can we be successful like Tony Bennett and have the strength to thrive and prosper when we lose a game or many games throughout a season? Remember what God said just a couple verses after telling us that he has plans to prosper us and give us hope for the future: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST HOSTED BY JASON ROMANO, FEATURING OSCAR TSHIEBWE
Oscar Tshiebwe is an NBA player with the Houston Rockets. He went undrafted out of Kentucky in 2023 after winning the 2022 Naismith Player of the Year award and being named a first-team All-American in 2022 and second-team All-American in 2023. He led all of college basketball in rebounding in ’22 and ’23.
After signing a two-way deal with the Indiana Pacers and then with the Utah Jazz, he led the G League in rebounding in 2024 and 2025. On April 12 in the NBA, Tshiebwe posted a career-high 29 points and 17 rebounds against the L.A. Lakers. He signed with the Rockets as a free agent on July 24.
Today on the podcast, Oscar Tshiebwe returns to the show to tell us about his NBA Draft experience, how he left money on the table in trusting in God’s plan, celebrating the Lord even though he was undrafted, what it means to have courage in the dark, writing a book, and how he has mastered the art of rebounding.
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen, Nov. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Despite going 13-4 and winning the AFC South a season ago under first-year head coach Liam Coen, the Jacksonville Jaguars have largely flown under the radar in offseason talks about potential Super Bowl contenders. Many experts predict the Jaguars to take a significant step back in 2026-27.
But as Coen enters his second year at the helm, with quarterback Trevor Lawrence returning, he believes his team can not only replicate last season’s success but continue to improve on it. If they do, it will mark the Jaguars’ first back-to-back postseason appearances this century.
“In everything that we do, we are training to say, ‘Anyone, any time, any way,'” Coen said as he addressed his team during the first week of training camp. “We built the standard and the foundation and the way that we want to play the game.”
At 40 years old, Coen is one of the younger head coaches in the NFL, and he’s also a member of the famed Sean McVay coaching tree; Coen learned under the Los Angeles Rams head coach as a position coach for three years (2018-20) and the offensive coordinator for another (2022). In 2024, Coen was the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and helped fuel the career renaissance of QB Baker Mayfield. In his first year in Jacksonville last season, he became the NFL’s first rookie head coach to win 13 or more games after his team won four or fewer games the prior season.
During Coen’s coaching journey, he’s established himself as an offensive mastermind and a skilled quarterback developer. He’s also made it known during his time in the spotlight that he’s a follower of Christ.
Coen was a guest on the “Built 4 More” podcast last week with pastor Joby Martin and Denny Thompson, where the coach discussed one of the most difficult experiences of his life and how Christ formed his faith through the trial.
Coen grew up as an only child in Rhode Island, where he was a football fanatic and very close with his mother, Beth. But when Liam was in high school, Beth felt something was off. After numerous appointments, the doctors concluded that she’d contracted Lyme disease. The former marathon runner now struggled to get out of bed each morning. The physical pain was excruciating, and there was little improvement. But the emotional toll grew unbearable.
Four years later, in 2006, Coen was chasing his gridiron dream in college at UMass. He returned home during a school break, and his dad was in the hospital with congestive heart failure. While Coen was at the hospital with him, his mother took her own life.
Coen needed to care for his dad in the immediate aftermath, and then he rushed to return to school and join his team. Suddenly, he was back on a college campus, going to classes and practices like nothing had changed.
“I didn’t probably deal with it right, or well, in that short term,” Coen admitted on the podcast.
But this was different than anything he’d experienced before. The pain of losing his mother in the way he did wasn’t going away.
“Come to find out, 10 years down the road, it creeps up on you when you don’t deal with it,” he said on the podcast. “You don’t process it, you don’t forgive, you don’t have grace. It started to eat at me, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t know what was really happening. I wasn’t feeling right.”
He found people to talk through his traumatic past, and amidst those sessions, Jesus became a frequent topic of conversation. Coen had attended a private Catholic high school and learned many of the rituals, but he had never truly discovered the essence of Christianity.
“I actually began to have a relationship with Jesus Christ,” he said of that time. “And oh my gosh, I started to have more grace, and I started to forgive, and I started to have a little bit more understanding of what she went through and why.”
He had been given new life in Christ.
That new life was only strengthened during his time as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Kentucky (2021, 2023) through the ministry of the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) chapter. There, Coen was introduced to a man who handed him a small but extremely helpful packet about the Bible.
“I didn’t know what Jesus did,” Coen said on the podcast. “I didn’t know what He sacrificed. I didn’t know why He was truly put on this earth.”
Coen’s story of unthinkable pain followed by the power of healing found in Christ is a testimony of God’s goodness that he’s shared with his team and those close to him.
“Once I understood [true faith] and learned and was educated, I felt a different vibe,” he concluded. “I felt a different way of wanting to represent God — Jesus Christ, myself, my family, the way that I carry myself, the grace or honesty that you live life with.
“Perfect? Absolutely not. No question. But I know that it helped me when I actually built a relationship with a Power greater than myself in Jesus Christ.”
find someone who looks at you the way Liam Coen looks at Parker Washington
Now, in the hyper-competitive world of NFL football, with a nation’s eyes soon falling again on his sport, Coen has an opportunity to point others to Christ — the Fountain of true life — both in the 2026-27 season and beyond. Jacksonville’s first preseason game is Aug. 15 in New Orleans.
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST HOSTED BY JASON ROMANO, FEATURING MIKE MACDONALD
Mike Macdonald was named the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks in 2024 and immediately made a big impact, leading the Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2025-26. Prior to becoming the Seahawks head coach, he was a longtime assistant coach with the Baltimore Ravens, Georgia Bulldogs and Michigan Wolverines.
Today on the podcast, Mike Macdonald shares about winning the Super Bowl, developing a culture in Seattle, being outspoken about his faith, and what it means to “run it forward” in 2026.
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST HOSTED BY JASON ROMANO, FEATURING CORI CLOSE
Cori Close is the head coach for the UCLA women’s basketball team. In her 15 seasons at UCLA, she has 358 career wins, back-to-back Final Four appearances, and her first national championship in 2026.
Today on the podcast, Cori Close joins Jason Romano to share about her experience leading UCLA to the women’s national championship, clinging to Christ during this past season, what it means to abide in Jesus, loving her players well, and the Gospel impact she wants to make with the platform she has.
