Joe Kennedy, the praying football coach, quit because the athletes never mattered to him

After one post-game prayer, the Christian showboat resigned. Again.

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Joe Kennedy, who went to the Supreme Court under the guise that he just wanted his old football coaching job back, no longer wants to coach football. He quit after a single game.

His critics saw this coming from miles away.

When the Supreme Court first considered taking up the case of former Bremerton High School football coach in 2021, Kennedy insisted his religious rights had been violated when the Washington school district told him he couldn’t pray at midfield after games. Americans United for Separation of Church and State had good reason to be worried. If the ultra-conservative Supreme Court took up this case, there was nothing stopping them from ruling in Kennedy’s favor, opening the door for more promotion of Christianity by government employees.

But there was a way to prevent that outcome.

AU argued that the case should be thrown out because even if the justices ruled in Kennedy’s favor, it’s not like he had any plans to return to his old coaching job. They had no business issuing a ruling one way or the other if their decision wasn’t going to affect him.

In a brief filed with the Court, they said that Kennedy had already moved to Pensacola, Florida. Not only that, he was a registered voter there. There was no reason to think he would move back to Washington for a low-paying, part-time, assistant coaching job. Even if, for some reason, he promised to do that, the Court could still toss out the case based on those facts alone.

Because “[t]here is no reason to believe that [petitioner] ever will return to [Bremerton]” to live and work, and because petitioner would therefore seem to be unable to accept a position as, or fulfill the year-round responsibilities of, a Bremerton High School football coach, he is not entitled to, and could not take advantage of, the requested injunctive relief.

…

Even supposing that there were some genuine possibility that petitioner might decide to leave his home in Pensacola, Florida, and move approximately 2,800 miles back to Bremerton, Washington, for a $5,304 part-time coaching job, this Court has “made clear that such a speculation cannot ‘shield [a] case from a mootness determination.’”

It was also telling that Kennedy’s attorneys never told the Court that he had moved, as if they were trying to hide that bit of potentially damning information.

UPDATE: I should have included the fact that Kennedy and his lawyers strongly argued that he wanted his old job back. As Slate described it:

Kennedy’s lawyers filed an incensed response avowing that their client craved a return to Washington. “He remains ready, willing, and able to return to his job just as soon as his constitutional rights are vindicated. It is really that simple,” they wrote. “The relocation to Florida is not permanent, and Kennedy stands ready, willing, and able to move back to Bremerton as soon as humanly possible should he prevail in this litigation and be permitted to resume his coaching duties.” Indeed, they continued, he is “champing at the bit” to “resume the job he loves.” Attached was a declaration from Kennedy stating that, if he prevailed, he “would return home to Bremerton immediately.” He attested: “I am ready and willing to resume my coaching duties in Bremerton, WA. I can do so within 24 hours of reinstatement, if I am still temporarily residing in Florida.”

And yet Constitutional attorney Andrew Seidel, who works with AU, wrote in an update to his book American Crusade (affiliate link) that none of this mattered to the Supreme Court:

The school district informed the justices and explained that the case was now moot. The justices ignored the mootness because, again, these justices want to take these cases. They’re eager to weaponize religious freedom and consummate the Crusade.

As we all know by now, the Court took the case anyway and eventually sided with Kennedy. That 6-3 decision was built on a stack of lies. Justice Neil Gorsuch said Kennedy was initially fired over his prayers; he was not. Gorsuch said Kennedy’s prayers were quiet and personal; they were not. Gorsuch said Kennedy’s prayers were not coercive; they were.

But even after that victory, no one knew if Kennedy would actually return to Bremerton.

Last September, months after the decision came down, the Seattle Times reported that Kennedy was nowhere to be found. That’s partly because he was too busy being a spokesperson for the fictional cause of Christian persecution. He was working on a (ghostwritten) memoir called Average Joe: The Coach Joe Kennedy Story, which comes out next month. There was a movie about him in the works produced by the God’s Not Dead people. He was consulting with at least one Republican presidential candidate. He was giving paid speeches. He spoke about how his future plans might include “some ministry or something.” He even created a promotional website for all those incoming opportunities—nowhere on it did he offer private football coaching. He was also working with a Christian public relations group.

Everything he did implied a future that didn’t involve football. He would still be called “coach” but coaching seemed to be the last thing on his mind.

It was only last spring that the Bremerton school district announced that Kennedy’s paperwork to be reinstated had finally gone through and that he would be an assistant coach for the following season.

And yet even after all that, it’s not like Kennedy moved back to Bremerton.

As the Seattle Times noted last week, Kennedy was “currently housesitting, and said he and his wife have talked about parking an RV on her sister’s property in the area during football season.”

Kennedy also refused to talk about his plans beyond the team’s first game. (How’s that for foreshadowing?)

On Friday, after the first game of the season, Kennedy finally did the thing the Supreme Court said he had every right to do. He walked to midfield for a prayer after the final whistle. Unlike his previous prayer attempts, this one was actually brief and quiet. Students didn’t surround him. No one seemed to want anything to do with the guy. The media covered the story for obvious reasons, but it was almost anti-climactic. It lasted a few seconds and then it was over.

Joe Kennedy delivers a performative prayer after Bremerton’s game (via @JeffGrahamKS / Twitter)

And now, as his critics long predicted, Joe Kennedy has resigned.

Also true to form, Kennedy is blaming everyone but himself.

Kennedy, already back in Pensacola, Fla., where he and his wife have lived for three years, said he emailed his resignation at 4 a.m. Wednesday due to a family health situation and what he described as a deteriorating situation at the Bremerton School District.

“I’m done,” he said.

…

In a resignation letter obtained by The Seattle Times, Kennedy said, “It is apparent that the reinstatement ordered by the Supreme Court will not be fully followed after a series of actions meant to diminish my role and single me out in what I can only believe is retaliation by the school district.”

Kennedy didn’t bother explaining what the district was doing to not follow the law, or how they singled him out, or what “retaliation” looked like. The “family health situation” didn’t seem to be a concern last week. What changed? I would be far more sympathetic if he hadn’t given countless indications that he had no intention of being an assistant coach for the long haul.

Does anyone actually believe those excuses? (Besides, I assume, Neil Gorsuch?)

Kennedy seemed fine with the district’s rules as recently as last week. The district’s new policy said coaches could pray publicly as long as they weren’t actively supervising players and as long as they kept their distance from students at the beginning of the prayers. (Kennedy’s midfield post-game antics would be allowed under that policy even if students joined him in the huddle shortly thereafter.)

On Friday night, when Kennedy took attention away from the students who just won the game with his performative prayers, no one from the district stopped him. He got everything he wanted. So what the hell is he so mad about?

Who knows. Seems much more likely to me that he’s looking for any scapegoat he can find in order to quit with a shred of dignity.

If you need any more proof that this resignation was hardly a sudden move, his own press release announcing it includes a paragraph urging people to buy his forthcoming book.

In a statement that doesn’t quite say “I told you so” but sure as hell implies it, Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said:

After the Supreme Court’s decision last summer, Kennedy and his attorneys claimed he’d be on the “first flight” back to resume his coaching job, but he was a no-show in August 2022 when the district offered to rehire him in time for the 2022 football season. For years Kennedy and his lawyers have said all he wanted was his job back. We were skeptical. And now, here we are, right where we warned the Supreme Court we would be.

First Liberty was able to generate yet another media spectacle around Kennedy’s fabricated “return” to coaching—just in time to promote the release of his new book and forthcoming movie. Our client, the Bremerton School District, has gone above and beyond to respect employees’ religious freedom while also protecting students’ religious freedom and the community’s safety and right to enjoy school-sponsored events. With the end of this 8-year legal battle in sight, we hope First Liberty will finally allow the district to fully concentrate on its priority: providing children the best education possible.

Kennedy’s decision is purely selfish. I’m offended, not just as a proponent of church/state separation, but as a public school coach myself. I wrote this last week, but I think it bears repeating: Coaching high school teams is a sacrifice. You don’t get paid much and it takes a lot of time, but you do it because you love the students. You do it because what you get out of it is more valuable than a paycheck.

When Kennedy used his platform to advertise his religion, it was clear the students were not his main priority. When Kennedy returned to coaching, that hadn’t changed at all. And now that Kennedy has resigned (again), it solidifies the theory entirely.

Joe Kennedy never cared about the kids, the team, or the job. He only ever cared about himself.

He could just as easily have accepted the SCOTUS victory and let the kids play without him there, so that the attention was where it belonged. Instead, he let the spotlight follow him because he had his personal brand to promote. It was only after he realized the media wouldn’t be sticking around each week to watch his post-game prayers that he concluded there was no reason for him to keep up the charade.

Remember: Kennedy could continue coaching and deliver a public prayer after every game this season. That’s what he claims his religion requires of him! The only difference is that the cameras probably won’t be focused on him after the next game.

Christian Nationalist and faux-journalist David Brody said on Twitter/X that he spoke to Kennedy a few days ago, and Kennedy told him “the school district and this lawsuit took a lot of the joy out of coaching.” How’s that for whining? The lawsuit was Kennedy’s decision. Capitalizing on his pretend martyrdom was Kennedy’s decision. He could have just done his job and coached, but again, he never gave a damn about coaching. Coaching was just a vehicle for him to promote Christianity through his taxpayer-funded job.

I’m sure Kennedy’s publicity stunt took the joy out of Friday night’s victory for many of those athletes, too. But Kennedy doesn’t care what the students think. He never has.

The Bremerton School District board will meet later tonight where they’ll almost certainly accept Kennedy’s resignation and finally be rid of him for good. (In my fantasy world, they refuse to accept it, forcing Kennedy to coach the rest of the season. Nothing would infuriate him more.)

Here’s hoping the athletes on the football team can mark the occasion with another post-game celebration on Friday night. Right at the 50-yard line.

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