Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
Burnt out on football after four years at the University of Notre Dame, but not sure what to do with his degrees in sociology and film & television, Kevin Washington was at a crossroad in his life in 2009. 
 
"Originally, I was thinking, 'Let's go do sportscasting,''' Washington said. "My dad said I used to talk all the time, so I might as well make money at it. But I had never really done any work towards an actual career."
 
Through "happenstance and God's providence," Washington ended up at Abilene Christian University, back in his home state of Texas, and met with football coach Chris Thomsen. 
 
"I was pretty burnt out on football because of the way things transpired at Notre Dame," said Washington, who played sparingly as a backup linebacker in his four years with the Fighting Irish. "But Coach Thomsen and his staff at ACU were more worried about building men than they were about winning games. But then, they were also winning games."
 
Playing two more years at ACU, Washington was part of an 11-1 team in 2010 that won the Lone Star Conference championship and was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally in the NCAA Division II poll, "but I broke my arm that year. So, that was great. I get to tell that story all the time. And it gets worse every time I tell it."
 
But Abilene, Texas, is also where he "started pressing into my faith and what that looks like and how do I get more involved."
 
That was also where Washington started a path in ministry that included three years as the FCA Director for ACU, McMurry and Hardin-Simmons and 2 ½ years as the campus director at the University of Houston, serving as the football team chaplain. 
 
A path that led him to Baylor as the Associate AD for Mission Impact and Enrichment/Athletics Chaplain, a role that he officially began on Wednesday after eight years as Director of Player Development for the University of Texas football program. 
   
"With the opportunity to impact more than one team, more than one coaching staff, that's something you can't really pass on, especially when you get to combine faith and what you do athletically," said the 37-year-old Washington. "I definitely wasn't looking for a change. I was happy where I was. But then, God blessed us with an opportunity that we couldn't pass up."
 
A four-star recruit as a linebacker out of Fort Bend (Texas) Austin High School, Kevin had committed to Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham, who was replaced by Charlie Weiss after the 2004 season. After redshirting in 2005 and not playing at all the next year, he saw limited snaps in his final two seasons with the Fighting Irish. 
 
"That was a great experience for me, more from a faith perspective than a performance perspective, to be honest," Kevin said. "That's where I learned a lot about life. And I also met the Lord, thanks to Pastor Verneil Lewis. Athletically, it didn't go the way I wanted or thought it could have. And he was just there the whole time, still sharing the gospel, not forcing anything. But just saying, 'Hey, it's here when you're ready. Let's figure this out.'''
 
While he grew up with his mom consistently taking him to church, Kevin said Pastor Lewis helped him "to know what it meant to actually follow Christ."
 
At ACU, Kevin was a two-year captain for the football team and two-time first-team All-Lone Star Conference pick for the Wildcats. Leading the team in tackles in each of his two seasons, he totaled 154 tackles, 24 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. 
 
Opting not to give the NFL a try or go through a Pro Day workout, Kevin told himself, "Let's just go into ministry."
 
"I credit Coach Thomsen for saying, 'Hey, man, if you want to go to the NFL just so you can have a platform, just go do what God calls you to do, and he'll give you the platform you need,''' Kevin said. 
 
As Director of the Tri-College Ministry, serving the three universities in Abilene, Kevin was responsible for training leadership for the schools while leading bible studies and events and caring for athletic staff and student-athletes. 
 
Marrying his "high school sweetheart," Jordan, in 2012, Kevin began a partnership in ministry that has continued through stops in Abilene, Houston and Austin, where they led the Longhorn Christian Fellowship at High Pointe Baptist Church. 
 
"I feel like we can't get away from working together," Kevin said. "We just enjoy it. It's always, 'Okay, how are we going to serve and find ways to do that?' . . . That was actually part of the draw (at Baylor). Just seeing the family atmosphere and just seeing how integrated families seem to be is a huge draw. We've always wanted our kids to be around and do these things with us."
 
When Mikado Hinson was leaving his role as Chaplain and FCA Campus Director at the University of Houston in 2014, the Houston Texans' current Player Development Advisor reached out to Kevin and told him, "You should interview."
 
With Kevin and Jordan returning to their Houston roots, it gave them an opportunity to "just be there with our families and do ministry. And we're in one school instead of kind of bouncing around to three," he said. 
 
That was also where Kevin and Jordan got connected with current Baylor VP and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades, who was in that same role at the University of Houston from 2009-2015. 
 
"It was really cool to connect with him and just see his heart for (student-athletes). You can hear it and see it," Kevin said of his interview with Rhoades during the hiring process. "He says, 'Yes, we're going to compete and win games, but the thing that's going to make a difference is impacting their life for eternity, not just for their career here.' It's really cool to see what he's done here, but then also under the banner of faith."
 
After 2 ½ years at Houston, Kevin got a different kind of opportunity when he followed football coach Tom Herman to UT as the Longhorns' Director of Player Development in December 2016. Initially turning the job down, because "God's doing some good stuff (at Houston)," Kevin told Coach Herman that "if I can't talk about Jesus, I'm no good to you."
 
"(Coach Herman) said that was fine. 'I don't want you to stop being who you are and talking about those things. I just want to add to what you're doing,''' he said. "(Player development) was added to it, but the ministry was still part of what I do. I still get to do chapels before all of our games, do bible studies with the guys, still meet one-on-one with some of the guys, the coaches. So, I was still definitely able to do it all."
 
Staying on when Steve Sarkisian replaced Herman following the 2020 season, Kevin has seen the Longhorns make back-to-back trips to the CFP semifinals while building "really good relationships" in Austin that make it hard to leave the role he held for eight years. 
 
"That's gut-wrenching, to be honest," he said. "But with Baylor, God blessed us with an opportunity that we couldn't pass up."
 
When Baylor's Assistant AD for Sports Ministry, John Maurer, left this past summer, Executive Senior Associate AD Juliana Smith sent out an email to people in her network that Baylor was "looking for someone who had a heart for the Lord, had a heart for this age group (18-24) of students who are high-performing, high-achieving and have a curiosity or deep relationship with Christ. That was the needle in a haystack."
 
"The role has evolved as I've had the opportunity to assess how we do ministry within a Division I athletics department and the opportunity to strengthen those efforts," said Smith, who leads the Mission Impact and Enrichment team. "As our student population changes, I 
I would say their needs also change. So, it's having someone who can stay ever-connected to the never-changing gospel in a world that's ever-changing and student-athlete needs that continue to evolve."
 
Paul Putz, Director for Faith & Sports Institute (FSI) at Truett Seminary, had heard Kevin speak at a faith and sports conference in Austin and immediately thought of him as the perfect candidate for the Baylor position. 
 
"He has such a unique voice in the faith and sports space," Putz said. "I've thought for a few years that Baylor would be a great place for someone like him because of his vision and his leadership and just the special combination of skills, experience and spiritual maturity that he has."
 
With a baby on the way at the time and right in the middle of the football season, Kevin initially said the timing wasn't right. 
 
But after an off-site meeting with Smith, his interest was certainly piqued. 
 
"Essentially, it was just an opportunity for him to learn more about the role, learn more about Baylor and the vision we had for the role, and to get to know me a bit," she said. "From that moment, I was challenged not only as a leader recruiting for a vacancy, I was challenged as the person who's charged with stewarding the spiritual growth pillar in Baylor Athletics, to be able to articulate a vision that centered Jesus.
 
"We're one of the few units within an athletic department where it's not about how our students perform, it's not about the grades they make, it's not about how hard they're going in rehab to get back to play. It's truly about an introduction to the gospel that hopefully leads to a lifelong relationship with Christ."
 
After going through dozens of screening calls and two rounds of interviews, "I did not have peace about moving forward with the search, and the search committee supported my decision to pause our process," Smith said. 
 
Kevin's name surfaced more than a few times in the second wave of outreach seeking candidates. 
 
"When I had the opportunity to meet Kevin, and the committee had the opportunity to interview him, I was sure that we had found who we had been praying and believe for since we initiated the process.
 
"It wasn't a quick decision for him," she said. "His prayerful consideration of the opportunity was a confirmation for me that he would be the right fit for Baylor. We just had to trust the Lord's timing."
 
While the vision for the role may not be completely in focus just yet, Kevin said he sees it as "helping integrate faith and performance in everything that happens at Baylor."
 
"It's that combination of competitive excellence and faithfulness," he said. "To see a place that's actually trying to do that, and wants to be a leader in that, is always going to speak to me. I'm very passionate about my faith, but I'm also passionate about competing, because I want to make sure we use all the gifts that God gives us.
 
"I think it's a travesty when we have people that are really excellent at what they do, but they don't know how to connect their faith and their performance."
 
After 10 years of praying for it, Kevin and Jordan were able to start a family in 2022 with the birth of their daughter, Korrie. And then three months ago, they added a son, Kannon. 
 
"We had finally said, 'Okay, we'll just serve you this way,''' Kevin said of their ministry. "And he said, 'Well, actually, I've got something for you. I just need you to wait a little bit.' . . . Both their middle names start with J (for Jordan), so it's KJW. That way, they've always got their mom and dad with them."
 
And now, the Washington family will get the chance to help lead the spiritual growth pillar within Baylor Athletics. 
 
"That's something I want to make sure I'm helping and being a part of is, making sure that Baylor is a light on the hill," he said. "It's one thing for you to say, yeah, that's a good pillar. But when you see the actions that back it up, you're like, 'Okay, that is different. It's real.'''