Usually when you think about football coaches, you envision a short-tempered loudmouth whose philosophy is to win at any cost. Although that may be the norm for college coaches today, Drake University Head Football Coach Chris Creighton isn’t the norm.

“My coaching philosophy is that love is ultimately more powerful than hate, fear, negativity, or intimidation,” Creighton says. “I think that those things are effective ways to coach if you’re just looking for an outcome, but I think that ultimately love wins out over hate.”

Love and football? It’s not something you’ll typically find in playbooks or stat sheets. That’s because Creighton’s coaching philosophy stems from his belief in God. The son of an Episcopal priest, Creighton was raised in church but it wasn’t until he attended a bible camp that he made a decision to follow Christ with his life. The decision changed his perspective on everything, from raising a family to coaching a team.

Creighton, his wife, and three children came to Drake University from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Though he wasn’t looking for a new coaching gig, Creighton approached Drake’s offer with an open mind. “I want to look back on my life in the end and just know that I always sought God’s will,” he says. “People always ask, ‘Well hey, don’t you want to be Division One or... blah, blah, blah. And I can truly say that that is not my goal. I really want to be where God wants me to be.”

Although it would be easy for Creighton to use his job and players as stepping-stones toward more coaching opportunities, he values his relationships with players both on and off the field as key to the team’s success. “These guys weren’t looking for a surrogate father. A coach is a coach,” Creighton says with a calming nod. “I want the guys to know that we care about them—not just how fast or strong they are but that we care about them as people.”

Creighton strives to treat his players in a way consistent with his coaching philosophy. “Love, as a football coach, doesn’t mean that you’re always patting guys on the butt,” he says. “It’s probably 90 percent tough love. But it’s all based on relationships so the guys know that you care about them and hold them to a high standard.”

Drake takes the field for the last time this season, and you can be sure that Coach Creighton will count it as a win despite the outcome.  The game plan? Love.