Proverbs 20:11 “It is by his deeds that a man distinguishes himself; if his conduct is pure and right.”  We could have substituted the word, “LEADER,” for man in this verse.  Why?  Because a leader distinguishes or destroys himself by his deeds, either right or wrong.  This past week detailed another account and example of the issue of character versus performance in the sport’s world.  It involves Urban Meyer, the highly successful head football coach of Ohio State University, whose performance over his career has been excellent.  However, his deeds have questioned his character again.  One of his assistant coaches has repeatedly been accused with pictorial and text evidence of domestic violence against his wife first at the University of Florida in 2009 where he worked for Meyer.  There was another documented domestic abuse incident in 2015 when again this assistant was employed by Meyer at Ohio State.  Meyer only two weeks ago lied at a public press conference about knowledge of the 2015 incidence where the assistant’s wife had been strangled and thrown again a wall with their children watching and holding on to their mother.  Then late Friday afternoon, Meyer acknowledged knowing about the 2015 abuse and tried to cover up his lies by saying he was not prepared to speak about the issue earlier.  He said that he reported the 2015 abuse incidence to the athletic director according to protocol.  When the wife of the abuser obtained a restraining order last month, Meyer finally fired him.  The real question is, “Why not three years ago?”  To report a wrong is not the same as having the character to deal with it.

Over the past weekend, Ohio State supporters started a Face Book page titled, “Save Urban Meyer,” which now has over 24,000 signatures.  They are willing to overlook the character issue to save a performance priority.  Ohio State has appointed a supposedly independent investigative committee to look into the matter.  While all of this is ongoing, the bottom line of character and integrity still remains unchanged.  Meyer knew about both reported incidents and continued to allow the assistant to work with him and young men on the team for another three years.  Why?  Because performance was more important than character and the character development of young men under their leadership.  Meyer stated that he would have fired the assistant if he had evidence that he had hit his wife.  What is the difference between hitting his wife and choking, slamming her against a wall and twisting her arms and wrists?  We do not yet know the outcome, but we do know about the lack of character driven by performance and winning football games.  A leader must lead by example of character and must always remember that “character will always outlast performance.”  If you face this question, and you will, remember this: “Character is who you are when you think no one is looking and what you are willing to stand for when someone is looking.”  Let the character of Christ distinguish your leadership and life and performance will take care of itself.