06/10/2026
It’s strange how life works sometimes. Last week I wrote and created a post about my college football coach, intending to save it until closer to the season.
Yesterday our world lost an amazing man. Long time University of Findlay Head Football Coach Dick Strahm passed away Tuesday morning just before 10am.
I spent the day in text chains and phone calls with my teammates. Sharing memories, pictures, even a little teasing (some things never change), and our love for our Coach.
The evening ended with even more surprising news. Ginger Strahm, Coach’s wife passed away less than 12 hours later.
I’m not waiting until football season to share this. It’s important now. The greatest leader and toughest man I’ve ever met.
The following is the post:
Great coaches win games. Legendary coaches change the trajectory of your entire life.
Dick Strahm, the legendary Head Football Coach for the University of Findlay from 1975 to 1998, helped shape mine. He wasn’t just my coach; he was an inspiration.
On his path to the College Football Hall of Fame, Coach Strahm compiled a stellar 183-64-5 record. He earned three NAIA Coach of the Year awards and captured four NAIA National Championships.
But despite the records, the accolades, and the trophies, Coach Strahm was always more than a coach to me. He was far more than just a leader of young men.
He was the kind of person you would do literally anything for because we all knew he would do the exact same for us. His men, his team, his warriors knew he always had their backs.
In the spring of 1997, Coach Strahm suffered a stroke, leaving us shaken and concerned for our leader just as we were entering my senior season.
We had an experienced and talented core of returning starters from our 1996 NAIA Quarterfinal run. For many of us the upcoming 1997 season was what we had bled, sweat, and fought for. We knew we had the team, but we didn't know if we would have our leader.
Instead of stepping back, Coach spent the summer retraining his body with the exact same work ethic he demanded from his players, defying the odds to stand on the field with us for the season opener on September 6, 1997. His relentless fight inspired all of us to fight even harder for him.
Four months later, that shared will carried us to an undefeated 14-0 record, capped off by a 14-7 victory over Willamette University to win the 1997 NAIA National Championship.
Remarkably, prior to the stroke, Coach had already beaten the other two leading causes of death for men in the United States—cancer and a heart attack all while continuing to coach. Ultimately, he bested the stroke, too.
During his final season in 1998, Coach was still battling the debilitating effects of a stroke. I had the privilege of coaching under him that year. As a coach instead of a player that season showed me a different perspective and gave me a front row seat to a leader who simply refused to give up or give in.
To this day, Coach embodies three powerful words: resilience, endurance, and perseverance.
In life, these are tools and traits that are hard to learn and painful to earn, because none of them can exist without adversity. While adversity is something none of us want to face, experiencing it is inevitable. Learning how to confront it is what matters.
If you are lucky enough to have someone set that example and teach you how to stand tall against hardship, you follow their lead. That is how you acquire the tools to become resilient, the armor to endure tough times, and the perseverance to keep going when you think you can't.
I know I am not alone when I say, "Thank you, Coach Strahm." There is a long line of men who donned the Orange and Black who would not be as equipped to face life's ultimate battles today without your example.
