For Laura Casey, MSE ’23, success in athletics has never been measured solely by wins and losses. As athletics director for Vestavia City Schools, she believes her job is about far more than team strategy and statistics.

“Coaching is very little about X’s and O’s and 99% about everything else,” Casey said. “Our job is to develop people, and the more coaches understand that the better.”

Casey, who is now pursuing a Doctor of Education at Samford, brings this vision to life through Coaches for Character, a program she launched in partnership with Orlean Beeson School of Education. With support from Dean Anna McEwan, the initiative equips young coaches with tools to build culture, confidence and leadership within their teams. Coaches gather four times a year to explore practical approaches to character development, from setting aside time for book studies to choosing a “word of the year” to guide athletes’ growth.

“We want to influence the people who are influential,” Casey said. “Character can be taught, caught and sought. You can’t separate character education from the person because it’s how you live out your life.”

Casey described character education as the cornerstone of what teachers and coaches do in K-12 education and athletics. “We can be more intentional in our use of the platform of sports to teach lessons that may be harder to provide in a traditional classroom setting,” she said. “Certainly, winning and losing are part of sports. However, we aim to teach life lessons through sports that will follow our athletes long after their athletic careers have ended.”

For Casey, that influence begins with asking simple but powerful questions: How are you growing? What does growth look like for you? It’s a mindset she hopes will continue shaping athletes—and the coaches who lead them—for years to come. 

 

This story was first published in the fall 2025 issue of Samford. You can read the issue online.