David Shaw Teaching "Cardinal Football"; Demonstrating "Cardinal Virtue"

David Shaw

I don’t know David Shaw, the head coach of the Stanford Cardinal Football Team, nor have I followed his career closely.  But last Saturday, I witnessed his leadership on display, perhaps only a small sampling of his persona. Yet, what I saw, I believe, is worthy of public amplification.

My wife, Shannon, and I spent the weekend in upstate New York attending the Army – Stanford football game in the classic Michie Stadium at West Point.  Prior to the game, we experienced the Corps of Cadets performing the traditional “review on the plain”.  As they passed by in parade garb, rifles and sabers in tote, it was hard not to think about the considerations of these young men and women.  Their minds must have flashed from college thoughts of a weekend only moments away, to adult thoughts and the reality that graduation may relocate them to Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria or any number of international hot spots.

Cadets Pass in Review

As we walked up the hill to the stadium, we anticipated the drubbing of the much undersized Army, by the 5^th ranked Cardinal.  Within hours, Shaw led his team to an unremarkable victory against the unranked Black Nights… in fact, I can’t remember the last time Army enjoyed a spot in the top 25.  No one expected Army to be competitive.  And despite the 34-20 score, they really weren't.  They give up about 25-30 pounds per player in the positions that require size.  But, this makes sense.  As Stanford’s players are great and “right sized” athletes, chasing their dream to play in the NFL, these cadets from West Point are living their dream, playing a top 5 opponent in Division I football.  Yet just like all of the other cadets, upon graduation, they will exchange their football helmets for Kevlar helmets as they accept a commission in the US Army.  They will not play on Sundays on a simulated battlefield; they will live each day as willing instruments of the nation prepared to meet the enemies of our country on the great and real battlefields of the world.

Here’s what struck me.  As the Cardinal team came on to the field just prior to the game's start, they raced to the end-zone that was in front of the cadet section led by a player carrying a small American flag.  For a moment, as small as the gesture was, I found myself choked up.  In mere moments, these two teams would compete fiercely, yet in this moment, Shaw’s team honored the commitment of these cadet-athletes, their opponents.  Contrary to all pop-culture messaging, in this situation, the better of the two teams rightly honored the lesser.  And, in a sense, Stanford honored Army above themselves.  What a demonstration of respect born out of the virtue of humility, I thought.

Then, after the game was over, Army in step with tradition gathered in front of the cadet section and sang the West Point Alma Mater together.  It was both a somber and motivating affair.  The stadium stood still.  The fate of these players took an almost tangible form.  The end of the song crescendos into these final words,

“Let duty be well performed, honor be e'er un-tarned, country be ever armed, West Point by thee”. 

Players and Corps Gather,
Singing Alma Mater Together

And there, behind Army’s football team, stood Shaw’s Stanford… deliberately organized almost in formation, paying respect to the fight and fate of these future “warriors of liberty”.  

Shaw leads a great team, but moreover, is leading the development of great men: warriors on the fields of friendly strife in effort and skill, but more importantly in character.  Shaw is teaching his players, while demonstrating to a national audience, the Cardinal virtue of Justice and in its extended form, humility.  No, not the "Stanford Cardinal" virtue, but the one articulated by the great thinkers, from Aristotle to Aquinas.  Justice, in its classical form, is not something one “gets for himself”, rather it is insuring that another is given their “due”, sometimes at one’s own expense.  David Shaw’s team, as dominant as they were, elected to diminish themselves, before and after the game, in order to lift up the higher identity of their opponents. 

From what I could see, David Shaw is leading and teaching not just Stanford Cardinal Football well, but he is leading and teaching the great ethic and habit born of great wisdom – the Cardinal Virtues.  His players, our nation and frankly humanity are served well when men and women like Shaw, aim higher, in the midst of athletics, in order to teach the stuff that ultimately guides men and women of true greatness!