What Would Coach Do?

Byrd Baggett 

“Self-justification is the beginning of self-destruction.”

I was fortunate to earn a full scholarship to participate in track and field at the University of Texas in Austin. During my career, I was a four-year letterman, was on two Southwest Conference Championship teams, was elected captain my junior and senior years, and was an All American. Even though I am proud of these accomplishments, what I am most grateful for is the leadership lesson that I learned from my head coach, Jack Patterson.

Coach Patterson recruited me and was the head coach during my freshman year at UT. Even though it was many years ago – 1968 to be exact – I can distinctly remember the day Coach Pat visited my home in Pasadena, Texas to offer me a scholarship. My parents were not home at the time but my grandmother, who was living with us, was present during Coach’s visit. After he left, my grandmother, a tough and wise lady from East Texas, turned to me and stated, “Bubba, that’s a good man and you better sign that scholarship offer!”

If you talk to any athlete who was fortunate to have been on one of his teams at Merkel High School, San Angelo High School, the University of Houston, Baylor, and Texas, I’m confident that the majority, if not all, would say that he was a man of integrity who never compromised his core principles. He was a true man of God and, without proselytizing, lived his life accordingly. When Coach was recruiting athletes, integrity of character always came before talent.

After my freshman year, Coach Patterson went back to Baylor where he served as Director of Athletics from 1971 until his retirement in 1980. In his first year, he hired Grant Teaff, another man of impeccable integrity, as head football coach and, three years later, Baylor won its first SWC football title in 50 years. For his many accomplishments as a coach and administrator, Coach Pat was elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, the Drake Relays Hall of Fame, as well as the Baylor University and Rice University Athletics Halls of Fame.

In my opinion, his greatest accomplishment was that he never placed winning above integrity and would be so saddened at what a wholesale lack of integrity did to the reputation of his beloved Baylor University (see note below). I’m confident that none of this would have happened if Coach Pat was at the helm, as he would NEVER allow his staff, coaches and athletes to place winning above integrity – his conscience would not have allowed such.

The following words, from one of the world’s most admired leaders, speak to Jack Patterson’s legacy: “When you lose your wealth, you lose nothing. When you lose your health, you lose something. When you lose your character, you lose everything.” – Billy Graham

Takeaway: Integrity is a choice. It’s consistently choosing the purity of truth over popularity.
Reflection: Is there any part of your life where you are compromising your integrity? If so, what do you need to do to fix this part of your character?

Recommending Reading: Lead with Humility: 12 Leadership Lessons from Pope Francis by Jeffrey A. Krames @ https://shorturl.at/wUpsZ.

Note: Referring to the Baylor University sexual assault scandal concerning numerous sexual and non-sexual assaults by Baylor University students, mostly players on the school’s football team, and efforts by school officials to conceal them, from about 2012 to 2016. Head football coach Art Briles was ousted, Baylor president Ken Starr was demoted and eventually resigned, athletic director Ian McCaw resigned, Title IX coordinator Patty Crawford resigned, and two others connected with the football program were fired in connection with the scandal.