At first most of them were skeptical of him as a coach, but that changed very quickly once they started winning games. The principal and even the teachers did not care about school ideas. They just thought he was there solely to coach basketball. He changed everyone's opinions by staying true and fighting oppression. He showed his integrity by not giving in to what society agreed with, and that was young people getting by and letting high school basketball be the highlight of their lives. He decided to show them the way that basketball was just the beginning of the many highlights of their lives. The team fed off his leadership by showing their integrity after the lawyer said Carter needed to open the gym. He decided to resign, saying he couldn't support a message that high school basketball is more important than going to college. As he went to the gym to clean his desk, he walked onto the court and saw all of his players sitting at desks studying and receiving tutoring on center court. One declared: “We will finish what you started, sir.” The team made sure everyone got back on track with their grades and they all took the field together as a team of men. He developed them as men by giving them goals, rules, and regulations that they must abide by in order to stay out of prison, go to college, and have a better life than their parents. Throughout the film his discipline and integrity helped get all of his students into college. He built great men and gave them the blueprint for a better life than the one they found themselves in