Football and Faith

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.” - Proverbs 3:5-6

In the glow of a Class D-2 state football championship, it would be easy for Central Valley football coach Chip Bartos to boast about all of the accolades for his team and players after a successful football season.

But, grounded in his Christian faith, Bartos has seen plenty of lows, too. In his first seven seasons of coaching at Wausa and Giltner, he had a record of 13-43.

“I think I have certainly grown as a coach,” Bartos said. “But, I have always been proud of being someone who coached for impact as opposed to wins and losses. We respect the success we have had (at Central Valley).

“But wins are just as fleeting as anything else in life. I have tried to do this myself and fallen flat on my face. None of our success is my own doing.”

Bartos came to coaching almost by pure force. He loved sports. His parents were ranchers near Verdigre. More roping and cattle than football and basketball.

“I drove my dad nuts,” Bartos says matter of factly. HIs faith, however, was not an option.

His family led him to Christ at a young age. Bartos said his parents came to their faith through Nebraska rodeo legend Chip Whitaker, who Bartos is named after. But that staying in the faith has never been easy for him. His family, Chip is the youngest of four children, was heavily involved in a country church near their ranch.

Bartos got a first major test of faith during his junior year of high school when his father, Keith, passed away after fighting lung cancer.

“I did not handle my dad passing away very well,” Bartos said. “I had so many good people around me trying to help me and I chose to live a two-sided life. I was in church leading one day and getting in trouble the next. I was very inconsistent.”

During his senior year, Bartos fell in love with the idea of coaching as a student assistant for Verdigre football coach Doug Konapasek. He was a teacher’s aide for all of his PE classes and was an assistant for junior high football.

“He coached everything,” Bartos said. “And he enjoyed it so much, he really got me into coaching.”

Graduating in 2009, Bartos went to Hastings College majoring in physical education while also playing defensive back on the football team. He was actively involved in campus ministry and graduated in 2014 after spending 2011 being stationed Kosovo as part of the Army Reserves.

After graduation, Bartos was at Wausa for three years, the final two as the head football coach where they won just one game in the 15 he coached. He moved to Giltner for the 2017 season where he coached the Hornets to the playoffs in his first two years; his first team beat Arapahoe in the first round before losing to Mullen in the round of 16.

During his first year at Giltner, Bartos struck a friendship and mentorship with Fellowship of Christian Athletes East Central Nebraska representative Randy Huebert. Huebert, a state championship coach at Coleridge and Aurora, encouraged Bartos even more in his faith.

“Coach Huebert had a huge impact on me,” Bartos noted. “He led me in a Bible study and we started an FCA huddle at Giltner. He continues to be a great mentor for me and others.”

At the time, Bartos didn’t probably know how much he would need his faith.

In his final three seasons at Giltner, the Hornets went just 2-19. In his final year they finished with a 1-7 record, losing every game to an eventual state playoff team. Bartos admitted to it being a hard situation, but that he still tried to coach for impact; not wins and losses.

But, it was hard to see the forest through the trees.

“Sometimes it is hard to realize that God has a plan for you in all of this,” Bartos said. “I felt really bleak during that time. But, what I really had were some people in my corner who were forcing me to pray.”

A new opportunity presented itself at Central Valley in the fall of 2022. Bartos jumped, but hoped that his impact on athletes wouldn’t ever change. That he would always coach with faith.

The on-field results in Greeley County have been a bit different for Bartos. He knows he’s surrounded with great athletes and has impactful assistants to help lead his team. The Cougars — in three years — are 32-4 under Bartos and have their recent Class D-2 state title under their belt. They have lost just two regular season games.

But, it’s so much more than football for Chip Bartos, who also is the head track and field coach for the Cougars.

He does this interview glowing about going to oldest daughter Harper’s Christmas program in Creighton the night before. He was married to his wife, Allie, in May 2023 and their son, Jett, came in March of this year.

He lives his faith in so many ways.

In Sunday worship at Third City Christian Church in Grand Island. In his morning devotional. In the Max Lucado sermons he listens to on his phone that reminds him of his dad.

In the Bible talks he puts on when he prepares a weekly game plan each Sunday afternoon in the fall. On his play call sheet with Proverbs 3:5-6 on the top, right where he can see it.

And, in his “Gameday Playlist” that isn’t Metallica or House of Pain, but Twila Paris.

“It calms me down before the game,” he joked.

Most importantly, he’s coaching and living a life filled with the love of Christ in his heart and impacting as many as he can along the way.

“There are times I get worried that people will say something about being vocal in our faith because I don’t know where everyone stands,” Bartos said. “It’s easy to show your faith away from football. But we want to have an impact on the field, too.”