Rams coordinator credits past youth ministry for NFL rise

Nate Scheelhaase was named offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams last winter, a move that placed a former youth pastor in charge of one of the National Football League’s most prominent offenses. The promotion followed a brief period in which Scheelhaase, 35, interviewed for head coaching positions, including a call to interim Stanford coach Frank Reich to discuss that school's opening. Reich, who attended seminary and worked as a pastor before becoming an NFL head coach, noted the long hours required in both fields.

Scheelhaase’s path to the NFL began far from professional football. After finishing his four-year stint as a starting quarterback at the University of Illinois, he moved to Louisville, Kentucky, in 2014. He took a position at Southeast Christian Church, one of the largest megachurches in the United States. During that time, he visited dozens of high schools and served as a chaplain for two football teams. His goal was to build trust and connect with students beyond their athletic achievements.

The experience changed his career trajectory. While leading a chapel service for Eastern High School players in 2014, Scheelhaase delivered a speech he described as compelling. The players remained quiet. When the head coach took over to give his own pregame address, the room reacted with intense focus. Scheelhaase said that moment triggered the idea that coaching could allow him to influence players in a similar way.

He returned to Illinois to coach running backs for the 2015 season. He drew on the same interpersonal skills he used in Louisville to recruit and develop players. He emphasized that asking athletes to perform counterintuitive tasks, such as blocking or taking hits, requires a deep personal connection. In 2023, he became a coordinator at Iowa State. A year later, he joined Sean McVay’s staff in Los Angeles as an offensive assistant. McVay had previously called Scheelhaase a rising star. The role involved manually drawing plays, a task that served as a career springboard for several recent coordinators who are now head coaches.

Colleagues in Louisville recall his impact. Chris Burke, an ESPN baseball analyst, noted that Scheelhaase was well-suited for the role and communicated effectively with young people. Andrew Coverdale, then the offensive coordinator at Trinity High School, described Scheelhaase as possessing confident humility. Coverdale, who now works at the University of Kentucky, said that having a mentor who shared life experience in a winsome way was valuable for teenagers dealing with heavy responsibilities.

The connection between faith and sports has historical roots in American athletics. James Naismith, who invented basketball, believed he could better embody Christian principles through sports than through the pulpit. Many football conventions, including the huddle and numbered jerseys, originated with Amos Alonzo Stagg, who studied divinity at Yale and promoted the concept of muscular Christianity. Rocky Seto, who won a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks, later became a pastor. He compared the mission of delivering hope in a sermon to motivating a team during a huddle.

Scheelhaase said his time in Louisville shaped his approach to leadership and family. He cited the role models he encountered among church leaders as guides for his behavior as a husband and father. He maintains that finding common ground with people from different backgrounds remains central to his work. The skills he developed while serving teenagers in Kentucky continue to define his role in the NFL.