Football Coach Fired For Praying Before Games, Gets Job Back

The high school football coach whose coaching contract was not renewed because the school district condemned his prayers’ before games, has now gotten his job back.

Coach Joe Kennedy of Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington in 2008 started to pray before every football game at the 50-yard line.

As the years went on his game day tradition caught the attention of his players and soon they started to pray too.

In 2005 the school district told Kennedy to stop praying before games and eventually he was fired from his job.

In June of 2022, however, the Supreme Court decided in a 6-3 decision that  Coach Joe Kennedy has a 1st Amendment right to pray before the game with his team.

I am glad to hear that Joe Kennedy has finally been reinstated as a football coach at the Washington state high school he was dismissed from for praying on the field after games back in 2015. I hope that he will continue to kneel in prayer—on & off the https://t.co/FKF5gIDlel…

— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) March 15, 2023

Here’s what the Blaze reported:

The public high school assistant football coach in Washington state whose contract wasn’t renewed because the district disapproved of his postgame prayers and whose First Amendment case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he emerged victorious, has finally been given his old coaching job back.

It’s been a long road for Coach Joe Kennedy, his family, and his supporters. In 2008, Kennedy began coaching football at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington, located west of Seattle, across Puget Sound. That year, Kennedy, a devout Christian, began a tradition of walking over to the 50-yard line, taking a knee, and praying by himself after each game. However, his personal prayer time soon attracted other participants, as players and fans began joining him.

But officials with Bremerton School District worried that the private group prayer conducted at a public school constituted an establishment of religion by the state. In 2015, they first suspended and then ultimately fired Kennedy after he refused to stop hosting the postgame prayer.

The following year, Kennedy sued the district for violating his First Amendment right to religious freedom. Though Kennedy did not see many victories in lower-level courts, he ultimately prevailed in the highest court in the land, when SCOTUS voted 6-3 last year to confirm that the district had violated his religious rights, so long as no student or player was ever pressured to participate in his prayer ritual.

“The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote on behalf of the majority.

Despite all of the legal and psychological turmoil imposed on him by the district, Kennedy still wanted his old job back. Now, he has it. On March 8, Kennedy was officially reinstated at Bremerton High School, though he said he probably won’t return to campus until spring football commences in a few months.

Following his reinstatement, Kennedy expressed gratitude that the “long battle” was finally over and that he can now return to doing what he loves: coaching football.

“This is just so awesome,” he said in a statement. “All I’ve ever wanted was to be back on the field with my guys. I am incredibly grateful to the Supreme Court, my fantastic legal team, and everyone who has supported us. I thank God for answering our prayers and sustaining my family through this long battle.”

Coach Joe Kennedy victorious at the U.S. Supreme Court! He opened the Western Conservative Summit in prayer just a few weeks ago.

"Respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and diverse Republic." – Gorsuch, KENNEDY v. BREMERTON SCHOOL DISTRICT pic.twitter.com/fAoRlO6U3y

— Jeff Hunt (@jeffhunt) June 27, 2022

Bremerton High School football coach Joe Kennedy, who lost his job for praying on the football field, has been reinstated, the school district said Monday.https://t.co/2iD46DLdAV

— KOMO News (@komonews) March 13, 2023

Here’s what the Christian Post  reported:

Months after winning at the U.S. Supreme Court, Joe Kennedy, a public high school assistant football coach in Washington state who was dismissed for praying on the field after games, has finally been reinstated.

Coach Kennedy, who the Bremerton School District punished for praying on the field after games in 2015, has been reinstated as a football coach, the legal group First Liberty Institute said in a statement last week.

“We are thrilled that Bremerton and Coach Kennedy are back together and we hope they go undefeated,” the group’s Executive General Counsel Hiram Sasser said.

As a devout Christian, Kennedy maintained a practice of going to the 50-yard line after games and kneeling in prayer, often with fans and players joining him.