I feel that I was very lucky to go there and get a good dose of honesty, honor, and discipline. Today, I wear my West Point class ring on my left hand - right next to my wedding band. When the center black stone cracked several years ago, I put the ring in a drawer and let it sit. Then, for Christmas, my wife, Mickie, took it out of the drawer and had the special Duke University royal blue gemstone placed in the center. To me this ring now represents what I want for every one of my players.
West Point is the foundation - the structure, the discipline, the respect for authority, the values.
And inside, in the center, is the passion and the heart. Imagine if every person had such a great foundation and then the passion and heart to love what they do. They'd always love their lives. That's what I call success. As a side light to this story, I must tell you that, like Mike, the stone in my ring cracked.