Wednesday April 29, 2009

Changing Direction

Changing Direction
I have had a change of heart. I have changed my tune and wanted to tell you about it and tell you how I have come to this new clarity.

In the early years of my business, I started a recruiting newsletter which turned into a magazine which turned into a website which turned into a radio show.

The first half of my business life was spent in recruiting. I traveled the Southeast evaluating players and recruiting classes. I put a huge emphasis on talent and thought talent was the biggest factor in determining success of a football program.

However, I am getting older now and perhaps wiser (that is debatable). I have come to realize that talent is still important but not as important as I first perceived. Now I look for things that are harder to judge, like leadership.

Many conversations and observations have led me to this discovery. Several factors over the last three or four years have also led to the change in my point of view.

First, the college game has seen the playing field leveled. Scholarship limits have leveled the talent in college football. So has the arms race where schools continue to build fantastic facilities. I think film studies and sharing of information has leveled the field as well. For example, there are no secrets anymore. Schools study each other in the off-season and give each other trade secrets.

Since there is little doubt in my mind that the gap in talent has been reduced, I began to search for the differentiating factors in the champs and the runner-ups. I wanted to know the difference in the bowl teams and the losing teams.

Coaching is a factor but not in terms of scheme or play calling. Instead, coaching has turned into player management and player development. Coaches have to handle players differently today and player development has become a bigger factor. Today player-coach relationships are more important than ever. Trust is now a key.

One intangible I have been turned onto in recent years is leadership. One of the coaches I have spent hours visiting with this on this subject is Alabama Associate Head Coach and running back coach, Burton Burns.

I have written several blogs about Burton and his influence on me. He quickly became a friend when he was the running backs coach at Clemson and I am blessed to call him a special friend today.

I learned a tremendous amount from Burton during his Clemson days but have really enjoyed learning new things from his experience at Alabama and with Nick Saban. One of the most valuable lessons I have learned is Burton and Saban emphasis on leadership and leadership development.

Leadership comes naturally to some while others developed it. Dabo Swinney will tell you how leadership was the difference in Alabama’s 1992 National Championship team. Burton will tell you how the leadership of their senior class at Alabama was the difference in a 12-0 regular season last year.

Leadership shows up every day. I have come to realize the importance of consistency and how leadership is a big part of that.

I know some get tired of the Tim Tebow saturation everywhere in sports but do you think Florida would have won a title last year without his leadership? Have you ever seen a better example of leadership? How many players have you seen give the post-game speech like Tebow did after the Ole Miss loss and then back it up? Did you watch Tebow in the fourth quarter of the SEC title game?

After Florida lost 31-30 last year to Ole Miss the Gators were 3-1. Tebow made his famous declaration and the Gators finished the season on a 10-game winning streak. It started with a 38-7 win at Arkansas. They destroyed fourth-ranked LSU 51-21 before a 63-5 beat down of Kentucky. Next was a 49-10 win over sixth-ranked Georgia. Vanderbilt fell to the Gators 42-14 the week before 25th-ranked South Carolina took a 56-6 beating. The Citadel’s 70-19 game preceded a 45-15 win at 20th-ranked Florida State. The Gators ended the regular season with eight wins including four against ranked teams but the closest game was 28-point game.

Tebow then led the Gators to a 31-20 win over top-ranked Alabama to win the SEC and a 24-14 win over top-ranked Oklahoma for the national title.

Think the speech had any effect? Think leadership had anything to do with the Gators’ run?

Don’t get me wrong, recruiting is important and talent is vital. But I have seen talented players and talented teams underachieve.

Monday Clemson announced the Hall of Fame class of 2009 that featured seven former Tiger players and one former coach. Interestingly enough, the two football players getting inducted were both overachievers. Rob Bodine was the perfect example of this. The former walk-on just out worked people and led by example. Brian Dawkins was not a highly recruited player but has there been a better leader in the NFL in the last decade? Chuck Kriese was the coach inducted and no Clemson coach has spent more time on the subject of leadership as Kriese in his time here.

Ask Jeff Davis about the role leadership played in turning a 6-5 season in 1980 into a 12-0 National Championship in 1981.

Everyone can’t be a leader. You can’t have 11 leaders on offense and 11 on defense. Sometimes it can be only one guy that leads. Sometimes it can be a handful.

Also, you can’t win on leadership alone. You can’t take 12 great leaders from an Ivy League school and go beat Oklahoma on the gridiron.

Therefore talent is important but talent without leadership leads to underachieving. One leader can turn a good team into a great one because people want to be inspired. People want to be inspired enough to follow a leader to better things and sometimes greatness.

I was wrong for underestimating the value of this intangible but have been turned on to a new way of thinking in this business.

The hard part is defining leadership or quantifying it. In the recruiting industry we can tell you the tangibles and come up with a star rating but we will never be able to give a kid a leadership rating or a character rating.

I was wrong and Burton Burns, Tim Tebow, Brian Dawkins, Rob Bodine, Jeff Davis, etc. helped me comprehend that. It was Herb Brooks, the head coach of the US Olympic hockey team that told his guys, “You don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone.” Brooks was right. And the same can be said for college football today.

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Mrs. Kathleen Bowers, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Sandy Wright, Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, Edward Putman, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Jean-Pierre Bailey, Kaitlyn L, William Perry.