ABSTRACT
After waking up with a hangover from his 40th birthday party at Colorado's posh Broadmoor Hotel, George W. Bush vowed to give up alcohol and focus on Bible studies. Rejecting his former dissipated life, the future President began to hangout with a Fort Worth televangelist named James Robison, who claimed to regularly chat with God while driving on the freeway between Dallas and Arlington, Texas. Bush's attachment to the religious right would eventually lead him down the thorny path of educational politics as governor of Texas and President of the United States. His sincere religious commitment would also provide him with the selfproclaimed title of "Compassionate Conservative." 1
While George W. Bush was undergoing his religious revelations, his future Secretary of Education Rod Paige was beginning his transition from football coach to educational leader. In 1969 at Indiana University, Paige earned his PhD in physical education with a 123-page dissertation titled "The Effect of Pre-Foreperiod Preparation and Foreperiod Duration Upon the Response Time of Football Lineman." The study determined the best conditions for getting fast starts from football linemen, and it concluded with a recommendation for further study of "the response time of football linemen for lateral movements."2 Paige's leadership skills were evident as he quickly rose through the coaching ranks to become head football coach at Texas Southern University in the 1970s and eventually dean of the school's College of Education between 1984 and 1990. From there it was a quick step to the superintendency of the Houston school district in 1994, where his managerial skills caught the attention of thenGovernor Bush. After Bush selected Paige in 2001 to be Secretary of Ed-
ucation, George Chaump, the head coach of the Central Dauphin High School Rams in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, commented about the appointment, "I don't think you could be a good coach unless you're a great teacher first. If he's been on the football field and in the classroom, he's well qualified to be secretary."3
