A Portage Life in the Spotlight: Joe Stempien

joe-stempienJoe Stempien is more than just a coach.

He is a motivator of young men, a person of great faith and a leader determined to help develop youths in their quest to become great individuals.

While all coaches serve in some sort to develop young minds on and off the field, Stempien - head football, weightlifting and track coach at Fegely Middle School - has a unique style that stresses using sports as a vital tool to teach, "discipline, commitment and work ethic."

"I believe my job never ends," Stempien said. "It's important to always be a role model. Whether you are at Wal-Mart, getting pizza or at the school."

Stempien said he specifically had a goal to teach and coach at the middle school level because, "you get to reach the kids before they go bad."

"Being a Middle School leader gives me a chance to steer them on the right track before they get exposed to situations that could be harmful," he said.

Stempien, a native of Coldwater, Michigan, has been at the helm of the trio of programs at Fegely for three years now. He returned to the Midwest after a coaching stint in Utah.

After applying "all over the country," he jumped at the chance to return to the Midwest to do what he loves.

Life in Utah, he says, "was like a desert."

"It was a dessert with a bunch of rocks," he said. "The Midwest is so much prettier. Unless you are in Salt Lake City, Denver or Colorado Springs - the entire West is pretty barren."

Principal Phil Misecko, Stempien said, saw something in him three ago and offered his the job he currently holds.

The results have proven Misecko correct, as the Fegely football team finished 4-3 in 2013 - their first winning record in quite some time.

"We are a team on the upswing, clearly getting better and better every year," Stempien said.

And in track, Stempien says Fegely, "consistently holds the best mid-distance and distance teams in the conference."

Stempien says he points to four people who have had the greatest positive influence in his development as a person and coach. He says without his eighth grade teacher, AP History teacher, varsity Football coach and "Father B.," his college mentor - he would not have achieved what he has.

As a coach, Stempien says every practice is as vital as a game in terms of shaping the young men he coaches.

"When we end practice in every sport and class, it is about building relationships," he said. "A 100-year-old principle is giving everything you have and expect nothing in return physically and emotionally. When we end practice, our job as coaches is to love the kids and have them love each other. I've been using that mindset for three years now and the kids embody that program."

"The kids don't know how much you know until they know how much you care," he added.

Fifteen years of playing football, from third grade until his fifth year of college, also inspired Stempien to be a part of the game for life.

"I've been fortunate enough to develop the attitude that we need to teach young men how to love and how to be a man. The biggest question in boys' sports should be : How do I become a man?"

Stempien is a man of faith, with a big involvement with Nativity Church. He also teaches health classes at Fegely in addition to his coaching duties.

"All my classes get this basic message on how it is to be real man or woman and how society values sex, money and power," he said. "If you have those things it will eventually make you hollow and empty. Instead of what society guides you, becoming a man is more about what you sacrifice and what you give up to guide your family. Being a real man means building great relationships and working hard to be less selfish."

And while Stempien one day would like to become a counselor or youth mentor, his immediate goal is on the teams he coaches at Fegely.

In football, the goal for next year is to improve and be a contender with Willowcreek Middle School in Portage.

"They are the standard in the league and have been forever and ever," Stempien said. "Fegley is at a disadvantage for enrollment, but we don't make excuses for how we perform against middle schools."

But while wins and losses are a good measure of on the field performance, it is the life lessons and development that is most important for the ones he coaches.

"As far as the real man part goes, my wife jokes that I still have a long way to go," Stempien said.