Jamie is a teacher. Although he hasn’t always been in a classroom this fact has defined him for a long time. His daycare provider asked him at 10 or 11 years old to come back and teach the new kids at the daycare how to be creative when playing with blocks. Coaching and teaching are who he is and he believes they are one in the same, “Coaching is teaching and teaching is coaching.”

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While playing college football at Bethel University (St. Paul, MN) he was a part of a national semi-finalist team in 2007 and returned to coach there in 2010 as they made another run to the national semis. Prior to that he was a member of a national runner-up wrestling team at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD and was an All-State athlete in three sports at Nicollet High School in Minnesota. 

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Jamie taught high school Spanish for nine years around the state of Minnesota and in his time teaching spent a huge chunk of time coaching as well. He coached at the youth, middle school, junior high and high school levels. Jamie also spent time coaching knowledge bowl and developing a leadership council for students while also serving in a variety of leadership functions himself. His last teaching position led him to coach the varsity football program as the defensive coordinator, help run the strength and condition programs and be the head girls track coach, while coaching the jump and sprint events for both the boys and girls. In his time there the track program had girl team finishes of 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd and 4th as well as a boys state championship and runner-up. They also tallied an impressive 15 individual or relay state championships in those five years. 

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As a co-founder of Eyes Up Mindset, Jamie brings energy, passion and knowledge combined with the heart of a teacher. His belief is we all need to be coached, and sometimes coached hard. The teacher in him understands this must be done with patience and care. The foundation of living eyes up is driven by that seeming paradox: growth comes through challenge and care, demand both.