Discover the extraordinary journey of Chad Prewett, a basketball coach at Auburn University, as he shares how his faith has transformed not only his personal life but also his coaching philosophy. Welcome to Faithly Stories, the podcast that brings you inspiring tales from conversations with church leaders as they navigate the peaks and valleys of their faith journeys through their ministry work and everyday life. Get ready to be uplifted and inspired as we unveil the heart of faith through stories from the front lines of ministry.
After nearly 11 years with the Auburn basketball program, and two seasons as an assistant coach, Chad Prewett announced his departure from Bruce Pearl's staff on Wednesday, May 14. Prewett, who has coached at multiple levels, is leaving the profession altogether, he said. He's turning to ministry after three decades in basketball.
"This decision comes with deep reflection, prayer, and peace, knowing it’s time to follow where God is leading me next," Prewett said in a statement he posted to social media.
Prewett's decade-plus on the Plains spanned all but three months of Pearl's Auburn tenure, giving him a front-row seat to the program's overhaul. That includes 244 victories, six NCAA Tournament appearances, five conference championships, and two Final Fours.
"I may be stepping away from the court, but I will always bleed orange and blue," Prewett said in his statement. "Once an Auburn Tiger, always an Auburn Tiger."
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An accomplished and decorated coach for more than 20 years winning 10 state high school basketball championships, Chad Prewett was elevated to assistant coach on Aug. 2, 2023. He is in his 10th overall season on Head Coach Bruce Pearl’s staff.
Since joining the program in June 2014, Prewett has served in a variety of roles including special assistant, interim assistant coach and director of operations.
Auburn most recently captured its fourth all-time Southeastern Conference regular-season crown, earned its first-ever No. 1 national ranking and turned in the third most wins in school history with a 28-6 overall record in 2021-22. Two players - Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler - garnered All-America honors and became the program’s first-ever National Freshman of the Year and National Defensive Player of the Year respectively. Both were later drafted in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft (No. 3 and No. 22 overall).
During Auburn’s historic run to the Final Four in 2018-19, the Tigers became the only team to defeat Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina - the three winningest programs in NCAA history - in consecutive games in NCAA Tournament history. The Tigers became the first team from the state of Alabama to reach the Final Four during the 2018-19 season, which also included a Southeastern Conference Tournament crown and a 30-10 record.
Auburn won the 2018 Southeastern Conference title, its third in program history, behind a 26-8 record, including 13-3 in league play. The Tigers also make their ninth NCAA Tournament appearance all-time and defeated College of Charleston in the first round.
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While serving as an assistant coach, Prewett primarily worked with the team’s guards and played a key role in the development of the All-SEC backcourt of Bryce Brown, Jared Harper and Mustapha Heron. Brown was a Naismith Trophy Top 30 honoree and became the 36th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points.
Prewett also had a hand in scouting opponents and was tasked with running Auburn’s zone defense.
He returned to his role as director of basketball operations prior to the 2018-19 season, a role in which he held for a few months following the 2017 season. Prewett earned the promotion following three seasons as the special assistant to Pearl after joining the program in June 2014.
Prewett handles the team’s budget and travel, while spearheading numerous fundraising campaigns and events for the basketball program and Coach Pearl.
He is heavily involved with the Pearl’s AUTLIVE initiative to benefit cancer patients in the fight to beat cancer as well as the Bruce Pearl Fore the Children Golf Classic and Bruce, Barkley and Basketball Golf Classic. He directs all of the Bruce Pearl Basketball Camps.
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Prewett also offers support in the Auburn Tip-Off Club, which resumed activities in 2014-15 following a two-year break and saw the highest participation in club history. Prewett joined the staff following a seven-year run at Lee-Scott Academy, which began in 2007, as both the boys and girls basketball and track coach. He led the varsity boys basketball team to the 2012 AISA State Championship, a runner-up finish in 2011 and the Final Four in 2009 and 2010. Over the years, the Lee-Scott boys teams went 139-31. On the girls side, he led the program to four AISA State Championships (2009, 2011, 2012, 2013), a runner-up finish in 2014 and the Final Four in 2008 and 2010.
Five times he was named the AISA All-Star Game Coach, he was the 2009 AISA Coach of the Year and the OA News Coach of the Year four times (2012 - boys; 2008, 2009, 2011 - girls). He also coached the AISA Track State Champions in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Prior to Lee-Scott, Prewett was the varsity boys basketball and track coach at Faith Academy in Mobile from 2004-07. He led the boys basketball team to the 2006 AISA State Championship, the 2005 Final Four and was the 2006 AISA All-Star Game Coach and Coach of the Year. He led Faith Academy to a 63-21 record.
Prewett started his coaching career at Escambia Academy. From 1995-2004, he was a coach for the basketball, football, golf and track teams and added the title of athletics director from 1998-2004. Escambia was awarded the AISA Chairman's Award for Outstanding Program in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Prewett earned his bachelor's degree in health, physical education and recreation from Troy State University in 1994 and a master's degree in foundations of education in 2000.
Chad Prewett's Faith Journey
Could you tell me how your faith journey started? Yeah, great opening question here. You know, I was lost, like we all were at one point in our life. And I'm 18 years old and got invited to church from a little girl that I had been checking out for a few weeks. And she invites me to church from a little girl that I had been checking out for a few weeks. And she invites me to church. And it was actually a Christian concert called David and the Giants music concert.
And so at the end of the and I'm lost, as you can be, I'm involved in everything that I should not be involved in. And at the end of that service he asked for anybody who didn't know Christ didn't want to miss heaven. I just remember, not even knowing why I did, I just shot my hand up and said that's me and I went forward. That was in 1990. That was a time where I literally people talk about repentance as you go in one way and literally turn around and go in the opposite way. That's what happened that night, october the 1890.
Tanya and I later became married. Did you grow up in a family that believed? So, yeah, so our family was one that went to church almost every Sunday and we were in different denominations at times, but just never had a personal relationship with Jesus and so never knew that my life, it mattered, how I lived, and so when I think back to those times, yeah, I had a foundation of who God was, but I didn't have any personal relationship with Jesus.
The reason why I ask is because throughout all these podcasts, there's always like a seed that God plants in our early years. I realize, even if we don't realize it, and I see that that seed is the urging of like the way I'm living isn't the way I'm supposed to live. So for you, like what was going on, that you felt really lost. Yeah, I mean I was involved in drugs and alcohol and, you know, in really, really, really heavy way. You know there had been a few warning signs leading up to that time where I think God was trying to get my attention. But that night he just called. He called my name. I tell people all the time he called my name.
At the end of the service the guy sings a song about Noah and you could actually hear him building the ark in the background. You could hear rain start and then the door shut. You know the door shut and nobody else could get on and the guy basically says don't miss it, don't miss it. I remember that just gripping my heart and it's like God, I haven't known you the way that I need to know you, but I know I want to live with you forever. And so that night God called my name and unashamedly I stood up and probably surprised everybody in that building that I stood up and gave my life to Christ. That night.
Do you feel like you were seeking something in the drugs and alcohol? Cause, like my own experiences, was anytime like I seeking something in the drugs and alcohol. Because, like my own experiences was anytime like I like, anytime I like made substances like a thing in my life. I realized I was coping with the pain that I wasn't dealing with from a childhood. So for you, like, was the drugs and alcohol providing something for you? Yeah, you know I grew up without a father in my house. My father left when I was just a young child and never really knew him, and so when I think back during that time really just trying to find myself especially from age 12 to 18, just looking for acceptance and really anything that I could fill that void with Basketball was a huge part of it, but also substance abuse became kind of part of who I was.
So you have this experience. Were you like a super apostle or like how did the transition and progression go for your faith? Yeah, well, it was interesting because you know the town was probably eight or ten thousand, you know. So I was kind of known as the party animal of the town. So when that happened, everybody's like what in the world is going on? That Chad Pruitt gave his life to Christ, and so it gave me an opportunity to literally use my witness and my testimony. And I always tell people say, look, I don't know what God has done for you, I don't know what you think of God, but let me tell you what he did in my life. And what he did in my life is to set me free from drugs and alcohol, but also gave me a purpose almost immediately.
Later that year or the next year, my wife, we got married. The first year of college I played basketball, she was a cheerleader and we literally just jumped in with both feet in discipleship and learning everything we possibly could about God and our relationship with God. And God put his hand upon both of us and called both of us, and we didn't know what that meant for a long time. But he put his hand upon us and said I'm going to use you, and he definitely has. Did you find a church that helped you with the discipleship or who helped disciple you? Yeah. So there was a really strong church in our small community and the pastor of the church, Don Davis, just really took me under his wing and mentored me, showed me what a man was supposed to be like, showed us how to have a godly marriage, even as young as a young married couple, and again allowed us to get involved and plugged into discipleship and understanding more of who God was. And you know, I look back during that time and the reason I am who I am and what God has done in my life, the reason I am who I am and what God has done in my life. I point back to that pastor who took time to mentor me and to spend time with me and to show me what a real father looks like.
Mentoring Young Men Through Basketball
One thing I didn't realize about coaching because once I started watching Hard Knocks they show you the behind the scenes I didn't realize it was so much about like motivation and just like keeping guys focused, but also just like helping them grow up. You know, as men and for you dealing with young men, how did your early years experiences have the mindset of mentoring young people? When I you know, I'm 52 now. So when I look back at it, I'm like God, you had this all along. You knew exactly what you were doing. So everything. There's always purpose in the pain if you give it to God.
And so when I look back and I think about the times where I was lonely or I was looking for something else that somebody else had in a father figure, I looked at what God was doing in my life and I looked at the things that I was missing, and even as a father and my wife as a mother, we wanted to make sure that we provided what we did not have, that we provided what we did not have. And so it was awesome to see God really just himself became my Abba Father, my Abba Father, just to be able to call out to him and to know him in such a cool way.
And so, when I look back, I coached high school basketball for 19 years. God immediately gave me a platform to be able to share to so many high school young men about the importance of relationship with their earthly father, but also their heavenly father, and then that obviously transitioned very well into college. I've been coaching college now for 11, this is my 11th year at Division I college basketball level, and I love to be able to sit down and talk about my relationship with God and my relationships with others and how important they are, and so mentoring young men has obviously been something that God has specifically called me to do.
What is it about basketball that like stuck with you, because I'm always interested at like why people choose the sports that they do. Yeah, well, I was a pretty good basketball player back in the day and got a scholarship to play basketball. I thought at some point I might play professional basketball, whether it was in the NBA or overseas. I realized pretty quickly that I wasn't quite good enough for that, and so I immediately wanted to become a basketball coach, and so this has been something that I feel like God has called me to. It hasn't been something I just wanted to do. It was God prepared me for this moment to be a minister of the gospel, you know, in the workplace, in the sports world, and it's been really cool to see how God's used me in this area.
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How are you able to do that? Because I know some people like I live in New York and so anytime you break up faith in like your workplace or school, there's just a hesitation, just because of the culture. But I don't know, like in the South or where you grew up, is that more like people are more receptive to it? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think you know, here at Auburn there is a very strong faith community and we don't apologize for our beliefs or in how much we believe that God should be a part of your life.
One of the things that we talk about in our program is we want to do the things that God will bless, and so we want to act a certain way. We want to present ourself a certain way. We want to represent the name on the front of the jersey, but also the name on the back of the jersey, your family name, and so how can we help them become better men? And we believe that's through the gospel, through God's word and we have a full-time chaplain here as well that we raise, support for and pours into our guys on a daily basis, and so that's the culture here.
But I always say people don't always know God, like maybe myself or you do, and they wonder how can I know him? That's why the power of a testimony is so important, because you can never talk me out of what God did in my life, and so I love to share what God has done in my life personally with these young men, and so they can experience some of the same things.
Differences Between High School and College Basketball
What's the biggest difference between high school basketball and college basketball? Wow. Well, I mean there's obviously some very clear differences in the talent. From a high school standpoint. You may have one great player. You know, at this level we've got many, many, many great players. I think the pressure of this level is way, way different than it is at the high school level. You know, at the high school level you're dealing with a lot of guys who are not going to do this for a living, you're not going to do this for a scholarship, but their enjoyment of the game. I think you can probably make a bigger impact at the high school level, because I think young men are still trying to find themselves and you have a chance to kind of shape them, especially if you're able to pour in some godly principles into their life. At this level it gives you an opportunity, as they're trying to become men I mean, they're starting to make life decisions at the college level so it gives you an opportunity to share your experiences in that way as well. So those are some of the easy differences I can point out. Obviously, we're number two in the country right now, so you're talking about one of the best basketball programs in the country here at Auburn, and so you know what we've been able to use in our platform we've been able to use to talk about the goodness of God has also been a great, great benefit to be in here.
Navigating NIL and Faith
On a professional level. What are your thoughts on the NIL? Well, I mean, I think it's easy to be really negative about it. I think some of the positives that we've seen is it's allowed these young men to be able to provide some for their family. You know, a lot of our guys now are giving a lot of that money back to their families back home, and I think that's something that obviously hasn't been able to be taking place over the last few years. In a negative sense, it's become a little bit more about money, which I don't like. It's not why we all got into the game, but it's something. I think that there's positives and negatives. What we're trying to do is to find the best thing that can as we continue to work through it, the best thing for our program and look as people across the country begin to talk back and forth on the good and the bad of it. I think what we've got to do is find a way for it to be positive.
What's interesting is, when the issue of NL came out, it hit me oh, as Christians, we also are in the name, image and likeness of Christ right, and so there are these parallels. I found about being an athlete and how you want to leverage that. Yeah, I just love the platform that this level gives you. Social media immediately gives you an opportunity to talk about not just God, but it gives you an opportunity, because of so many people following your...
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