College sports have long been viewed as a place where greatness is developed, where successful teams are built and more importantly to many people, a place where character, discipline, and integrity are just as important as talent.
After 25 years in the sports industry, I am wondering if this is still the case.
In today’s ultra-competitive, pay-to-play landscape, a harsh reality is setting in—honesty, trustworthiness, and being a “good teammate” often take a back seat to performance. Every single day I hear a story of an athlete or a coach or a parent of an athlete struggling immensely as a result of their relationship with their coach or the “state of their athletic careers.”
Let’s be really honest for a minute…. This is not my first rodeo, so to speak. More than 25 of my high school players have gone on to play college basketball and my own children have played more than five different college sports (I have four children so you do the math). For many college sports programs, winning is the only currency that matters. Coaches talk about culture and values, but when push comes to shove, the best players get the minutes, and the rest? They’re expendable.
Athletes across the country are being pushed out of programs without so much as an explanation. They’re showing up to meetings only to be told their scholarship isn’t being renewed, or worse, finding out secondhand that they’re no longer a part of the team.
One Division I basketball player that I have been working with for a long time described the moment he realized his commitment to the team meant nothing:
“I did everything right—showed up early, encouraged my teammates, and played my role. But when the coach brought in a transfer who played my position, I was suddenly irrelevant. I asked what I could do better, and they had no real answer. I was just… out.”
Stories like this aren’t rare. Athletes are told to “trust the process,” but that trust is often one-sided. Loyalty isn’t rewarded—production is.
Coaches today are under enormous pressure to win. Job security is tied to success, and success is measured by stats, not the character of their athletes.
Take the case of a soccer player that I work with who was recruited with promises of development and support. She arrived on campus ready to practice two-a-day practices, only to be met with a cutthroat environment where mistakes weren’t tolerated.
“They brought me in as part of their ‘long-term plan.’ But after one up and down season, I was barely getting reps in practice. No one told me why. I wasn’t causing problems, I wasn’t slacking. I was just… not useful to them anymore.”
It’s not just athletes who suffer. When winning is the only goal, toxic cultures form. Players are afraid to make mistakes, trust is shattered, and instead of developing resilient young adults, programs create athletes who feel like commodities.
So….does integrity still matter in college sports? In many programs today, the honest answer is no—but it should. The best teams don’t just seek talent; they build trust, invest in player development, and see athletes as individuals with value, potential, and a right to be coached.
