Lesson 10- Reading #2
What is Integrity
Aristotle said that integrity is the overall quality of
one's character, one's body, and one's self. Integrity is the idea
of wholeness - a completeness. Integrity is about what we will not
do, about what we will not give up, and what we stand for at all costs.
It is the total package. Integrity is a virtue of habit - which are
deeply engrained in our habits. These habits of character are
necessary for human flourishing as a part of society. Aristotle
saw us as a part of the community, thus our success and our ability to
flourish depends on how we treat others. Integrity is having a
commitment to the values of the community - however the values of the
community cannot violate the values of the individual - honesty,
justice, responsibility, respect, beneficence and the courage to carry
through.
1. Read the article: Indiana:
Sampson has 'highest integrity' from USA Today in May of 2006,
about Kelvin Sampson after he was recently hired as the Head Men's
Basketball Coach at Indiana.
2. Read the SI.com article:
IU Gambled on a Reformed Sampson and got Burned by Luke Winn
3. Read
Discussion on the
coach as a role model.
________________________________________________________________________________
- Title:
- Indiana: Sampson has 'highest integrity'
USA Today, 07347456, MAY 26, 2006
- Database:
- Academic Search Premier
Section: Sports, Pg. 14c
Indiana President Adam Herbert and
athletics director Rick Greenspan said in a statement Thursday
that new Hoosiers basketball coach Kelvin Sampson is a man of
integrity who made an error in judgment that resulted in NCAA
sanctions levied against him and against Oklahoma, where he
formerly coached.
The NCAA Committee on Infractions said
Thursday that Sampson fostered an environment of "deliberate
non-compliance" while at OU, where Sampson and his staff made
577 impermissible telephone calls to 17 recruits between 2000
and 2004. Sampson made 233 of the calls, the committee found.
The committee has prohibited Sampson
from making any recruiting phone calls or taking part in any
off-campus recruiting for one year. Oklahoma was placed on two
years' probation and has had scholarships and recruiting visits
reduced.
"From our first contact, Coach Sampson
impressed me as a man of the highest integrity," Herbert said in
a statement. "He provided immediate and full disclosure
concerning the NCAA violations about which the Committee on
Infractions has just rendered a decision. We all learn by our
mistakes, and Coach Sampson is no exception in this regard."
Indiana says it will not appeal the
sanctions.
Sampson is in Kuwait for an eight-team
military basketball tournament. The school said he is aware of
the committee's announcement but is confident IU can recruit
successfully despite the sanctions.
"I have learned an invaluable lesson,
and I hope that this reinforces to other coaches the importance
of every aspect of NCAA compliance," Sampson said in a
statement.
Thomas Yeager, acting chair of the
committee and commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Association,
criticized Sampson and his Oklahoma staff for "prioritizing"
NCAA rules and thinking the impermissible phone calls were
"unimportant."
"There are no insignificant recruiting
rules when they can impact a (recruit's) decision," Yeager said.
"In recruiting, oftentimes the smallest little thing can tip the
balance (to one school instead of another)."
Yeager said Sampson will be allowed to
accept calls from recruits and there are no sanctions on
text-messaging and sending letters and e-mails.
Oklahoma also self-reported violations
in women's gymnastics involving impermissible practices. Both
the men's and women's gymnastics teams were cited for failing to
track the time student-athletes are allowed to practice. The
committee adopted Oklahoma's self-imposed penalties to reduce
gymnastics practice activities.
(c) USA TODAY, 2006
Discussion:
The Coach as a Role Model
The most powerful role-model for the athlete is the
coach, who is trusted to lead, teach, and develop student-athletes into
better players and better people.
A moral role model has a duty to live their moral
values. Coach John wooden always argued for a principled way of living
life and coaching. Success he said would follow.
In 2001, a Summit on Men's and Boys Basketball called
"Pursuing Victory with Honor” brought together coaches and
administrators on the importance of coaches being called
teacher-coaches. NABC Executive Director Jim Haney said. "It's about the
everyday responsibility of teachers ... teaching ethics, core values,
demonstrating the value of hard work" (ESPN, 2001). The coach has the
responsibility to be an educator.
"Basketball develops initiative in the individual and at the same
time fosters a spirit of cooperation with a group, integrity to a team
and to oneself, qualities of leadership, honesty, and responsibility,
moral obligations, the ability to sacrifice, moral and physical courage,
and a defined sense of values. Certainly each of these qualities are
composite traits of personal integrity or character…He learns to
practice self-restraint in his playing and practices self-control when
not playing. There must, therefore, be more than the mere physical
development of the individual in the game of basketball. Consequently,
the benefits derived from participation must include more than a
favorable outcome of the game” (Newell, 1962, p.10)." - Hall
of Fame and Legendary Basketball Coach, Pete Newell
Coach Newell argued for the importance of developing
the student-athlete into a complete person. Newell is correct, for moral
education is a continuous process built on a student-athletes’ life
experiences and the influence of parents, coaches, teachers, and
friends. This process culminates in developing the student-athlete’s
moral character, thus leading and guiding what they actually do.
The coach is in a position to be teacher of moral
education, helping others understand their role, purpose, and
responsibility to others. Therefore the character of the coach will
effect the student-athletes moral development (Stoll & Beller, 2006).
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