for 2 minutes. I knew he just said something powerful and I needed to get my arms around it. He waited,
Casey: “Define that”
Pops: ”Athletic Arrogance is a cocktail of PASSION, FEARLESSNESS, AGGRESSION, CONFIDENCE, WORK ETHIC, and HEART, but must be accompanied by “TEAM FIRST” MENTALITY, HUMILITY and the DISCIPLINE and INTELLIGENCE to know when to use which trait.”
Arrogance- ”are A*&^%$#.” Let’s just say you will know it when you see it and you won’t like it.
That explains why people:
Love Michael Jordan and don’t LeBron James.
Love Jerry Rice and not TO.
Love the old Brett Favre and not the new Brett Favre.
Respect the new Kobe more than the old Kobe.
Love Alex Ovechkin and not Albert Hainesworth.
Like Derek Jeter and not Alex Rodrigez.
Like the Pittsburgh Steelers and not the Dallas Cowboys.
If someone in youth leagues, high school or college had just taught the right column about “Humility” and “Team First” mentality, they would be on the left column.
It was Pops who brought: Humility, caring, passion and a huge knowledge base to our Plan.
Pops forces thoughtfulness and self examination. He makes me write out everything that went wrong in a “Pops list” after every game and season. This allows you to open your eyes, evolve and get better every week. As the season goes on the Pops list gets smaller and smaller as the team nears perfection and the championship run. One of the most powerful quotes in the book is:
Turn your weakness into your strengths
Darryl Royal
The Pop’s list helps you do just that. Every team needs a Pops.
Developing Your Plan
The “Plan” is a team’s operating manual. It is built from the experiences and information the coach has deveolped and includes: How you build your staff and your team, your offense and defense, your drills, communication system, how you set expectations, practice schedules, pre game routines, game management systems, and off the grid games. It also lays out what you want the players and families to take with them when the season is over.
Here is the recipe for “Our Plan”.
From VYI:
Get great players who have been trained in fundamentals by experienced coaches for the past 4-5 years. They bring with them supportive parents who run everything behind the scenes.
From The United States Marine Corp:
Add precision, perfection, work ethic, warrior mentality and discipline as well as the ability to improvise and inspire,
From Buddy Allison:
Take the ability to have fun, learn the key to the draft (GLMs) and bring Marine traits onto the football field.
From George and Ricky:
Take their organizational, team building and work ethic skills, as well as the well-engineered offense.
From Pops:
Add the ability to force thoughtfulness and examine your plan after every game and season. Evolve by realizing you could write a book on what you don’t know. Focus on the kids and building character traits.
Add my years of experience running a defense whose specialty is shutting down the edges and my core competency of communication skills and ability to inspire and motivate (you have to bring something to the table) and there you have it, the Plan!
For all of these reasons it is very difficult for a head coach to take credit for a team, when so much of the credit is due to other influences in the boat. If you see the word “I” anywhere in this book, it is a typo.
This book is about the rules and tools that this group has developed and how the current staff uses them to implement the Plan. The Plan is dynamic and changes throughout the season based on resources and competition and evolves over the years.
NOTE:Throughout the book you will notice lists like “10 Commandments” and count 12, when you see “the 4 most important words are…” and we list 6, it is a reminder that teams and plans are not set in stone, they evolve.
The Myths
This Chapter will blow up some of the myths in football and set reality.
Myth: The goal is to win.
Reality: The goal is perfection. Winning just happens to teams that strive for perfection.
“Show class, have pride, and display character.
If you do, winning takes care of itself.”
— Paul “Bear” Bryant
Myth: Football is a game of inches.
Reality: Football is a game of details.
Myth: Running through a wall is an expression.
Reality: Running through a wall is real and required.
Myth:
