Head Football Coach Victor Santa Cruz of Azusa Pacific University knows what it takes to make great football player. It all starts with the proper foundation, and that all starts with Jesus Christ.
 

Coach Santa Cruz was not raised in a Christian house hold, and in an effort to find true purpose and happiness he found himself looking in the wrong places. As a result of trying to pull his sense of purpose from worldly desires, young Santa Cruz became depressed and at the young age of sixteen contemplated suicide. Suicide is the number two killer among teens in the US today. But God had different plans for the future coach. As with so many believers today God placed someone in the path of coach Santa Cruz. A man by the name of Miles McPherson came to Victor Santa Cruz’s high school and was strong enough in his walk to share the gospel with Victor. Victor was so moved that he gave his life over to Jesus right there in the gymnasium, and has been walking with the Lord ever since.
 

Victor Santa Cruz played football in high school and was talented enough to go on to play division 1 football at the University of Hawaii where he played linebacker. It is this linebacker mentality that Coach Santa Cruz applies to his life as a coach and a mentor to his athletes, and he considers the opportunity to coach at APU a gift from God.
 

Victor was a coach at a local high school and working for the San Diego FCA when he thought he needed to make the transition over to fulltime teacher and coach at the high school. He felt that God was calling him to use football as a ministry. Well, he was right about the football coaching, ministry, and teaching part right, but God had a different plan for the destination. Santa Cruz received a phone call from a friend who had heard that a local Christian College may have an opening for a coach. Victor applied and found that it was a perfect fit. They needed a defensive coordinator, and he had the experience and the faith. That was eight years ago, and since then Coach Santa Cruz became the head coach of the whole program. Our God is a big God and we need to be ready for his plans for our lives.

God has been using Victor to shape young men into strong Christians of and on the field. "Every year we get 7-8 men that give their lives to Christ that are on the team. As a family that we put together on this football team, we get to come together for the competition and grow through the wins and losses. But all of our coaches really have a pastor's heart. One day you’re a coach the next you’re a mentor. And through the impact from FCA we are able to change lives for the honor of Christ." Said Coach Santa Cruz. And some of the best experiences have come from non-believers that attend APU. We have taken in kids that some people would classify as a knuckle-head. That's what I love about APU, we just meet people where they are at. We are able to take that kid, and sometimes offer the first positive role model they have had, and show them what it means to grow up and be a Godly man. At APU we say 'We build champions while pursuing championships.'" Why football?

Football has offered some incredible opportunities for some of his past players. Coach Santa Cruz has received e-mails thanking him for the experience, because through the violent sport of football, past athletes were able to learn how to stand up for their beliefs, never give up, and above all things that God gets the glory. Because of the location of APU, and the lack of teams in state that are in their conference they find themselves traveling quite often. To the program this is like placing the great commission right in their lap. “Every time we are out it is an opportunity to share the Gospel. My guys know that we are never just serving ourselves and that we need to act accordingly.”
 

Azusa Pacific University was established in 1899 and has a very rich history. “God always comes first from the president all the way down to the service workers.” Says Coach Santa Cruz. This comes through in the way that Coach Santa Cruz handles himself off and on the field. He is humbled by the assignment God has for him, and the impact that he is making for the kingdom goes way beyond touchdowns and field goals. In God’s stadium, the championships are eternal.