By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN
Special to Hays Post
Dane Straight chuckles when he talks about who is more excited about his new coaching position — him or his 10-year-old son, Levi.
Straight has been named the head men’s soccer coach at Bethany College in Lindsborg, where he played on the inaugural Swede team more than 30 years ago. And he “guarantees that Levi will be hanging out with me at the field.”
“It’s a dream come true, and it’s been surreal so far,” said Straight, a Hays native and a 1992 graduate of Hays High School. “Bethany was such a special place for me as a student. I am thrilled to be taking over a program that I helped build.”
Staying in Kansas to attend college wasn’t at the top of Straight’s list as a high school senior.
Neither was playing college soccer.
After all, Hays didn’t even have a high school program yet. Neither did Bethany.
That all changed when Straight took a trip to Boulder, Colo., and toured the University of Colorado, an NCAA Division I school. He said it just didn’t feel right for him.
Then he visited the beautiful campus in Little Sweden USA, just a few miles off Interstate135 about 20 miles south of Salina.
An honor student, Straight was chosen to receive the prestigious academic Founder’s Scholarship, given to only a handful of Bethany students each year. He also was offered a track scholarship. He was set up financially for a quality college education.
“And,” Straight says time and time again, “it just felt like home. From the first time I walked on campus, it just felt right.”
The draw to Bethany just kept getting better and better.
During one of his campus visits before his freshman year, he learned the Swedes were starting a men’s soccer program. Soccer was one of his favorite sports growing up, but he hadn’t been able to play competitively since eighth grade.
So off to Lindsborg he went. The rest, as they say, is history.
Straight went on to become the first player in school history to play soccer four years for Bethany.
He fell in love with the college and the city of Lindsborg and often wondered what it would be like to raise a family there someday.
Straight helped as a volunteer coach for the Swedes after using up his playing eligibility and working on a second major.
That’s when he realized that coaching was something he really wanted to pursue as a career.
Straight got plenty of experience in coaching before returning to Bethany to work in the admissions office three years ago as the college’s international student recruiting liaison.
He enjoyed coaching stints at McPherson College and Cloud County Community College in Concordia and helped start the men’s and women’s programs at Cowley College in Arkansas City.
Now, he is realizing the dream of raising a family in Lindsborg, saying that it’s a good fit for him, his wife Alycia and their two children.
Lindsborg is known for its practicing arts, where the Straights’ 12-year-old daughter, Claire, is active in music, art and theater.
Now, Dad gets to share his passion for soccer with Levi, who plans to be on the sidelines as often as possible – when he isn’t competing for his own youth team.
Straight would like to return the Bethany program to the glory days of his college career when the Swedes finished first or second in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference his first three years.
However, he stressed that teaching, coaching and mentoring young adults isn’t all about winning games.
“I’ve given them fair warning that I know how to coach one way - that’s the entire person,” he said. “I believe that coaching is three-dimensional: body, mind and soul, and that’s the way I’ll be coaching.”
Practicing his faith at the private Christian college is a way of life for Straight, a foundation that was strengthened during his college days.
“I was able to build lifelong friendships at Bethany, and it was a wonderful experience,” he said. “I want these players to come and love Bethany the way that I did – the way that I do.”
