Bruce Scifres is a legendary high school football coach from Indianapolis, Indiana. During his time at Roncalli High School, a co-ed Catholic school on the south side of Indy, he led the school to 7 Indiana Football State Championships, most of them being in the second largest class in the state. Although he ranks in the “Top 5 All-Time" most championships won in the state, winning football games was never his top priority. Using the powerful realm of coaching as his platform, Bruce always prioritized faith formation and character development for his players. He always believed the #1 responsibility of he and his coaching staff was to “Help the young men we serve get to Heaven!” Bruce gives an inspirational message of how we can all become transformational leaders, and emphasizes the message “Is there anything more significant we can do in this life than to bring Christ to others, and to bring others to Christ?”
Back in his days as an athlete, Bruce was blessed with much success. He played football, basketball, and ran track all four years of high school, receiving 9 varsity letters. He went on to play tailback at Butler University, where he set 3 school rushing records, and was named team MVP and All-Conference. Bruce is a 3-time Hall of Famer, as he was inducted into his Plainfield High School Hall of Fame, as well as the Butler University Athletic Hall of Fame. He is also an Indiana Football Hall of Fame inductee.
In the coaching ranks, Bruce has been the recipient of numerous awards beyond his 7 State Championships. He was also the Head Track Coach of a team that finished as State Runners-Up in a one-class system. He has been the recipient of 12 Coach of the Year Awards, including being named the 2017 Indiana Coach of the Year for all Indiana sports. Bruce also received national recognition as he was the recipient of the 2017 National Football Foundation Distinguished American Award. Bruce retired from teaching and coaching in the spring of 2017 to become the Executive Director of the Catholic Youth Organization for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. In this role, he oversees 24,000 youth and 7,000 adult volunteers across central and southern Indiana. Not surprisingly, his message to all 7,000 adult volunteers he mentors is, “Our #1 job in all we do across CYO is to help the young people we serve get to Heaven!” He is still involved in coaching, only now to a much, much larger team! Upon his retirement from coaching in 2017, several of his former players put together enough money to hire a professional film company to create a 19-minute short film about Bruce and his impact on others titled, “Coaching For Christ.” It has been shared and viewed on Facebook and the internet over 100,000 times.
As mentioned above, Bruce is known for his ability to motivate and inspire people of all ages, whether on a field, court, classroom, meeting hall, or lecture room. Regarded as a master storyteller, Bruce is adept at weaving stories around life messages and is skilled at invoking laughter, tears, passion, self-reflection and resolve among his audience. Always a coach, perhaps the most powerful part of his message is when he closes with a “pre-game talk,” designed to inspire all in attendance to leave the room motivated to become the gift to others that Christ created them to be. You will be energized and motivated at the end of his talk!
Finally, Bruce is the author of two books… “Beyond The Goal Line, The Quest For Victory In The Game Of Life” and “A Real Man, A Guide To Becoming The Men Our Wives, Children And God Want Us To Be.” Women who have read his second book (“A Real Man”) have said that it should be mandatory reading for all men, and that they want their daughters to read it as well so they will know how they should expect to be treated by their future husbands and the men in their lives.
Bruce and his wife, Jackie, are the proud parents of four children; Luke, Abby, Cal, and Meggie.
Speaking Topics:
Transformational Leadership... Making A Difference In The Lives Of Others: All of us have leadership qualities and potential. This talk focuses on ways we can use the guiding principles of Christ as we lead others in a profound and transformational way. Several stories, both humorous and serious, are shared to demonstrate these concepts. This talk can be modified and given to all age ranges, and is designed to bring out the best leadership qualities in us all.
Coaching For Christ: Coaches have an unbelievably powerful platform to teach and mentor our youth. When we use athletics as an avenue to reach the hearts and souls of our players, young lives are changed for the better. When we coach in a way that is pleasing to Christ, our athletes will learn to play with a sense of duty and obligation... and they will perform better as they learn to play for a higher purpose. As the saying goes, "Good coaches improve a player's game, great coaches improve a player's life." This talk focuses on transformational coaching, and is based on the short film created about Bruce Scifres titled "Coaching For Christ."
A Real Man... A Guide To Becoming The Men Our Wives, Children, And God Want Us To Be: This talk addresses the many societal woes that exist when men do not step up and live their lives like men in God's eyes. Most importantly, numerous examples are given of ways that we can be better husbands to our wives, more loving fathers to our children, and better male role models in our communities. Much of this talk is based on the principles found in Bruce's book of the same title.
The Fire Within: Great leaders do not light a fire under the feet of others... instead they build a fire within. This talk discusses how we can feed and nourish the seed of God's love that has been planted in each of our hearts. As we fill the void that exists in the hearts of others, it is reciprocal... our hearts are likewise filled in the process.
The World's Most Powerful Word: This talk explores the power of the word VOLITION... the ability to choose. This concept will strongly influence our success or failures in life, and will ultimately determine the person we become and the impact we will have on this world.
