you go to sleep?
What are you thinking about at 4 in the morning?
What do you live to do?
What can you do for hours and still want more?
What makes you run through walls?
What is your favorite topic of conversation?
That’s your passion. Find it, follow it.
The Organization
It is always best to start at the begining. No team, at any level, in any sport, can achieve long-term success unless it has a solid foundation from an organization with clear rules and support systems that allow its teams to evolve and flourish.
I was LUCKY enough to have been born into one of this country’s premier youth football organizations: Vienna Youth Inc. At its inception, V.Y.I. consisted of a football coach, a corporate CEO, a financial guy, a sporting goods guy, 10 “football moms” and a ton of Vienna parents who wanted football in our town. It has evolved into an organization today with a National reputation.
They established By-laws, a corporate structure base, and support systems that work to run the organization effectively to this day:
Ways and Means/Fundraising
Ongoing training for coaches and team moms
Top-of-the-line equipment and training on how to use it
Solid communications of who is doing what
A Coaches Selection Committee of one individual
A Coaches Conduct Committee of one individual
Experienced coaches mentoring younger coaches
Inflow of former players becoming coaches
Solid non-Dad coaches who lend long term stability to the organization
End of season awards banquets for current players
Hall of Fame banquet and scholarships recognizing former players and people who make the organization a success.
More operational information about VYI is covered at the Appendix of the book.
Working with Mentors
There was a man on top of his home as flood waters rose. A rescue boat came up and told him to get in. The man said he was very religious and GOD would not harm him. The water rose to the roof and another boat approached the man. “Get in the boat, we are here to save you”. Again the man refused and said God would not harm him. The water rose to his feet and a third boat came to him. They begged him to get in the boat but he again refused. The water rose and the man drowned. When he got to heaven he asked GOD: “I believed in you, how could you do that to me?” GOD said: “I sent three boats”.
The mentors are in the boat- you just have to be smart enough to get in.
Four Great Mentors Are the Backbone of Our Plan
#1 The United States Marine Corp
Marines take great pride in being the best in the world at what they do. They keep things simple and train beyond the point of getting it right. Marines train until they can’t get it wrong.
Marines believe in perfection and precision. It is not a catch phrase, but a way of life. One wrong move, one failed assignment could cost someone their life. Marines play for keeps.
Marines believe in discipline and courage. There is no obstacle that can stop them and nothing that scares them. Once you have survived Parris Island, everything else is a picnic.
Marines are passionate about being the best.
Every year I claim: “This is the best team we have ever had.” The other coaches laugh at me. Every Sunday I claim “these are the best pancakes I have ever made” (they are Aunt Jemima out of the box), or this it is the best movie I have ever seen, the best home I have ever listed the best player I have ever coached and the list goes on. In my mind, all of those things are true. My family is convinced I am a lunatic. The fact is: Passion for being the best never fades, it only gets stronger.
These traits have produced millions of young men and women that protect our country. If used correctly, they also build great teams, especially football teams.
Turning points come in people’s lives when they are least expected and will change them forever. Mine happened at Parris Island:
I was struggling as an 18 year old. My senior drill instructor came to me and told me I had the ability to do great things but I was wasting it, which I was. He gave me the confidence and inspiration I needed. I became an honor Marine at Parris Island, a member of the Presidential Honor Guard and did a three year stint on the ultimate team: The Unites States Marine Corp Silent Drill Team at Marine Barracks 8th and I.
Inspired people do great things. Coaching allows you to inspire others and be the turning point in their lives.
#2 Buddy Allison
Buddy was a former Marine and a great coach. Buddy taught me:
Football is fun
Draft for speed, speed and speed, then good looking moms (GLMs)
Discipline works in football just like the Marines
You can drive your team with fierce determination and still have them love you
He felt that if parents heard him cussing at their kids, they were too close to the field
Buddy would never talk to a parent about playing time or positions
Buddy died too young as well, but all of these traits are in use today, except for one:
Years later we drafted a kid who was very fast but was new to football. We had the policy of not talking to parents about playing time or position, and we communicated that to them. His father sent me an email saying “Nick is an AAU track and basketball star.” That was it. We gave Nick the ball and I am not sure whether it was his athletic ability or fear, but nobody could catch him. Vienna had won a hundred championships at the A level and over
