This is the second half of a two-part interview with Washington University football head coach Larry Kindbom, who is retiring this season after 31 years coaching the Bears. The first part can be found here.

Student Life: What does being a part of the Washington University community mean to you?

Larry Kindbom: I love it: the fact that I have felt accepted, I felt loved, I felt part of a family. I tend to know a lot of people on this campus because I have to deal with so many. I have so many players, [and] we have to deal with housing, we have to deal with the different food catering people. I’ve had to deal with housekeeping. I’ve had to deal with security. I’ve gotten to know a lot of people here, and I’ve always felt accepted and loved. Just the fact that somebody would know my name, I think that’s pretty cool in a place like this. Kenyon [College] is 1400 students. I was overwhelmed when I came here. It’s like ‘How am I going to make it in this massive community?’ People have made that community so much a smaller community for me. I’ve just been blessed. I’ve just had so many different people that have affected my life in so many different ways here.

I love Andrew Martin. I mean, that’s one of the hard things [about] going—we got Andrew Martin, we got Anthony Azama, we’re getting all those new leaders for me. And I’ve gone through two chancellors, and I hear [Martin] come out with his pledge to what he’s doing with the Pell Grant and first generation kids, and it’s not Washington University IN St. Louis, Washington University FOR St. Louis. You know, we’re involved in a lot of things…with what’s going on in the St. Louis community using football as a venue to deal with teenage suicide and depression with the Jason Foundation, and working with Ferguson. Kids [are] coming to our campus and sitting down with our players and just really sharing—not our players talking down to them—or they’re talking, I mean, it’s just like kids being kids, right? That’s community, to me, and I like the FOR St. Louis, because that’s just such a good feeling. It’s like we’re not just this school on the hill, it’s FOR St. Louis. I’ve always thought it’s WITH St. Louis. I’ve always liked that part of it, and so that community is big for us too. It’s not just the community within the campus, but it’s the community beyond…the boundaries of the physical campus.

Grace Bruton | Student Life

Coach Larry Kindbom hugs junior defensive back Andrew Whitaker after Whitaker caught an interception against Augustana College on Nov. 2. Kindbom is known for the support and encouragement he gives his players both on and off the field.

SL: Who or what have been your support mechanisms since you’ve been at Wash. U.? How do you deal with the ups and downs of each year?

LK: The players. I’m pretty open and honest with them. I like it when they come in at the end of the year. We have evaluations and they have four questions they have to answer: “Where do I fit in?” “What can I do to get better?” “What can we do as a football team to get better?” and then “What can Larry Kindbom do to be better [and] to be a better leader for our football team?” 25% of what I’m asking for at the end of the year is how I can get better every year. When I say I appreciate what they do, it’s not coach talk. That’s not just something to say. Students will feel great about that. I ask them because I want to be a good coach. I want to be able to have lines of communication that they’re willing to be front up with me. I think that’s really important that they that they see that in our coaches.

SL: I’ve been hearing from people that you have set priorities: God, Family, Academics, and Football. How do you keep your priorities straight and how do you make sure the young men that you’re working with keep their priorities straight?

LK: I tell everybody that we’re recruiting to the program that those are my priorities, and I’m not going to push those priorities on you. I have a process that I go through. You’re living in a world where everybody’s multitasking, everybody’s doing a thousand different things. You have to have some way of being able to make those decisions. All I can do is show you that I have priorities [and] here how I’m gonna live them. I put them out there because I want people to examine me. I don’t always do it right either. But I want them to see that that’s a struggle. Even though it sounds good, it’s still a struggle. I think it’s really easy to get caught up. We have 43 engineers in our team right now, and approximately 15 pre-med kids based on the last [Organic Chemistry] test. They have labs in the afternoon. Andrew Whitaker, [on] Thursday nights he doesn’t come to practice because he has a class. And that’s hard for him because he wants to excel at the highest level. But those are our priorities, right? Academics are more important than football, so we have to live with that.

SL: In 2009, you won an award for your work preventing youth suicide. Can you speak a bit more about what that work consisted of?

LK: I was going to run a marathon and I decided that for every mile I run, I’m going to put a penny in the jar. I thought I should pick out a charity so that I’m actually going to give it to somebody. I’m not just putting it into a piggy bank. I picked the Jason Foundation, and I’ll tell you why I picked it out. Tim Taylor, one of our players, and I were talking, and I was telling him what I was going to go through and I read this thing from the Jason Foundation. It said one in 12 people in college have either contemplated or attempted suicide. And I remember looking at Tim and saying, “That’s a little far fetched. What do you think that is?” He thought about and he said, “That sounds right.” I said “No way, We have close to 100 kids at our team. That means there’s at least eight guys on our team that have thought about it on our team, kids that I know really well.” Tim thought about [it] and he said “Coach, I think that’s about right.” And I was floored. Right now, people would say “Oh yeah, I can believe that.” But back then, it was like, “Are you kidding me?”

I said “Man, I got to do something,” so I began to get involved, and what I did is I used our players. I found out that that you couldn’t go to a high school and talk about suicide and depression. What they did was wait is until when something happens, [then] they pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for counselors to come in and work with the kids. Our players started this program. Our players are experts in being part of a team. How can we influence schools to have more of a team approach where little Johnny sitting in the cafeteria all by himself? He doesn’t have anybody around him and he’s there, day after day after day. You gotta believe that somewhere in there, it would be nice to be able to talk to him. We talked about what it’s like being on a team where, if you’re having a bad day and someone comes up to you [and] says “Aww come on man, you’re all right. Coach Kindbom’s an idiot. He’s just yelling at you to yell at you, but you’re fine,” and guys pick each other up. What they did is they took this thought of team-building to football teams initially, and then it became for everybody. We talked to the football team about how you can do this in your own school—you know walk around the hall and say, “Hey, what’s up?” Sometimes that’s all it takes for somebody to feel like they’re noticed. There’s people that walk around every day of their life [and have] never felt like they’ve been part of a team…We got superintendents to allow us to come into the schools to do this.

That’s how I got involved with the Jason Foundation. I’ve got[ten] to be good friends with the CEO from that, and they came up here several times to visit our kids. We actually had [an event] to set a Guinness World Record for the Jason Foundation right out on Francis Field. We needed 1100-something people; we ended up with 900, and our guys are kind of bummed. And it’s like 900 people for 20 minutes were over there on Francis field to at least reflect a little bit on teenage suicide [and] depression. That’s the greatest win you could ever have.

SL: We heard that, in addition to your role with the Jason Foundation, you were also involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). Can you tell us a bit about the role that that plays in your life and the role you play in the development of the young men you work with, both spiritually and mentally?

LK: Sure. Well, I was just a little older than you guys were when somebody took me to an FCA breakfast. I thought the F was for free because it was a free breakfast. And there was a guy speaking guy named Grant Teaff, who was the long-time coach at Baylor [University]. And I just remember sitting in the chair the whole time, and my eggs are getting cold because I was just watching him speak and thinking, “I want to be like that guy. I don’t know what he has, but he’s very comfortable in his own skin and there’s a sense of calmness about him.” And I knew how great he was as a coach because we actually coached against him [when] he was at Baylor and when I was at Ohio State. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, basically they take athletes that are kind of well known that are willing to share their faith…so kids will at least be able to step up and say “I want to learn more about that.” That’s what happened to me as a coach, so FCA has been big for me. I became a Christian and had accepted Jesus Christ, at that point. But again, I’m not here to proselytize kids. I think there’s times that the conversations open and I’m willing to speak to them about that. We started an FCA football camp and, to me, that’s football the way it could be. Without the yelling and screaming. Football is a fun sport and it’s a very academic sport. How can two people compete and, at the end, be able to hug? And do all this and still be able to compete fiercely? I was enamored with that. Because I love sports. I don’t hate my opponent. It was awesome to be able to grow up in that environment once I got here. I’m older, but I still hadn’t grown up yet…

I’m always willing to share, but my job is to coach football. I want to build relationships with people and how can I eliminate that one part of me? To say, “Okay, well I’m never going to talk about being a Christian”? No, I’m gonna tell you what it means and I’m gonna listen to you. You’re Muslim? [You] don’t even care about God? I want to learn. I want to know what makes you tick. I despise labels. I hate labels. Don’t give me a label. “Oh this guy’s Black, this guy’s Jewish, this guy’s, you know, a Math major or whatever.” What’s that supposed to do? Is that supposed to mean everybody is like that? I tell my players “This is where I am, but I’m different than you. It’s not like you would look at me and say “Well you’re a Christian and [he’s] a Christian, so you’re the same.” We’re all different, but that’s what makes it so special. How boring would it be if we’re all the same?…I never tried to pass judgment on anybody’s heart. I usually share more of the priorities than I do anything else because, to me, that fits everybody.

SL: Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for the next head coach of Wash. U.?

LK: Well, I know this, if we don’t beat Millikin [the Bears didn’t, losing, 35-28], he or she will probably wait a little bit before they ask me. A coach is someone who helps somebody get some place they couldn’t get by themselves. You’re helping someone along the way. I like to think professors are coaches if they look at everybody individually and say “I’m going to help each of those people get where they can never get by themselves.” I would want someone to be able to know that my job is to help you get someplace that you couldn’t get by yourself.

This interview was edited slightly for length and clarity.