Sports have played an important part in Terry Grier's life, no doubt about it. As a high school student in Fairmont, North Carolina, Grier lettered in four sports. After college, he became a teacher, then a coach, then a high school principal. Eventually he joined the ranks of superintendents, serving districts from Sacramento, California, to Akron, Ohio, the town that delivered LeBron James from high school to the National Basketball Association. Sports are big business in America these days, and not just at the professional and college levels. It's everywhere. So it's only natural that school district leaders should feel the pressure, experts say, of parents bent on their sons and daughters gaining playing time at all costs in the hopes they can become the next Kobe Bryant or Tiger Woods. While many cede oversight of interscholastic sports to athletic directors and coaches, some superintendents insist they bear the ultimate responsibility for ensuring everyone's priorities are in order. This article describes how Grier makes sure everyone follows the rules and that no one loses sight of a school's No. 1 goal: educating students.