Vikings Assistant Coach Laces Up For Coaching Charity

There is a quote from Billy Graham that says, “A good coach will impact more people in a year than most people will in a lifetime”.

No matter if you played sports, learned a musical instrument, or some other type of skill, odds are you had a coach or teacher that helped spur the interest you had in whatever you were pursuing.

This is the story of one coach, who impacted and inspired practically everyone he came in contact with, and how his impact lives on even though sadly he is no longer with us.

It’s likely you’ve never heard of Coach Jamal Powell. He was a teddy bear wrapped in a mountain of a man. Coach Powell was an offensive line coach, so that should help with the mountain of a man reference.

In 2015 he became the offensive line coach at James Madison University in Harrisonburg Virginia, which was my first year as the full-time radio play-by-play broadcaster for The Dukes. When I first met Coach Powell there was something different about him, I could just tell.

Photo Credit: Dave Thomas Townsquare Media

When he came to JMU, he brought a young coach along with him to be a volunteer coach, that fella is Pat Hill. That’s a name you might know, because for the last two years he has been the assistant defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings. This year he’ll be assisting with the Outside Linebackers for the purple and gold.

Coach Powell not only brought Coach Hill to Virginia, but then that same year helped him get his first full time coaching job at Ferrum College, also in Virginia.

We will come back to Coach Hill in just a moment.

Also in 2015, Coach Powell coached a player at JMU, Casey Croll, who would become his understudy for the next few years. Casey was a stand-out player and wanted to stay around football.

Photo Credit: JMU Athletics and Big Man Foundation

After winning a 2016-17 FCS national championship, Coach Kroll followed Coach Powell to Texas to Lamar University and then to Southern Methodist University.

All seemed to be going well until 2018 when Coach Powell learned he had a rare, aggressive form of cancer. Coach Powell went from being a mountain of a man to fully dependent on his loving wife Rachel and his three small children.

For Casey, like most of us who got to know Jamal Powell, this was crushing for us to see. As Casey began to think about his relationship with Coach Powell, he saw the effects that this was having on the family finances.

Casey began to work on how to help and came up with The Big Man Foundation. The overall goal began to help the Powell's and grew into helping coaches and their families through extremely difficult times.

Photo Credit: Big Man Foundation

What started in 2020 as a way to offer support has grown into so much more; helping bring awareness to coaches about their health by encouraging yearly physicals, championing the effort to have lifesaving AED devices at sports facilities, and during the month of April, offering programs and support to coaches for wellness and health during Coaches Health and Awareness Month.

There has been so much growth in such a short period of time from 2020 until now. Here is a video how the Big Man Foundation stepped up and helped a coach and his family at Boise State University. Now, remember when I introduced you to Coach Pat Hill of the Minnesota Vikings? Let’s get back to him. Coach Hill felt the impact personally from Jamal Powell in many ways. “He was a best friend; we were super close” Pat Hill told me recently.

Photo Provided by Coach Pat Hill/Minnesota Vikings

“Coach Powell even loaned me a tie for my interview for that landed me my first full-time coaching job” Coach Hill remembered. That was who Jamal Powell was. Most NFL fans are aware of “My Cause, My Cleats” where players, during week’s 13 and 14, wear cleats they have designed to support a specific cause or organization. Then the players will auction off their cleats with the proceeds going to that cause.

Photo Credit: Big Man Foundation

Last season, Coach Pat Hill selected the Big Man Foundation and wore those shoes on the sideline during a Vikings game. Coach Hill remembered; “to show you how good GOD is, the game I wore the shoes for the Big Man Foundation, Coach Powell’s wife Rachel was at our game”. After the game, Coach Hill gave Rachel those shoes. “Rachel and the kids are like family to me” Coach Hill said. “We are still very present in each other's lives”. Casey Croll said to me when we caught up about this story "I didn’t even know Coaches could wear shoes like the players do”. “I was thrilled that Coach Hill remembered Big Man Foundation, which of course also remembers Jamal Powell” he said.

The Big Man Foundation was also represented by former JMU standout and current New York Giants Offensive Lineman Aaron Stinnie as well.

Even though Jamal Powell passed away in 2021, his legacy lives on through his kids and his wife. That legacy will also be on the Vikings sidelines on Sundays again this season, and it lives on in so many of the lives of the players he coached, like Casey Kroll.

Getty Images

That impact one coach had is now making a difference for other coaches and their families when the unthinkable happens.

If you would like to consider supporting The Big Man Foundation, they welcome your support. You never know when a coach close to you is someone they help.