After a decade of bouncing between college, prep school and high school coaching jobs, I realized a lifelong goal and became a high school football head coach. The team I took over had gone winless the previous two seasons. In re-building the program, our staff heavily recruited students in school and persuaded many of our players to lift weights and attend summer camps. Not surprisingly, we improved and within a few years produced only the second winning season at the school in more than a decade. While we were no longer an awful program, we were still just average and we needed to figure out how to return to post-season play.

A pivotal moment occurred when I caught our coaches repeatedly saying things such as, “He doesn’t get it,” or, “He is starting to get it,” when discussing our players. Well what is “it” and how could I teach “it”to our players? I spent the offseason researching winners from various fields and eras. What proved most important was not natural talent but applied talent. The most successful people performed at a consistently higher level because they had learned to work to their potential over sustained periods. They were able to do this because they had it; strong character and the mental toughness to maintain that character under pressure.

Character is individual identity as indicated by a person’s thoughts, words and actions. It is made up of character traits. For someone to reach his or her potential – as a player, student, coach, accountant, etc. – one must grasp these traits and learn how they govern daily decisions and influence longterm outcomes. Character is divided into two parts: moral character and productive character. It is this second part that we focused on. An examination of how our players developed from freshman through senior year led to the discovery of 11 key traits and a logical progression in which to teach and learn these traits. We did not have time for the traits to naturally develop through trial and error, so we taught them to our players through meetings and handouts. Ultimately, our goal was to have our players consistently apply these traits to everything they did on and off the field. We saw this happening when our players began to choose the character way instead of the easy way over and over again in their daily decision making. The character way became the playbook for approaching our every endeavor.

The results were tangible as we started to beat opponents we had not defeated in a long time. We eventually made it to three district finals. While we would have loved to have won a state championship, I’m pretty sure few teams travelled as far as we did in going from second to last in the state rankings to cracking the top 20. We drastically improved because our players bought in and developed strong character. In addition, our faculty, administrators and parents took notice as this new found strength of character spilled over into our players’ academic and personal lives.

Character matters at every level. Think of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson throwing that early interception in the 2014 NFC Championship game. Instead of pouting, he immediately ran down the defender who caught the ball and pushed him out of bounds, saving a touchdown. This display of character and mental toughness saved the Seahawks from going down seven points. On the same play, a member of the Green Bay Packers received a 15-yard personal foul penalty for taunting. This penalty ultimately led to Green Bay having to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown. Wilson’s great character coupled with the Packers player’s poor character resulted in four fewer points for Green Bay. Had the Packers scored that seven instead of having to settle for a field goal, the game might not have gone to overtime, and the Packers rather than the Seahawks, might have gone to the Super Bowl.

The lesson is that no matter the level of play, the character of individual players will make a difference between winning and losing – on and off the field.

Bill Moore is an assistant football coach at Springfield College. He served for a dozen years as the head coach of Westfield High School in Massachusetts. In his final season at Westfield, he led the team to a 9-2 season while simultaneously earning both district and state level sportsmanship awards. Bill is the author of “On Character and Mental Toughness” and a sought-after public speaker. He currently facilitates #TheCharacterWay seminars in which he helps teams to strengthen their character and build mental toughness skills. More information is available on his website coachbillmoore.wordpress.com and on Twitter @CoachBillMoore