When Leaders Fumble Off the Field: What Michigan and Ohio State Can Learn from Coach Dungy

The Michigan–Ohio State rivalry has always been about power, pride, and Saturdays in the fall. But the real drama now isn’t on third‑and‑long. It’s in boardrooms, back offices, and private text threads—where culture, character, and choices get made when the cameras are supposed to be off.

When Winning Becomes the Culture

You can’t talk about former Michigan coach Sherrone Moore without talking about the ecosystem that shaped him. Michigan football was hit with major NCAA penalties for an “elaborate, impermissible scouting scheme”—in‑person scouting, filmed signals, deleted messages, and a pattern of bending rules to gain an edge.

That’s the environment Moore was operating in: a program that didn’t just flirt with the edges of the rulebook, it danced on them. When a system normalizes “do whatever it takes” on the field, it becomes easier for leaders to rationalize “do whatever I want” off the field.

Meanwhile, Michigan fans fire back with rumors about Ohio State’s own signal games—claims that the Buckeyes allegedly obtained Maryland’s signals through a video platform. Whether those stories are true or not almost doesn’t matter. The instinct to say “everybody cheats” is how you know culture is already compromised.

Two Powerful Men, One Self‑Destruct Pattern

Former Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore was fired because of an inappropriate relationship with his executive assistant. No buyout. No soft landing. What followed was a confrontation at a home and charges that eventually ended in misdemeanor pleas, but the reputational damage is permanent: infidelity, poor judgment, and a record that will follow him longer than any season stats.

At Ohio State, President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. resigned after admitting to an “inappropriate relationship” with a woman seeking public resources and access for her private business—access she ultimately got. He walked away from a $1.5 million job and a 45‑year marriage under a cloud of ethical failure.

Different institutions. Different scandals. Same playbook: powerful men risking everything for relationships that cross professional and ethical lines.

This Isn’t About Lust. It’s About Fulfillment.

We love to reduce these stories to “horny men in high places.” That’s lazy. These are fulfillment stories.

In case after case—Moore, Carter, even Astronomer CEO Andy Byron caught in a viral “kiss cam” moment with a woman believed to be a colleague—sex is just the visible symptom.

What’s underneath?

• Men chasing emotional validation. When your day is built on pressure, scrutiny, and expectations, being wanted, admired, or “understood” can feel like oxygen.

• Power distorting risk. Leaders start believing they can manage outcomes: the narrative, the fallout, the silence.

• Culture normalizing the edge. When a workplace already bends rules—scouting schemes, gray‑area relationships, wink‑and‑nod sign stealing—personal boundaries start to feel just as negotiable as professional ones.

This isn’t just a sports problem. It’s a leadership problem.

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Artwork By Mike Johns

The Women Aren’t Props in These Stories

The women in these stories aren’t background characters. They have agency—and serious stakes.

Moore’s executive assistant ended the affair days before his firing and cooperated with the internal investigation. Her attorney later shared information with police, which Moore’s lawyer says was framed to “villainize” him and strengthen a potential civil claim. That’s how fast intimacy can turn into legal strategy and PR warfare.

The woman involved with Carter sought resources and institutional access for her private business and gained “inappropriate access” to university leadership. That’s textbook conflict of interest—wrapped in romance.

It takes two to tangle and dangle.

Both parties decided to step into situations where power, money, and reputation were clearly on the line. That doesn’t erase the power imbalance—men often control the institution, the budget, the promotions. But it does mean the women also chose to link their futures to men whose public commitments (marriage, leadership, values) were in plain sight. If you’re going to gamble with someone’s double life, make sure your stakes aren’t disposable.

The Legendary Coach Dungy: A Different Operating System

I had an encounter with Coach Tony Dungy that quietly rewired how I think about leadership. In person, he’s married, spiritual, calm—steady in a way that doesn’t demand attention, it stabilizes the room.

No performative swagger. No “look at me” energy. Just a quiet confidence rooted in faith, family, and purpose.

Dungy’s public life matches that presence. With his wife Lauren, he’s written about “uncommon marriage”—communication, shared values, putting family and faith above career. He invests in players, adoptee children, prison ministry, and initiatives like All Pro Dad. He models a version of masculinity where integrity isn’t a branding strategy—it’s the baseline.

Standing near him, you feel what a different football culture could look like: leaders as disciplined in their personal lives as they are in their game plans.

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Artwork By Mike Johns

What Leaders, Follower Can Learn from the Dungy Blueprint

This is where it gets uncomfortable—for men and women.

For the men:

• Build a life where you don’t need a secret. Spiritual and emotional discipline isn’t about being flawless; it’s about refusing to live a double life.

• Treat culture as your real legacy. If your program cheats on the field, don’t act surprised when leaders cheat off it. You set the tone.

• See relationships as stewardship. Every DM, every “harmless” flirt, every closed‑door meeting has implications—for families, employees, players, and the trust tied to your name.

For the women:

• Respect your own leverage. Don’t step into arrangements where his power, paycheck, and platform dwarf yours so much that you become the easiest piece to sacrifice.

• Align with values, not vibes. If his public talk is marriage, faith, and leadership but his private behavior asks you to hide, he’s not choosing you—he’s using you.

• Own your part in the equation. Saying yes to someone else’s secret life is also a decision about your own future.

The Real Rivalry: Two Models of Manhood

Michigan and Ohio State will keep playing. Fans will keep arguing about who cheated first, who cheated worse, and who “got away with it.” But if the only lesson we take from these stories is who got caught, we’ve missed the point. The real rivalry now isn’t just between two programs: it’s between two models of manhood and two models of leadership:

• One keep testing how far it can bend rules before something breaks.

• The other, embodied by someone like Coach Dungy, stays married, spiritual, and calm—intentionally “boring” off the field so the only thing that ever goes viral is the work.

That’s the question every man and woman on LinkedIn has to answer: Are you building a life that can survive the replay?

Stay True: Mike Johns