UNIVERSITY PARK — Hawkeye basketball legend Jess Settles spoke at an event sponsored by the Iowa Quaker Men (Friends) at Vennard College’s Student Center Dining Hall on Saturday.

His talk, peppered with jabs jokingly pointed at Iowa State, focused largely on how he felt God is working in the world.

He mainly addressed the athletic world and the strain therein. And since he’s involved with basketball, he homed in on that sport and its coaches.

“It’s all about winning, it’s about nothing more than that,” said the one-time Iowa Freshman of the Year.

He said that as a consequence of this drive to win, coaches can spend a lot of time away from their families and church.

He said that the pressures can result in a coach being on top of his game, but the result is “what the Bible calls a house that’s built on sand.”

But, he said, when the trials of life come, what will happen to their lives?

Those houses will come down, he said.

Settles has spent some time at the NCAA’s Final Four and noticed that ministries that once separated themselves from each other have come together to do Christian programs to help those in need of support.

He mentioned that the head person of the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) “is a born-again, on-fire man of God, who has a passion and a destiny” for reaching basketball coaches and helping them through the tough times of life.

On a larger scale, he also talked of the NFL’s Washington Redskins and Joe Gibbs, the team’s head coach, and his reason for coming back to the team that he led to Super Bowl glory.

Settles said that Gibbs came back to affect the area and Capitol Hill “for the kingdom of God.”

He said that Gibbs has told the Redskins’ team chaplain that he wants to share his faith with the platform that he has.

Settles then delved into the Bible and described God’s desire “to have a personal encounter with each and every one of us.”

He spoke of being raised in the church, by his parents and grandparent, like many of the people listening to him speak.

“But there comes a point where each and every one of us have to have our own encounter and we have to know Him ourselves and believe in Him,” he said. “We have to go through a terrible time in our lives to see Him rescue us and restore us.”

Settles said that he had gone through this personal encounter and that it changed his life and heart.

In an interview after his talk, Settles talked more about his NEXT LEVEL ministry.

The ministry will be conducted through a group of area-wide basketball camps.

He said that most camps that he’s seen have the wrong emphasis.

“My wife and I were just very positively impacted at camps of all kinds,” he said. “So, we really believe in camps, but there are just so many of them that aren’t realistic, and why do you want to send your fourth-grader to a place where they get screamed at all week? It gets a little out of hand.”

So, at his camps he makes the game fun and relaxing and adds biblical principles to the mix.

Some kids today, however, skip college and leap right from the high school ranks to the NBA.

He said that he doesn’t begrudge those who do make that jump, but he wonders if the kids are ready for being around people that are so much older than they are.

He said that he, himself, would have thought about such a move.

“I would have definitely considered it,” he said. “I think every single guy today who plays considers it because what other thing in your life can give you that much so early.”

But what about the kids in college? What does he think about Iowa’s recent success on the hard floor?

He spoke of how the Hawkeye's Greg Brunner, Adam Haluska and Jeff Horner have been through a lot, and he’s happy to see how they’ve done.

“They have the type of team that can make a big run in the tournament. They really do,” said Settles. “They have experience. They have age, maturity. They have a very high basketball IQ, the three of those guys.”

That should come in handy with all of the talk of Steve Alford maybe leaving for his alma mater, the Indiana Hoosiers.

Settles brings a little experience to the table when talking of such matters since he too was in this situation with his last year being the last year of Dr. Tom Davis, an Iowa basketball mainstay.

He said that all of the stuff surrounding both of the situations doesn’t really influence the players all that much.

“The bottom line is that you’ve got to step on the court and win and that’s what they’ll try to do,” Settles said, “but it won’t affect the players as much as it does the coaches and the fans.”

Coaching, he said, may be in his future.

“Maybe down the road,” he said. “Maybe down the road. I still stay close to some guys who are in the profession, but right now, it hasn’t been the right thing.”

But for now, Settles will talk about his faith.

He hoped that the people listening got motivated and enthused after his talk.

“I just really have a passion for preaching the Gospel and preaching the Word, so I hope that it encouraged them, inspired (them),” he said adding that in situations like these, it largely affects the person speaking more than the ones listening.

“It’s just great to get out and meet people who cheered for you and watched you on TV,” the three-time team Most Valuable Player said. “This is really neat.”

Herald Assistant Editor Jared McNeill can be reached through e-mail at jmcneill@oskyherald.com