Coach the Soul

Today’s children, especially teenagers, live in a world that is much different than the one that existed just twenty years ago. A drastically changed family dynamic and the advent of social media have forced young people to grow up in a more fragile environment, one without the stability they need and with the constant pressure of scrutiny from peers and others they don’t even know. The effects of these factors have led to suicide becoming the second leading cause of death in teenagers in America! Circumstance has deprived these kids of the stability and perspective that they so desperately need. This is a crossroads moment. Coach the Soul is the first book that addresses these issues with real answers. It was born in Ken LaVigne’s classroom and on the football field during over thirty years as a high school teacher and coach. Its epiphany is just as unexpected as the dire circumstances in the lives of so many students. Coach the Soul sheds light on what today’s young people really need.

Ken LaVigne is a 2012 California State Teacher of the Year. In 2007, after almost thirty years as a successful high school football coach, Ken decided to retire from coaching and focus all of his attention on teaching. He was asked to develop a program to help his school’s most at-risk students. He created a program called OASIS (Organized Academic Support In School) and recruited the finest students at La Serna High School to become academic mentors for their struggling classmates. Together, they created a program of support that is rooted in the application of core values that lead to success, not only in school, but in life. The results have been incredible with the great majority of these at-risk students graduating, continuing their education, and moving on to successful lives. Hundreds of teachers, counselors, and administrators have visited his classroom to witness, first hand, how this process works. 

Married, he and his wife have two grown sons and live in California.