Monday, November 25, 2002

THEY SAY SOUND MAKES THE MOST LASTING IMPRESSION

I wrote this on September 16, 2001 in my journal. It must have struck me at the time, or else why would I have bothered to write about it? After that I never really thought about it, nor did I track the progress of Arizona football. Whatever. Recent events reminded me of it and then to actually dig it out and paste and comment on it here:

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Journal entry - September 16,2001 – (right after 9/11)

I was watching ESPN the other day as the head football coach at the University of Arizona, John Makovich, was talking to his team about the terrorist attacks. What he was saying came from his heart and it was obvious that he is a skilled speaker and motivator, but it was like the "sermon from the mount". He was lecturing players on the gravity of the situation. He explained how it will change their lives, and all that stuff about what his generation had experienced (Viet Nam, draft, etc.) that this new generation had not, and the more he talked, the more they fidgeted, even with the cameras rolling.

My thought was, "Why don't you just ask them how they feel instead of lecturing them?" But then, who am I to talk? I'm out there on the field running around (sort of) in my t-shirt, with sleeves cut off, having a tantrum when we just drop a pass.
For the record, I make my share of speeches, but they tend to be way too short to fall into the lecture category.
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It was so easy for all to see and hear that day, right there on ESPN, how much communication was not going on between this coach and his team, even in a unifying yet non-football moment such as that was, just after our country had been attacked.

At that time Makovich was the new head coach there in Arizona. It should have been the time for the "honeymoon." Last week, 14 months later, the Cats were 0-6 in league play, and like 45 players threatened to not play in a game until he (Makovich) was fired or whatever. I do not think to myself, "Wasn’t I insightful?" It is much more about reinforcing of the concept that the more you pay attention and listen, the more things can and will be simplified. The other side of the coin might be that the more you think you are always right and know everything, the less you probably really are "on the money". Hell, one yawn at practice and I stop talking and start running around blowing whistles. Of course I am much more insecure than the John Makovich's of the world.

By the same token, you can also see how fired up players get to play for a John Grudin, the Tampa Bay Bucs football coach, who is young, positive, and motivates his players by letting them become part of the process. It’s not because he is a "cool guy", though he might be. "Chuckie" has a plan. When players are part of the process, they believe more and more in the plan as the team or season evolves.

As a coach, you do not have to be a genius to recognize when players do or do not listen to you. You must "listen" to the sounds of the team, Grasshopper.


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