As we all know, our head coach definitely qualifies as being “ultra evangelical”. As someone who was also raised within this culture, I feel I’m able to speak on the characteristics of it more than most. I was raised in the charismatic / Pentecostal tradition. It might even be more conservative than Hew’s background.
If I could point to anything as the primary characteristic of someone entrenched in this culture, it would be “superstitious”. Everything is a sign from God. If you find a parking space close to the front of Wal-Mart, it must be a god thing. If the Chinese restaurant accidentally gives you twice as many egg rolls than they normally do, it’s also a god thing. Everything good, from the most inconsequential conveniences to a good report from the doctor, is from god.
Likewise, everything bad, no matter how minor or inconsequential, is from Satan. They view this as “Satan trying to throw then off the righteous path” or distract them.
I think you can see how this can cause a person to potentially develop delusional / narcissistic traits. Evangelical Christians have some of the worst cases of “main character syndrome” you’ll ever see. Their relationship with their faith is primarily transactional. These people are not really seeking any kind of “truth”, they’re seeking confirmation of their superstitions. It’s honestly not that much different than paganism.
Anyway, back to Hew. I think we all know he’s a pretty big Bible thumper. He also strikes me as someone who displays both delusional and narcissistic personality traits. And because of this, he also probably holds some pretty strong superstitions himself. This might HELP explain his reasoning for not getting a QB from the transfer portal.
Knowing what I know about Hew, it wouldn’t surprise me in the LEAST if Payton (who is also a Christian, not sure what kind) and Hew had some deep talks about faith throughout his time on the plains. It also wouldn’t surprise me if Hew got attached to Payton in some way, and felt that he himself had to be the coach to make Payton “great” because he was called by God to do it. This is the superstitious / narcissistic / delusional thing I’m talking about: Hew did not pursue a portal QB because he might actually believe he’s been called by God to start Payton.
If I could point to anything as the primary characteristic of someone entrenched in this culture, it would be “superstitious”. Everything is a sign from God. If you find a parking space close to the front of Wal-Mart, it must be a god thing. If the Chinese restaurant accidentally gives you twice as many egg rolls than they normally do, it’s also a god thing. Everything good, from the most inconsequential conveniences to a good report from the doctor, is from god.
Likewise, everything bad, no matter how minor or inconsequential, is from Satan. They view this as “Satan trying to throw then off the righteous path” or distract them.
I think you can see how this can cause a person to potentially develop delusional / narcissistic traits. Evangelical Christians have some of the worst cases of “main character syndrome” you’ll ever see. Their relationship with their faith is primarily transactional. These people are not really seeking any kind of “truth”, they’re seeking confirmation of their superstitions. It’s honestly not that much different than paganism.
Anyway, back to Hew. I think we all know he’s a pretty big Bible thumper. He also strikes me as someone who displays both delusional and narcissistic personality traits. And because of this, he also probably holds some pretty strong superstitions himself. This might HELP explain his reasoning for not getting a QB from the transfer portal.
Knowing what I know about Hew, it wouldn’t surprise me in the LEAST if Payton (who is also a Christian, not sure what kind) and Hew had some deep talks about faith throughout his time on the plains. It also wouldn’t surprise me if Hew got attached to Payton in some way, and felt that he himself had to be the coach to make Payton “great” because he was called by God to do it. This is the superstitious / narcissistic / delusional thing I’m talking about: Hew did not pursue a portal QB because he might actually believe he’s been called by God to start Payton.
