Lyndsey Oates, Northern Colorado

This story appears in FCA Magazine’s September/October 2016 issue. Subscribe today!

Hometown: Eaton, CO
Family: Husband - Mark Children - Dylan and Rylee
Coaching Career:
• Northern Colorado, Head Coach (2005-current)
• Northern Colorado, Asst. Coach (2003-04)
• Samford University, Asst. Coach (2002)
Note:
• Three-time Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year (2009, 2011, 2014)

“Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” – 1 Peter 5:7

Since first grade, Lyndsey Oates knew she wanted to coach. After playing volleyball at LSU, the Eaton, Colorado, native found her way back to the state as an assistant coach for Northern Colorado. Three days before the start of the 2005 season, things took a swift turn when she was suddenly named head coach. Now in her 12th season at the helm, the three-time Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year is a Christ-like influence on the next generation of athletes.

FCA: Why do you enjoy coaching at the collegiate level?

LO: It’s such an influential time for student-athletes. You’re away from home, making your own decisions, trying to figure out what you’re going to do with the rest of your life. I love being a part of that stage and talking through those questions. Those same talents that led to them playing Division I volleyball—work ethic, integrity, teamwork—are all going to help them in the business world or marriage. I love how being an athlete transfers to so many jobs or relationships.

FCA: Where has your faith been challenged?

LO: Going from a small town in Colorado to LSU, I was definitely tested. “Am I really going to live out my faith or my family’s?” I was challenged with injuries and being far away from home. I grew exponentially through FCA, and I came out of college four years later leaps and bounds stronger and closer to God than I was as a freshman.

A year after college, my father was killed in a car accident. You get a phone call, and all of a sudden you’re at your dad’s funeral. When your world is rocked with something so big, you see different sides of God. You see the Comforter, the peace that passes understanding, just aspects of God I hadn’t encountered before.

FCA: How did your faith help you in those difficult moments?

LO: There can be a lot of anxiety. We all want our lives to be smooth and peaceful where nothing bad ever happens, but that’s not how any of the people in the Bible had it, and that’s not what God’s got in store for us either, especially if we want to have influence. Viewing trials as ways to develop our character and grow closer to Him, I look back at those pivotal times in my life and I’m thankful for them—as devastating as they were in the moment.

FCA: How did becoming a head coach so early in your career shape you?

LO: I was very young and didn’t know what I was doing. I was thrown into it, so I had to be very dependent on God, asking for His wisdom beyond my years and really seeking Him during that time of uncertainty. That really challenged me in my career. Eleven years later, I’m still the head coach, but it was a rocky start and not something I even necessarily chose. It really was God placing it in my lap to say, “You’re going to be the next head coach.”

FCA: How does God reveal Himself in the unexpected?

LO: There’s a lot of, “OK, let’s trust God with it, there’s a reason He has me here, He won’t give me more than I can handle, He will equip me for the task ahead.” He only gave me enough light for the step ahead, but it was enough to get through each day.

The more we know God, the more we can trust that His plan is better than ours. We think the best plan is success or a better job or a certain school or more playing time or more wins. But His plan is to build our character and draw us closer to Him to become a greater light on our team or campus. When you step back and look at the big picture and trust who He is, you can have peace. 

FCA Staff Quote:

“Lyndsey is a servant coach who wants the best for her athletes, school and community, and she loves the Lord and wants to follow wherever He calls her.”                  

-Chris Jones
FCA Campus Director
University of Northern Colorado



-FCA-

Photos courtesy of Northern Colorado Athletics