Imagine being an FBS head coach *and* a leader of churches. Ken Niumatalolo is.

Being an FBS head coach is an extremely demanding job. It can easily be more than an 80-hour commitment. The idea of handling another significant life commitment outside of family responsibilities would be alien to most coaches. How would they have the time?

But most coaches are not Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo. An active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (colloquially referred to as the LDS Church or the Mormons), he was recently asked to serve as a stake president for the congregations in the Annapolis, Maryland area.

In this church, everyone — from the bishop at the head of the congregation to the folks playing the organ, teaching Sunday School, or cleaning the building — is a volunteer. Stake president, which requires overseeing multiple congregations, might be the among the most time-intensive volunteer positions one could hold.

How could a coach balance that with a demanding job? I called him and asked. Also, by way of full disclosure, I am also a Latter-Day Saint, and I’ve added a few of my own thoughts.

Matt Brown: For those unfamiliar, what exactly does a stake president do?

Ken Niumatalolo: [laughing] Right now, I’m still trying to figure it out! I will say first that in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, there’s no politicking —you’re not trying to find a particular job. You’re called by inspired leaders.

All over the world, the church is organized in stakes — the name comes from a metaphor from the book of Isaiah — which are a collection of congregations, called wards. You might have around 10 wards in a stake, which would be more than a thousand congregants. I don’t want to say you’re in charge of those wards — you’re a spiritual leader for all the members in that area.

You have specific priesthood keys to administer to certain spiritual matters. I know I’m kinda rambling a bit, because I’ve been doing this for two weeks! And I know there’s so much to do. But fortunately, in this calling, I’m not in charge. The Lord is in charge.

[The closest comparison to an LDS stake might be a deanery in the Catholic church. A diocese is a similar administrative unit, but those typically are much larger than a stake.]

MB: This is a pretty big responsibility, even if you weren’t coaching. What was your initial reaction when asked to serve?

KN: “Me? Are you sure??” It caught me totally off guard. I didn’t think there was any way I’d be asked, just from a time standpoint. When I went to these interviews [with senior church officials], I thought there was no way they’d call me. There’s no way I could do it. There’s not enough hours in the day, and I’m a DI head football coach.

But I have a strong testimony in this church. And I know the men who called me are men of God, so I’m supposed to do it.

I remember telling my kids about it. They’re all excited, but they were like “how are you going to do it?”

MB: That was going to be my next question. With so much church responsibility and work, seems like family time could be eaten into.

KN: This calling does have a lot of responsibilities. But you know, a lot of the stake presidents I knew growing up were my heroes, spiritually. That burden weighs on me, to make sure I’m doing what the Lord wants me to do.

The church is so perfectly organized, so you’re not doing everything yourself. That’s a thing that’s really helped me here. There’s so many wonderful people in our stake.

I hate to be unorganized. And some of the first few weeks in this calling, I’ve felt like I’ve been a scatterbrained a little bit. But I’ve had really good counselors, both of whom have been bishops before, and stake clerks.

But I’ve still got work on how to allocate time. You’ve got to serve your family first. And you’ve got a job you’ve got to do 100 percent. And now I’ve got this calling I’ve got to do 100 percent. I know as long as I rely on the Lord, I’ll be able to do it. I’m still figuring that part out though.

There are so many committees, and so many different auxiliaries and components. I’ve tried not to get bogged down with the administrative side, and just focus on the spiritual side. Helping people with their testimonies. Working in service. I’m thinking of ways to try and simplify things.

[Stake presidents and their counselors organize conferences for all church members in their area twice a year. They oversee youth programming, the church women’s organization, charity and welfare efforts, and other logistical tasks, along with working with bishops, interviewing missionary candidates, advising local church leaders, and more. The position may require traveling around the area to visit congregations. Leaders typically serve in this position at least seven years. Recently, there have been changes to lessen the administrative burden on local leaders, but this is still a big responsibility!]

As long as I’ve been a head coach, going on my 12 seasons here, I go to church every Sunday. I knew when I became a head coach, I was going to honor the Sabbath day. Those are really big days for my calling, but of course, Division I football doesn’t stop on Sundays. So I go to work early on Mondays. I go to work at 3 a.m. on Monday and Tuesdays, Wednesdays I might go in at 4, and as the week goes on, I might go in at 5 or 6. I’m going to stick to my beliefs, but I also gotta do my job.

MB: While I’m not aware of any Latter-Day Saint coaches serving as stake presidents, it isn’t unprecedented for coaches to serve in demanding callings. Have you talked to any other Latter-Day Saint coaches about how they’ve handled those?

KN: I’ve had discussions before. The [LDS] head coaching group [in FBS] is pretty small. It’s just me, Bronco [Mendenhall, head coach at Virginia], Kalani [Sitake, head coach at BYU] and Kyle [Whittingham, head coach at Utah]. We all know each other.

MB: Early in LaVell Edwards’ [former BYU head coach] coaching career, he was called as a bishop. He wrote that he wasn’t thrilled at first and wasn’t sure he’d have the time, but later wrote that the experience actually made him a better coach and taught him a lot about leadership. You’ve served in a few church leadership positions now. Do you think anything you’ve learned has helped you in coaching?

KN: There’s no doubt. What I’ve learned growing up in the church, and in all the positions of service: whether you’re in formal leadership or not, you’re learning about leadership. And the greatest example of being a leader is with the Savior. So you’re trying to lead by doing what the Savior would do.

I’ve learned that at the Naval Academy too. You’re at a school that professes to be the No. 1 leadership training center in the country. The job here is to produce future leaders for our country. They have their way of doing things, and a lot of them correlate. They talk about servant leadership, and I’ve always believed that. The Savior, the greatest leader of all, the first thing he did, was serve people.

Before games, we’re all trying to help out, carrying bags in the airport, everybody is carrying a bag. I’m not sitting with my feet up in first class, eating ice cream, saying “alright guys, hurry up, lets get those bags going.” I’ve learned to serve, and that’s really how callings in the church goes.

They’re not really leadership positions like the world sees them, from the standpoint of power or prominence. You’re not leading by unrighteous dominion or trying to subdue somebody. The way leadership happens in the church is by serving people and loving them. Just because you’re in a certain position doesn’t make you better than anybody.

I’ve learned that a lot at the Naval Academy. There’s a reason everybody starts out as a plebe. Basically, plebes have no rights. You’re at the bottom of the totem pole. But their thought process is, before you can lead, you have to know how to serve.

MB: That’s an interesting philosophy, since that does run counter to the popular coach archetype, no? This doesn’t exactly describe Junction Boys. To openly try to draw leadership examples from somebody that might be described as more meek is interesting.

KN: It’s a great point. I have a picture on my desk of Jesus walking with his disciples. And they’re all following him. There’s no coercion involved.

I think most people don’t really know what meek means. It doesn’t mean that you’re weak. Jesus led through love. He didn’t lead through fear. The world would look back at so many great leaders — in war, in business, in politics — and maybe fear is what got them their power. But that’s not the examples I draw from.

And that’s hard, because in this profession, you fly first class, you go in entourages, you get a limo, you’re treated differently. Sometimes college football coaches get put on this pedestal. But we’re just people.

MB: Do you think it’s a challenge to have both a high-profile church calling and also a high-profile public job? Would you worry that actions you take in one capacity could be perceived as being part of another?

KN: That’s always a thing when you’re religious. Where do you draw the line? I don’t force my beliefs on anybody else. I just live who I am.

And people know me. I’ve been here at the academy for 22 years. I’ve been coaching for 30 years, and if people are going to ask me questions, I’m happy to answer them, but I’m not going to force my religion on anybody.

And I hope that people give me that same respect. That I can live my faith, here in this country of freedom, and worship the way I want to worship, without disrespecting anybody else.

But there are times that I’ve been accused of crossing that line, or of different things. But I’m just going to be who I am, and hopefully it’s not offensive to people, and if it is, hopefully we can have a dialogue about stuff. But I don’t want to force my faith. I just live my faith.