Boise State University Head Football Coach Officiates His Defensive Lineman's Wedding: ‘He’s Like Family to Me’

Coach Spencer Danielson officiated player Braxton Fely's wedding in May

One Idaho college coach is showing that he’s there for his players on and off the field.

According to an Aug. 8 post on the school’s athletics website, Boise State University Broncos football coach Spencer Danielson officiated his defensive lineman Braxton Fely's wedding to wife Kelly in May.

Fely said the idea to have Danielson officiate his nuptials initially came from a joke made in the locker room, but he ultimately decided to make it a reality because of the coach’s importance in his life.

“He is like family to me,” Fely said in the post. “But more than that, he is a man of faith. That was so important to me and so important to us. And it was important for our families to see his faith portrayed like he does.”

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Danielson said in the post that he didn’t hesitate to say yes to Fely’s request. He recalled telling Fely, “I appreciate you asking me, Braxton and yes, I will marry you,” adding with a laugh that the football player “looked at me kind of funny and then laughed.”

The Broncos defensive lineman said it took a bit longer to bring his then-fiancée around to the idea because she “didn’t know” the Broncos coach “very well then,” even though she had heard him “talk about” the coach several times.

“Kelly was initially surprised,” Fely explained of her initial reaction. “Because it’s not too often a guy will go to his fiancée and say that he wants his football coach to officiate their wedding ceremony.”

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“At the time, I lived in a house with six football players and she’s heard them all talk a lot about what a great man he is and how much he cares for us all as individuals, not just as football players,” he continued. “And she trusts me. It didn’t take that much convincing.”

He shared a photo of the nuptials with Kelly at the front of the altar and their wedding party lined up behind them in various shades of pink. Danielson could be seen between the couple with a microphone as he read from a book he held.

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“Having Coach D officiate our wedding made it 10 times more special,” recalled Fely, who had a small formal ceremony in their Temple before having a bigger ceremony with a larger crowd and Danielson.

Danielson noted in the Boise State Athletics post that “it means everything to me” that his players trusted him enough to be a part of their lives.

“It’s why I believe God put me in this seat – to develop young men,” he said in the post. “For some, that is going to be husbands down the road, and for some, it is being husbands right now. Everybody is at a different place in life and that is the only reason I coach – to develop these young men.”

“Football has given me the platform to do this but for me, I can’t miss those moments of teaching them what it looks like to be a husband, a father, a business owner or a professional,” he added. “Yes, becoming an NFL football player is the goal for everyone in our facility but that’s not going to be the reality for everyone. So it’s teaching them what it means to be that husband, father and worker.”

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