More than Coincidence: Remembering Jesus Christ in Your Story

Stronger with Christ in My Corner with Joe DuPaix

• Lily • Season 1 • Episode 22

Share episode

Send us a text

Embark on a voyage of faith and fortitude as Coach Joe DuPaix opens up about the spiritual playbook that has guided him through a labyrinth of life's toughest challenges. From the sting of career setbacks at BYU to the task of supporting a family, Joe's narrative is a compelling saga of perseverance, interwoven with the comforting embrace of his faith in Jesus Christ. His candid reflections serve as a beacon for anyone struggling to find their footing amidst the chaos of life's trials and tribulations.

Please reach out to me if you are interested in sharing your story! I would LOVE to hear from you. :)

Follow us on Social Media:

Facebook: More than Coincidence: Remembering Jesus Christ in Your Story
Instagram: mtc.rememberingjesuschrist

Website: https://morethancoincidencerememberingjesuschristinyourstory.buzzsprout.com

Email: morethancoincidence.rememberhim@gmail.com

**Transcripts available on website!

Lily:

Hello everyone and welcome to. More Than Coincidence, remembering Jesus Christ in your Story. As the author and finisher of our faith, our Savior writes personal experiences into each of our lives which can later strengthen, empower and bring us peace upon reflection. This podcast is dedicated to sharing these anchoring memories from everyone's unique stories in order to collectively remember and testify of the reality of Jesus Christ and His presence in our lives. I'm your host, lily, and I'm very excited to share these experiences together. Okay, so today on the podcast we have Joe Dupay, or, as we like to call him in our house, coach Dupay. How you doing, coach?

Joe DuPaix:

I'm doing really, really good. How about you?

Lily:

Fantastic. Will you introduce yourself a little bit for everybody?

Joe DuPaix:

Oh man, sure. So I grew up in Salt Lake City, utah, and I kind of wanted to. I love the game of football Obviously I'm still coaching, but I want to play for my dad way back in the day. So I grew up in Sandy technically, and as I got to high school I was able to play for my dad and have that experience of winning a bunch of games with him. And then I got into college and played quarterback down at Snow College and then went down to Southern Utah, played at Southern Utah.

Joe DuPaix:

When I got done there, my wife and I we met my sophomore year in college, got married right between my sophomore and junior year, and when I graduated from Southern Utah we got right into the college coaching thing. Our first job was out in Missouri and at that time we had one little baby and Monica wanted to get back closer to her family and to Utah. So we moved from Missouri back to Utah. I took a job at Riverton High School and taught there for one and a half years and that's where we had our second child. And from there I had an opportunity to go out to California and coach at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, california, and while I was there as the offense coordinator and the quarterback coach but, more importantly, we had three more little babies. So our young family of five kids. We really enjoyed our time in San Luis Obispo, just hanging out, going to the beach, barbecuing a lot of hot dogs back in the day.

Lily:

Oh yeah, it's beautiful down there.

Joe DuPaix:

It is awesome. It is awesome and we won a bunch of games and so life was good. And after that we went to Navy and I had the opportunity to work with Kenyumatololo, who's one of the finest head football coaches in the world. We had another little one there, Cooper and then from there we went to BYU there's a BYU for a little bit, and we had Kennedy while we were at BYU. And then we ended up coming to Virginia, so as the head coach here at Southern Virginia, when I had the opportunity to work with you and your husband in 2016 and 17. And that's when we rounded out our eighth child and six boys, two girls, many, many moves and it's been quite the adventure. But we got done at Southern Virginia while we were there for two years and then I went back to Navy. I was there for another five years and just had some great opportunities to spend time with Coach Nyumatololo and the gang, and then came back here to Southern Virginia a year ago. So back as a head coach now for one year, and it's been really, really awesome.

Joe DuPaix:

As far as the ride is concerned A lot of ups, a lot of downs, a lot of great experiences, Not the routine every day, living in one house my entire life. Not saying that's wrong by any means, but just different challenges. We all have challenges and sometimes Monica and I joke about. We've been married 28 years now. We were sealed in Salt Lake City Temple but 28 years later we kind of joke about why do we always choose such hard things to do? And that's just kind of been our ammo over the years. Without her incredible example and strength there's no way that we'd be where we are today. But it's been really, really cool.

Lily:

I love Monica. She was so amazing to work with. She's awesome, that's so fun. And I think, on the topic of resilience and relationships and all these blessings from God, what memories have you had that the Lord's put into your life, that prick your heart and remembrance of Him?

Joe DuPaix:

Oh man, so many experiences and it really comes down to my relationship with my Savior, jesus Christ, and just what the gospel has done for us. It seems like a lot of times. There's been a lot of highs throughout our life where things are going great, but there's also been some lows. Right, and as a BYU. I loved my time at BYU, being close to family, worked for a great man, bronco Mendenhall, who I still consider a mentor today, even though, after being there a little bit, we were let go. Bronco hired a new offensive coordinator and that particular offensive coordinator brought in his own people and I wasn't one of those guys. And that's the way football works.

Joe DuPaix:

And so I remember, while Monica and I were just trying to figure out life and we were living in pleasant grove at the time and just trying to figure out, what are we going to do at this time? We have seven kids and they're all young. Madeline was in high school and we're just trying to go through. How in the world are we going to do this? What are we going to do? Right, take care of our family, pay all the bills, et cetera. And there was a day where I was a little bit in the dumps right. I was in a little bit, I was just like gosh dang, you know, and Monica's like you know what yeah.

Joe DuPaix:

Like you know what, let's go get some lunch and we can just talk about plans. And so I jumped in the car and drove down to Costa Vita in pleasant grove, and I went to grab the key out of the console and it wasn't there and it was just a little key fob right About the size of my AirPods case. And the fob wasn't sitting there. And I said, monica, do you have a key by chance? I'm checking all my pockets and I can't find the key anyplace. And I'm like it's really bizarre, because you can't drive the car without the fob, the key, yeah, yeah, you start up, but then it's not going to drive. And so I got out of the car. I was like, well, let's just go eat. Obviously it's got to be in here somewhere. So I get out of the car and I walk behind the car to go up in Monica's door and as I'm walking behind the car, that little key fob is sitting on the back bumper of the vehicle.

Lily:

No way.

Joe DuPaix:

Now number one. I don't remember ever putting it there. I have no idea how it ended up there, let alone how it stayed on the bumper while we drove over gutters and through intersections.

Lily:

Right.

Joe DuPaix:

You know, we weren't on the freeway but we were doing maybe 50 miles an hour at certain points of the drive and here's that little key fob still sitting on the back of the bumper and I saw that it was just like a slap in the face. All right, I got it, you got me. You know you we're gonna be okay. This is a you know, it's a little one of those tender mercies where you know what we're gonna be okay and I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't know where the money's gonna come from, I don't know how we're gonna feed our kids, but I know that heavenly father Things looking out for us and the details that he does that with her through the roof impressive.

Joe DuPaix:

But Right that was a moment for me where I was like, okay, let's go, you know, and and of course, monica, I laughed about it as we ate lunch and and things have worked out right, you know. Yeah, when you look back in time and connect the dots, things always happen for a reason, and Usually when you look forward and try to plan out your life, nothing seems to work the way that you expected to and you can't paint that picture or plan it all out.

Lily:

Yep.

Joe DuPaix:

It's just interesting the way that it works, and just another testament to our savior that He'd be very involved.

Lily:

That's so cool. How do you feel like you've seen the Lord in your life as as an athlete and as a coach? Because I feel like that's a really unique experience to be able to have this really interesting connection with the physical and the spiritual and the mental when it all comes together. And so how do you feel like you've seen the Lord in not only your athletics but also in the athletics of your children and as a coach, like, where do you feel like God is in that?

Joe DuPaix:

Yeah, well, I truly believe that God is very involved in in my life personally as an athlete. You know I would pray. I still remember I pray. You know that I would go out and perform at the very highest level that I could perform Athletically and mentally and and just have that skill set to be able to do everything that I really needed to do for the success of our football team. And I know that God cares, he cares about me.

Joe DuPaix:

Now I can't tell you that he cares whether we win or not, necessarily because there's a lot of good people on the field at one time, but, yep, but when, when, when Helen father is caring about me, I know without question that I'm going to be able to go out and perform at my highest level.

Joe DuPaix:

So, as a player, that's how I felt and I truly felt like I was very blessed in my playing days, not only with good health but a lot of success and Successful teammates, success on the game filled just overall.

Joe DuPaix:

But yeah, as you know, watching our kids kind of grow up and go through that process, it's been fun to try and teach them some of those lessons and and see them actually take it serious and and some more than others, but there's no question that God isn't in the details. He cares about us. And and then, of course, as a coach, here's Southern Virginia, you know, one of the reasons why I really want wanted to come back here was to be the head coach and be able to help give direction to not just 12 people in my position room, but 200 plus people, to the whole team. And we talked about increasing spirituality Within our players and we talked about prayer and we talked about Christ. We talked about things that really matter. We're not solely trying to develop them on the football field, but we're also trying trying to develop them spiritually so they can become the best fathers and husbands. Down the road, and and without God, that's really really, really, really hard, and even with God, there's a lot of challenges.

Lily:

Yes.

Joe DuPaix:

But through faith and belief, we know he'll have a have us and make sure that we are blessed and taken care of. But right, but we definitely talked about that quite a bit and I thought it was pretty cool, you know. Just, you know there's been some Christian athletes that have kind of stepped up recently, you know, and made comments, whether beyond social media and whatnot, about about how their faith in Christ yeah, he has an impact on their life and I love seeing that because it's real right and it just has brought me tremendous peace, knowing that when I have Christ in my life, I'm going to be okay and I'm not so stressed about the outcome. Now I want to and I expect to win, but I know that things are going to work out because I'm trying to do my best for him and to live my life so that he can have the ultimate success right as we strive to build Zion. So that's just a little bit about my history with those areas.

Lily:

That's awesome. Well, I just love how you bring up this line of just kind of letting him have it, letting him take it, and, knowing you and knowing your family, you guys do give 200% all the time right and every day, I think everywhere all over the world, people are trying to give their best, and it's so nice to know or at least try and get our minds in the perspective that we can give our best, and then he'll magnify whatever we have. And sometimes that is the hardest thing. Especially as an A-type personality, I'm always like I've got to do everything I can, I've got to be perfect, I've got to get it all done right, and so when things fall short, it hurts, and I've really had to learn to say oh, he's got me, the key fob was there. I've had to have those moments in my life too. So I think that's really cool, that that's what you're touching on, that we can give all and we need to give our all, but at the end of the day, it's him.

Joe DuPaix:

It is, it is and he's going to give that much more. And I will say this that when I had the opportunity to work with you, I don't think any of my organization of files and equipment and things that you have within the football program have ever been at that same high level.

Lily:

So don't sell yourself short.

Joe DuPaix:

You're super organized and super on point and I used to enjoy just sitting back and you'd walk in the office on occasion and tell one of the coaches listen. Now you can't put that here. It's got to go there or whatever, and I was like we're in good hands here. So I appreciate that I tried, so you did a great job, but even at that, like you said, we strive to do our best. Whatever our best is is what we need to do, and Christ will take it above and beyond.

Lily:

And.

Joe DuPaix:

I know that to be true and if I didn't, man, I can't even imagine in today's world how I could live a life full of joy. Every day I wake up and I'm happy, Right Life. That doesn't mean it's perfect, but I'm happy, and with everything all that turmoil today. If I didn't have Jesus Christ in my life, I'm not sure that that would be the case. It would be so much harder to just go on your day to day business.

Lily:

Right? Well, because I think having the gospel of Jesus Christ and knowing the plan of salvation it gives you I don't want to say like an end goal, but it does give you something to hope for and to look at, rather than waking up every day and doing the daily grind and wondering, like, what is this for? Like, of course you love your family and of course you do things for your family, you do things for those that you love. But I think, at the end of the day, knowing that there is more, that it's like I'm doing this for my family for long term, like not just this life, but for the future too, like eternal future, I know, I think that brings me a lot of peace too.

Joe DuPaix:

So yeah, I totally agree, 100% Awesome.

Lily:

Well, are there any other memories that you would like to share before you leave us with the testimony?

Joe DuPaix:

You know, just just overall life in general. You know, I know that life is hard. No-transcript. I'm privileged to sit down with players daily and hear their struggles, hear their stories. Back when I was a player, I mean I couldn't call homeless, I had to pay phone or I wrote a letter nowadays.

Joe DuPaix:

You know, these young men and athletes across the world still have one foot back home because of social media, and one foot wherever they're going to school, and what that leads to is some challenges. And so I hear about those challenges where I had a young man today text me and say hey, you know I'm doing all right, coach, can I come by and talk to you? My family's going through this really hard thing and yada, yada, yada and sharing details about his life. And so the players that I have the opportunity to coach and work with right now are really going through some challenges in life, and a lot of times as we discuss those those challenges, it kind of comes back to where Jesus Christ is in their life.

Joe DuPaix:

And so I love the fact that I can be where I am right now, where, hopefully, I'm adding value to their lives, not because of me, joe Dupais, but because of my relationship with God, because of my testimony of Jesus Christ, and I think that there's a lot of good that's that's being done there.

Joe DuPaix:

But I also know there's a lot more that can be done, and I just know, you know, I'll just tell you that I know that Christ is real, that he loves me. He loves each of us. You know I alluded to it earlier I don't know how I would be if I didn't have Jesus Christ in my corner, but the fact that I do, the fact that I am playing for his team and that I know with certainty that he has my back, allows me to truly wake up with joy in my heart each and every day, and that is something that I'm so grateful for, definitely super grateful for the church of Jesus Christ, the Latter Day Saints, and all the lessons that are garnered through that knowledge that we're able to learn each and every day. I just know that my life is better and will continue to be better the more I truly invest, with intention, my efforts to be better at those things.

Lily:

Right, that's awesome. Well, I really appreciate all your thoughts and just it's been great catching up with you and I hope that this next football season goes great. Spring ball is coming up, so you've got a lot of work you got to get done.

Joe DuPaix:

Spring ball is coming up and our season is just around the corner and you're right, we have a ton to do. There's so much we need to do just from an development standpoint, but that's why we're here and we have players who are super excited about it. So we'll anticipate and expect your prayers, lily.

Lily:

So thank you and you keep up the great work. Thanks. Well, you got our prayers and you got my thanks for coming on today. I really appreciate it.

Joe DuPaix:

Awesome, you bet, thank you.

Lily:

Thanks again for tuning into more than coincidence, remembering Jesus Christ in your story. Please follow us on social media or share us with a friend. If you have an experience you'd like to share, feel free to reach out to more than coincidencerememberhimatgmailcom. I can't wait to hear all of the amazing memories you all have of our Savior. See you next time.