This is an update to the post from October 8th, 2013, which offered advice to the Oregon Ducks, head coach Mark Helfrich, and quarterback Marcus Mariota.
Told you so!
Phil Knight must be wondering how much money he has to spend on stupid looking uniforms, fancy rims for the wheeled apparti, gold fixtures, and fur covered sinks in the locker room before his beloved Ducks win a national championship. Maybe the simple fact is that money is NOT going buy Phil and the University of Oregon anything except notoriety.
Maybe when you guys quit spending so much time deciding "what to wear" to your football games and mouthing off about how many points you are going to score, you might start having a realistic chance to beat the top defensive teams in the country. Like Auburn showed several years back, and Stanford has shown each of the last two years, the glitz and glamour of your "Las Vegas" style offense does not stand up very well against superior strength in the trenches.
Your team arrived in Palo Alto to face Stanford with the #2 rating in the polls. You arrived with the #2 offense in the country behind Baylor. You arrived with the #2 rushing attack in the FBS behind Army. And, after rushing for a meagre 62 yards (It's hard to get a lot of yards on the ground when your star running back keeps tripping over his big mouth), you guys left California with the knowledge that your team is clearly #2 in the Pac-12 North. Again. Ouch.
A little history for you. There was a famous ad campaign for Canon in 1990 that featured a young Andre Agassi with the catchphrase that "image is everything" -- which brought a lot of criticism because the young tennis star had yet to win anything major and it seemed to support the idea that looking good was more important than winning. The commercial starts off with Andre standing on the Las Vegas Strip sporting a rock star mullet. Need we say more?
Right now. The Oregon Ducks are standing on the same Vegas strip wearing a mullet and choking on the notion that image is everything. Like Agassi, the Ducks COULD change their attitude and dedicate themselves to winning it all. Or they can be content to spend lots of money "looking good" on the red carpet while more serious minded programs do what is necessary to win the National Championship.
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The October 8th posting also pointed out that Marcus Mariota needed to work on his skills if he wants to succeed at the next level. He cannot continue to rely on his team being faster and stronger than everyone else as the impetus of his wonderful statistics. In the NFL, every opponent is fast and strong. And they work on every aspect of their games in order to succeed.
One of the guys on the sideline at the game was John Elway. He went to Stanford. John never went to a bowl game while in college. But he did play in FIVE Super Bowls and was named to NINE Pro Bowls. He won two Super Bowls and is now enshrined in the Hall of Fame for both pro football and college.
Marcus needs to decide if he wants to be like John Elway or Tim Tebow. Actually, scratch that. As bad as Tebow was as a NFL quarterback, he DID win two national championships as well as the Heisman Trophy.
Marcus has all the potential in the world, but as Hall of Fame coach Darrell Royal used to say, "potential means you ain't done it yet." Royal coached the Texas Longhorns to THREE national championships, so he certainly "done it."
The question remains about Mariota and the Ducks -- Are they going to follow the Nike creed and "just do it" or are they going to continue to focus on how good they look while trying?
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Update Again:
To add insult to injury following the beatdown by Stanford in Palo Alto, Oregon alum and benefactor extraordinaire Phil Knight was photographed at the LSU-Alabama game wearing Alabama gear on Saturday night. Stuart Mandel, who writes for Sports Illustrated, tweeted "Well this is going to break Oregon's heart. Down on sideline Phil Knight just walked by dressed in Alabama gear." It sounds and looks like the Ducks just got dumped at the prom.
You gotta love it. Phil Knight was looking for a team that would "just do it" and he found it in Alabama.
Showing posts with label John Elway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Elway. Show all posts
Friday, November 8, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
The ART of Leadership: A look at Patton, the 1958 Packers and the 2012 Colorado Buffs
One of the greatest misconceptions about college football is that it is an individual player driven sport. Nothing could be further from the truth. Football requires more concerted teamwork by a larger number of players than any other sport. The main orchestrator of this teamwork is the head coach, and it is disseminated to the team through the coaches and the players respected as leaders among them.
Winning in football is generated from the top down more than any other sport. Being a great college football player does not make one a great NFL player. By the same token, being a great high school player does not make one a great college player. At the same time, while it is possible to be a great player on a lousy team, it is virtually impossible for a lousy coach to lead a team to greatness.
On paper, the 1958 Green Bay Packers and the 2012 Colorado Buffs have a lot in common. The Packers ended the season with a record of 1-10-1, while the Buffs ended the season with one victory and 11 losses. Each team had what is generally considered to be the worst season ever for their franchise or school.
Another thing CU and the Pack had in common is that conventional wisdom held that the main reason behind the horrible records in those years was due primarily to a lack of quality players. Vince Lombardi arrived in Green Bay in 1959 and proved that assumption to be wrong.
Five players on that horrible 1958 Packer team went on to have careers under Lombardi that earned them a place in the NFL Hall of Fame. It's kind of stunning just how much difference that a coaching change made in the the lives and careers of five NFL players who played on the worst team ever for their franchise.
The more one listens to new Colorado Buffalo football coach Mike MacIntyre, the more one hears commitment to the ideals shown by Vince Lombardi. Like the man who is considered to be the greatest football coach ever, CU's new head coach stresses hard work and sacrifice, conditioning and perseverance, dedication and respect, and most of all, a commitment to the success of the TEAM.
Mike MacIntyre respects and realizes these ideals by leading from the top down. He demands it of himself and expects it from his coaches and his players as well. Those who refuse to show commitment to the law, their schoolwork, their teammates, their coaches, and themselves have no place on this TEAM. Anytime someone is not held accountable for their actions or inaction, it is a slap in the face to those who have committed themselves.
In football, the greatest player at any position can be reduced to insignificance by the players around him. Imagine Jerry Rice without Joe Montana or Steve Young to throw him the ball. Imagine John Elway or Barry Sanders without great linemen to block for them. A dominating defensive player can be double or triple teamed if his teammates do not do their jobs. Football is truly a team sport.
Lombardi used to say that "football is only two things -- blocking and tackling." But he also emphasized that TEAM was the only way to make that work. He also knew that fitness and strength, individually and as a team, made it possible to compete in the athletic arena. He stressed this with his famous mantra that "fatigue makes cowards of us all."
It is a belief similar to that held by General George Patton during World War II. He took over a demoralized army that had been ransacked by the Germans in their first battle and built those men into the most dominating force in the war. According to the Academy Award winning film about his life, Patton was reputed to have said about the men when he arrived in North Africa that "they don't look like soldiers, they don't act like soldiers, why should they be expected to fight like soldiers?"
Before Patton's arrival, both the officers and the servicemen had no discipline. And this fact showed on the battlefield. What this same group of men achieved under new leadership showed that a change at the top can bring about a radical and almost immediate change in performance. Lombardi showed how to do it again in 1959, and MacIntyre is poised to do it now with the Buffs like he did at San Jose State.
Leadership takes many forms and styles, of course, but all great leaders who have achieved radical turnabouts have done it with discipline and high expectations of themselves and everyone under their command.
Winning in football is generated from the top down more than any other sport. Being a great college football player does not make one a great NFL player. By the same token, being a great high school player does not make one a great college player. At the same time, while it is possible to be a great player on a lousy team, it is virtually impossible for a lousy coach to lead a team to greatness.
On paper, the 1958 Green Bay Packers and the 2012 Colorado Buffs have a lot in common. The Packers ended the season with a record of 1-10-1, while the Buffs ended the season with one victory and 11 losses. Each team had what is generally considered to be the worst season ever for their franchise or school.
Another thing CU and the Pack had in common is that conventional wisdom held that the main reason behind the horrible records in those years was due primarily to a lack of quality players. Vince Lombardi arrived in Green Bay in 1959 and proved that assumption to be wrong.
Five players on that horrible 1958 Packer team went on to have careers under Lombardi that earned them a place in the NFL Hall of Fame. It's kind of stunning just how much difference that a coaching change made in the the lives and careers of five NFL players who played on the worst team ever for their franchise.
The more one listens to new Colorado Buffalo football coach Mike MacIntyre, the more one hears commitment to the ideals shown by Vince Lombardi. Like the man who is considered to be the greatest football coach ever, CU's new head coach stresses hard work and sacrifice, conditioning and perseverance, dedication and respect, and most of all, a commitment to the success of the TEAM.
Mike MacIntyre respects and realizes these ideals by leading from the top down. He demands it of himself and expects it from his coaches and his players as well. Those who refuse to show commitment to the law, their schoolwork, their teammates, their coaches, and themselves have no place on this TEAM. Anytime someone is not held accountable for their actions or inaction, it is a slap in the face to those who have committed themselves.
In football, the greatest player at any position can be reduced to insignificance by the players around him. Imagine Jerry Rice without Joe Montana or Steve Young to throw him the ball. Imagine John Elway or Barry Sanders without great linemen to block for them. A dominating defensive player can be double or triple teamed if his teammates do not do their jobs. Football is truly a team sport.
Lombardi used to say that "football is only two things -- blocking and tackling." But he also emphasized that TEAM was the only way to make that work. He also knew that fitness and strength, individually and as a team, made it possible to compete in the athletic arena. He stressed this with his famous mantra that "fatigue makes cowards of us all."
It is a belief similar to that held by General George Patton during World War II. He took over a demoralized army that had been ransacked by the Germans in their first battle and built those men into the most dominating force in the war. According to the Academy Award winning film about his life, Patton was reputed to have said about the men when he arrived in North Africa that "they don't look like soldiers, they don't act like soldiers, why should they be expected to fight like soldiers?"
Before Patton's arrival, both the officers and the servicemen had no discipline. And this fact showed on the battlefield. What this same group of men achieved under new leadership showed that a change at the top can bring about a radical and almost immediate change in performance. Lombardi showed how to do it again in 1959, and MacIntyre is poised to do it now with the Buffs like he did at San Jose State.
Leadership takes many forms and styles, of course, but all great leaders who have achieved radical turnabouts have done it with discipline and high expectations of themselves and everyone under their command.
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