A Coaches Legacy Story

Shelley Pearson • Jul 14, 2022

FCA Laid the Foundation

Neil Fletcher (Concordia University) and Dave DeWitt (North Central University) are assistant basketball coaches who have been part of FCA for decades. Through FCA school-based huddles, camps, and the 3D coaching program, they point to FCA as an integral part of their faith and coaching journeys. FCA staff member, Ron Backes, has had the privilege of ministering to Fletcher and DeWitt for many years through 3D coaches training, regular check-ins, and one-on-one mentorship.


Watch this video to see how FCA has impacted them.

Carrying on a Legacy

Matt Fletcher (Concordia University) and Dan DeWitt (North Central University) are head basketball coaches for their respective colleges. Did you catch the connection to the two men at the beginning of the story? See the shared last names at each university? It’s a beautiful legacy when fathers and sons coach together but an even cooler legacy here is that the assistant coaches are the fathers of the head coaches. They have passed on a legacy of coaching and now have the privilege to coach together.

For Matt and Dan, the legacy their fathers have given in coaching has also produced a deep friendship in them. They grew up going to Christian basketball camps where their dads coached. As they got older, they started to connect more. Over the last four years, their relationship has gotten deeper. It is rare for a day to go by that they don’t talk – about life, basketball, challenges, and everything else.   

Watch this video of these coaches as they share the impact of FCA on their coaching and their friendship. 

Four Coaches Impacting their Teams and the World for Christ

3D coaches training has been used around the world to equip thousands of coaches. It has been transformative in the way the Fletchers and DeWitts coach and the way they live. Ron said, “It’s changed their “Why?” and shifted it from measuring success by wins and losses to the development of their players - to have purpose in their coaching.” Ron has seen it completely transform how they coach and live out their lives and sees them passing it on even further to their other coaches.



Check out this video of the four of them talking about FCA, faith, and friendship.

It started with two coaches whose lives were transformed by FCA. They intentionally poured into their sons who are now pouring into others, and Ron has had the privilege to walk with all of them. Ron said, “There’s a legacy of the fathers and sons and now the sons are training their assistants. It’s a deeper legacy beyond family – a coaching legacy. It’s discipleship multiplication. It’s an embodiment of what we hope for.” 

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