TN high school football coach suspended after pushing religion on kids during game

Trey Campbell turned students into props for his religious crusade, then pretended to be a victim after being told to stop

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A public high school football coach in Tennessee is doing his damndest to turn into the next Joe Kennedy, using his position to force his Christianity on students. But while Kennedy waited until after the final whistle to hold prayer performances at midfield for the cameras, this coach was proselytizing during games.

All of this centers around Northwest High School volunteer assistant football coach Trey Campbell.

Trey Campbell (screenshot via YouTube)

According to news reports, on Friday, September 5, Campbell spent the first half of the game “holding a Bible and leading players in prayer.” That’s after he apparently preached to kids during his day job as a resource officer at the same Clarksville school.

Perhaps sensing that a lawsuit would be forthcoming because all of that is so obviously illegal, Principal Brandi Blackley told him to stop. Campbell refused. So Blackley told him (politely, I’m sure) to get the hell off the field.

Campbell left, but not before admitting all those allegations were true:

“I stood by my faith because that’s what I told my boys they needed to do,” said Campbell. “I told them I love them, but this was just the beginning of their journey with Christ, and that this is what it looks like when you are doing right by the Lord: The enemy does whatever he can to draw you from the Lord.”

I don’t know what the hell any of that means, but it sure as hell didn’t help the boys get any better at football. They ended up losing the game 35-0.

Campbell was later put on paid leave by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office (which oversees the resource officers in the Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools) while an investigation could take place by both the MCSO and the CMCSS.

To be clear, no one would have cared if Campbell prayed on his own time, by himself, or even after the game. And no one would have cared if the students prayed on their own. The only issue was a public school football coach using his position to try and win underage converts—something that conservative Christians might find infuriating if Campbell were Muslim or atheist.

By Tuesday, the school district had completed its investigation and found that Campbell absolutely violated the law—and that it didn’t just start at the football game. I’m putting an excerpt from a district spokesperson’s lengthy statement below only because it Just. Keeps. Getting. Worse.

… Beginning the morning of Sept. 5, witnesses observed behavior from Campbell that was inconsistent with those standards and with his normal conduct. At the beginning of the school day, Campbell carried a Bible and told staff he was ‘walking in the Spirit today,’ quoting Scripture about rebuking those who come against you. A witness reported that when Campbell was encouraged that no one was opposing him, Campbell shared a story about a volleyball game the night before. Witnesses reported that Campbell explained that during the volleyball game, ‘the Spirit gave him a word from Scriptures to tell the girls,’ and after sharing it at halftime, the team came back to win.

Throughout the day, witnesses reported and video footage corroborated that Campbell carried a Bible with him, spoke with students as they entered the school that morning, in the cafeteria, and other areas of the school while quoting Scripture from the Bible, and he excused a student for being tardy because the student had been with him in the cafeteria, which is an action outside the typical protocol…

Later that evening at the football game, multiple witnesses observed and video footage corroborated Campbell spending significant time throughout the game on the sidelines with players and other students, quoting Scripture, holding a Bible up to spectators, and leading prayers. A witness stated that ‘every time I looked and saw him, he was talking to a player or players with the Bible or holding hands with head bowed.’ A cell phone video surfaced that appeared to show Campbell step in front of the student section, leading a ‘faith over fear’ chant.

Witnesses noted, and video footage corroborated, that Campbell became visibly emotional and confrontational when approached by school administration to address concerns of proselytizing in his official role. School administration did not ask him to stop praying privately or otherwise encouraging students. However, multiple witnesses stated that when asked to stop causing a disruption and to put his Bible away, Campbell stated loudly that ‘I can’t do it, won’t do it,’ and ‘my job is to save these babies.’ Ultimately, although the school administration tried to de-escalate the situation a second time and emphasized that they did not want Campbell to have to leave but that he was crossing a line and creating a disruption, Campbell chose to leave campus voluntarily.

…

It is important to emphasize that all witnesses described this behavior as uncharacteristic of Campbell. Witnesses described him as ‘extreme,’ ‘defiant’ and ‘unreasonable’ on Friday, but also consistently noted that they had never seen him act this way before… Campbell has otherwise been an outstanding SRO, coach, and valued member of the Northwest High School community. He has built positive relationships with students, families and staff, and has contributed to the safety and well-being of the school.

For what it’s worth, at this point, the district appears to be doing everything right. They took the concerns seriously, they recognized the problems, and they investigated and then confirmed what happened.

What they didn’t say was what the punishment would be. (It’s possible they’re waiting for the Sheriff’s Department to finish its own investigation before saying anything more.)

If you’re Campbell at this point, what do you do?

You know the answer. You clearly want to become a martyr for Christianity. You want to be the subject of one of those sweet, sweet Joe Kennedy-style biopics. So instead of accepting that you screwed up and crossed the line, you allow your fans to treat you as the victim of discrimination.

This past Friday, before the football team played its next game at nearby Montgomery Central High School, Campbell and a handful of community members met up outside the field for “Friday Night Lights of Faith”—a prayer circle meant to honor Campbell’s fake sacrifice—while passing out Trump Bibles to passersby. (Campbell didn’t participate in the latter.)

foxnashville

A post shared by @foxnashville

They weren’t alone. The event was hosted by Tres Wittum, a Republican candidate for Congress.

“President Trump asked us to pray for our nation. Coach Campbell showed us what it looks like to stand for faith, even when it’s hard,” Wittum said in the release. “This isn’t a protest; it’s an answer. We’re gathering to pray for our schools, our students, and our country, and to show that in Tennessee, we are not afraid to stand on the word of God.”

Campbell didn’t do anything heroic, though. He turned a competition for students into a showcase for his own ego. That doesn’t deserve to be rewarded. But when you’re a failed Senate candidate like Wittum, you’ll gladly use the myth of Christian persecution to boost your own campaign.

(True story: Wittum ran for Senate in 2024 but got crushed in the GOP primary by Marsha Blackburn in a 89% - 11% rout. Wittum is now spinning that on his campaign website by saying “In 2024, 43,228 Tennesseans stood with me.” He doesn’t mention that 367,799 Tennesseans stood with Blackburn in the same primary race.)

As of this writing, there’s no indication Campbell has returned to the school or coaching staff, but there’s also no announcement that he’s been fired from either role.

What’s interesting is that even conservatives who follow these situations aren’t exactly jumping over each other to defend this guy. One conservative outlet interviewed a lawyer who now works with former Vice President Mike Pence’s “Advancing American Freedom” group. Notice how he tries to steer conservatives away from Campbell:

“My understanding is that Campbell’s prayer time was during a game where the football players are there to be coached on strategy, tactics, getting them pumped up to go back on the field,” Wheat said. “So that’s pretty different from the Coach Kennedy case.”

“Pretty different” is conservative Christian-ese for “totally illegal to the point where even our side can’t defend it.”

What Campbell’s stunt makes clear, just like Kennedy’s before him, is that he doesn’t really care about those students at all. He only sees them as a prop in his religious performance. He wants to exploit the captive-audience nature of school sports, where kids have no real choice but to follow the coach’s lead, and turn his own disregard of the law into self-righteous theatrics. This isn’t about spiritual conviction. The children are just pawns in his quest for attention.

And that’s the most damning part. The biggest harm here isn’t that Campbell trampled on church-state separation. It’s that he made the game, the school, and the students secondary to his personal crusade. The school has handled it properly so far, and they have every right to kick him off the team, since he’s clearly not interested in doing the job. Until guys like this are punished for their illegal showboating, though, we’re only going to see more copycats.

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