People Notice Integrity

"Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is watching you." 

(C.S. Lewis)

Have you (or someone that you've known) ever said something to the effect of 'It doesn't matter if I do what's right.  Nobody notices anyway.' or 'Nice guys finish last'.  Well, I have a little story that I always think of when it comes to integrity and character.

When I was just starting out an assistant basketball coach at Anderson University in Indiana, I got to know a guy named Lani Czarniecki. I actually rented an apartment from him and worked for him on the side. The apartment I rented from him had a bed that folded out of the wall. When I needed to make the bed, I just pushed it back up into the wall and what do you know . . . I now had a living room again! But anyway, I digress because this story is not about my room that was the apartment equivalent of an El Camino, but rather about integrity. 

You see Lani was running for mayor . . . 

KIRSTEN MOORE OVERCOMES ADVERSITY

The following excerpt is from Bill Plaschke's article in the L.A. Times about Kirsten Moore, the head women's basketball coach at Westmont College.  She recently led her team to the NAIA National Championship.  This story is an amazing example of perseverance and overcoming adversity.  Kirsten is a first-class individual and is well-respected in the coaching profession.  She certainly has a bright future ahead of her in the coaching world, but as you'll see from Plaschke's great article, it is her past which fuels her present and future.

For Westmont College women, sadness fueled an ardor on the court

The women's basketball team at the school south of Santa Barbara rallied around Coach Kirsten Moore and her baby after her husband died unexpectedly. Their crowning gift to her was an NAIA title.

Westmont College women's basketball coach Kirsten Moore and 9-month-old daughter Alexis, wearing the net cut down after the title game. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times / March 31, 2013)

 

By Bill Plaschke

March 30, 2013, 6:11 p.m.

MONTECITO — Her final pep talk wasn't a pep talk at all. Kirsten Moore was beyond pep.
Her final pep talk, given while surrounded by her Westmont College women's basketball team before the NAIA national championship game, was her chance to say thanks.

Moore thanked her team for keeping her soul alive. She thanked them for sitting in the third row for her husband's funeral, for playing with her infant daughter in the third row of the team bus, for sharing her pain and embellishing her joy. She thanked them for their patience when she was weeping at an unseen memory, or staring blankly into an uncertain future, or disappearing just before tipoffs to nurse her child.

"Thank you for loving me," she said.

By the time Moore finished talking, most of her players were crying so hard they couldn't see. They couldn't focus. They couldn't move.

They couldn't lose.

READ THE REST OF BILL PLASCHKE'S L.A. TIMES ARTICLE HERE ....

Another Leader "Crashes"

Joe Paterno, Jim Tressell, Bruce Pearl, the list goes on and on.  You can now add former University of Arkansas head football coach to the list of great coaches...great leaders, that fell short of their obligations as individuals of character.  As leaders of young men (or women), it is imperative that a coach abide by higher standards.  Character and integrity do go hand in hand with what a college (or high school) coach's expectations should be.  At these levels, a coach is expected to help develop character in their players.  It is a difficult task, made nearly impossible if a coach doesn't model an acceptable behavior themselves.