Broncos—Leadership—Tebow

All the experts had serious questions about Tim Tebow and his draft status in the NFL.  They questioned his delivery, arm angle, touch, and every other technical football throwing fundamental and then projected him into a mid to low round draft pick.  However the Denver Broncos decided to ignore conventional wisdom and selected arguably the most successful college quarterback of all time in the first round.  The Broncos actually used the same type of logic that Michael Lewis discussed in his bestseller (“Moneyball) about the Oakland A’s and their general manager Billy Beane. Billy Beane was the typical 5 tool phenom who could not really play the game and after much fanfare proved that potential meant almost nothing when compared to productivity.  Using his own career as a model, as the A’s general manager he focused on winners who could really play the game and could be a integral part of a team rather than the guy who matched the 5 tool profile.  Without question Tebow would be the perfect “Moneyball” example,  a great teammate who has a huge upside that can lead a team and will figure out how to win.  The one thing that people forget is Tim Tebow is a freaky athlete who is big, strong and fast.  While some people might think the Broncos took a huge risk, I contend that Tebow is almost no risk as he will figure out a way to be part of the Broncos success.  If I were going to war, I would want Tim Tebow on my side. If you get a chance check out “Moneyball”, it is a good read that flies in the face of conventional  wisdom.  One leadership principle I strongly believe in is —-Associate yourself with winners.

The Coaching Carousel

The hopscotch game of college coaches moving has just about run its course for 2010.  The question arises is why are there so many changes and why do coaches feel compelled to move so rapidly.  Intuitively it would seem that by staying in one position, coaches could build a brand, create a solid foundation and have more success as the culture of the coach becomes more ingrained in the program.  Why would Oliver Purnell move from Clemson to DePaul?  Why would Wake Forest hire a coach with a record significantly worse than the coach they just fired?  Maybe the answer to those two questions lie within each.  If leaders do not create a comfortable environment for their inner circle then their relationship is one of convenience and will result in early disconnect.  Leaders must provide a haven for their inner circle by demonstrating unflinching support publicly.  Once there is question in the group as to the commitment of the leader to the individual or his/her program, then the coach (in this situation) is there on borrowed time.  Paranoia, fear or uncertainty encourages the coach to look for a safer challenge and causes uncertainty in the ranks which assuredly creates an atmosphere of limited investment with results being negatively impacted.  Irrespective of your personal feelings, you need to demonstrate  to the masses that you and the coach are on the same page and working together.  When there is disconnect within the echelon of upper leadership of any organization, the results are going to suffer proportionately to the perception of amount discord.  Do not allow the group to ever see any conflict within the leadership function.

Billy Payne—the voice of a leader?

Why would Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne unleash a very harsh and focused reprimand on one of the participating golfers at this year’s Masters? Last time I checked the ability to hit a 207 yard sweeping 40 yard hook with a five iron out of the rough to 12 feet at hole number 9 to setup a birdie, has nothing to do with an individual’s own personal decision-making on how he lives his life. While Tiger Woods’ overly analyzed personal life has certainly disappointed all his fans, I do not think that Payne’s diatribe did anything but bring focus to the elitist mentality of the membership/leadership of Augusta National. Arrogance, self-righteousness, pomposity could all be words that could describe Payne’s Wednesday’s news conference. However please understand that this worldwide televised prepared statement was the message that the membership of Augusta National wanted to communicate and Payne as the leader delivered it with great clarity. As a leader, you can be placed in some difficult situations as you represent attitudes, beliefs and culture of your organization. Do I think Payne was conflicted with the responsibility of pontificating about how Tiger had let down the next three generation of kids around the world? No. Just remember as a leader the old axiom—-“people who live in glass houses”. As a leader you have to take stands, but self-righteousness is not a characteristic that will encourage most people to buy-in into you as a leader.

Why 96?

The NCAA in their infinite wisdom has set the stage to expand to 96 teams. Looking at the rationale behind this move, it is pretty clear that this decision is a money grab based on the ability to generate more dollars from television. As a former athletic director, I greatly appreciate the reality of generating more dollars for the member schools so that programs and student-athletes across the board will benefit. Will the leadership take some shots from this decision, of course. Yet this is a case where I believe they have looked at the cost-benefit analysis and determined if the dollars are there, then we need to make the move. I can assure you that some faculty will toss a few grenades at the NCAA for creating a scenario where there will be more missed class time for the players. I would encourage the NCAA then to take a leadership role in encouraging the faculty to create learning models where students can have instruction delivered to them at any time anywhere. Tenured faculty ought to learn these three words—University of Phoenix. Leadership is about developing solutions not about being an obstructionist.

Arne Duncan (a shot at UK)—leadership or political expedience

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently took a shot at college basketball by stating that teams with less than 40% graduation rate should not be allowed to participate in the NCAA Basketball Championship. Twelve schools who earned the right to play would be disqualified under Secretary Duncan’s plan. Schools like University of Kentucky and the University of Washington would be sitting on the sidelines watching. At first blush this might seem like a good idea. However after spending 30 some years in college athletic administration and living it every day, I always bristled at those who on the periphery would wonder into this world and pontificate on what college athletics needed to do and then ride into the sunset and never do any thing else until another opportunity came to gain some public relations exposure. The NCAA after years of battling with graduation rates and all its fallacies (transfers, junior college players, early exits to the pros are not considered— plus the fact that the data is ten years old) has developed a much truer evaluation of student-athlete and team academic success called the APR (Academic Progress Rate) along with sanctions and accountability. As a leader I would have encouraged the Secretary to help build on the success and implementation of the APR and be part of a solution rather than hunt for the media attention without understanding the total situation. Real leaders affect change for the good of the group, they do not use a situation to foster their own agenda.
Following is the NCAA’s response to Secretary Duncan’s comments:

NCAA reacts to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s comments

Mar 17, 2010 6:21:01 PM

The NCAA issued a statement Wednesday in reaction to the comments of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who recommended a postseason ban on teams with low graduation rates:

“The NCAA shares Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s concern over some institutions that have low graduation rates among their basketball teams in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. However, imposing a ban on teams for the academic performance of student-athletes who entered as freshmen eight to 11 years ago is probably not the best course of action. Basing postseason bans on graduation rates penalizes the wrong students.

“Instead, the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate, which measures both the real-time academic performance and retention of student-athletes, is a much better indicator of classroom success of those competing in the tournament today. With APR also comes real accountability for the students and their institutions. Teams that do not meet the minimum score of 925 for two years in a row are in jeopardy of losing a scholarship. Seventy percent of the teams participating in this year’s tournament are above the level at which a team could face a penalty. Teams that do not make changes and improve their academic performance could face postseason competition bans. This system is in place and addresses the problem of habitually under-performing teams.

“Graduation rates do provide a valuable look at the historical success of students at specific institutions. The real story, which is seldom told, is that student-athletes outperform their counterparts in every demographic. The latest federal graduation rate shows that student-athletes who entered college in 2002 graduated at 64 percent — two points higher than the student body. African-American student-athletes graduated nine percentage points higher than their counterparts in the student body at 53 percent to 44. The biggest difference was among African-American male student-athletes (49 percent) compared to African-American male students (38 percent). African-American male basketball players also outperformed their counterparts in the student body by six percentage points.

“Are graduation rates of minority students acceptable? Absolutely not. However, the real issue that needs to be addressed in many cases is adequate education opportunity at the elementary and secondary levels. Only when there is a level playing field in college preparation will there be graduation rates of which we can all be proud.”

The Biggest Surprise in March Madness: West Eastern State

This year’s NCAA tournament surprise team West Eastern State University provides some great messages for all leaders.  Maybe the best message is that great leaders take adversity and figure out how to turn it into success.  Often the traditional or conventional way of doing things does not work when you are disadvantaged in regards to resources, tradition or talent.  Faced with almost certain failure Coach Holton found a way to be successful by looking for non-traditional recruits and then adapting his teaching style to allow those recruits to use their unique set of talents.  Then figuring out how to fit those skills into the team setting and having all the players buy-in with no jealousy toward the Ivan Brothers was the true test. Remember quite often the axiom of “big risk, big reward” is the what makes great leaders great, West Eastern University took a big chance and it paid off with a huge return.  The attached video is a great lesson.

March Madness Biggest Surprise

This year’s NCAA tournament surprise team West Eastern State University provides some great messages for all leaders.  Maybe the best message is that great leaders take adversity and figure out how to turn it into success.  Often the traditional or conventional way of doing things does not work when you are disadvantaged in regards to resources, tradition or talent.  Faced with almost certain failure Coach Holton found a way to be successful by looking for non-traditional recruits and then adapting his teaching style to allow those recruits to use their unique set of talents.  Then figuring out how to fit those skills into the team setting and having all the players buy-in with no jealousy toward the Ivan Brothers was the true test. Remember quite often the axiom of “big risk, big reward” is what makes great leaders great, West Eastern University took a big chance and it paid off with a huge return.  The attached video is a great lesson.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CapitalOne

A High School Alumni Game—What Leadership is All About

On Saturday night I was asked to coach the first annual alumni game at Anderson High School in Cincinnati where I was the Head Basketball Coach from 1972-82.  Our rival in the big game was our sister High School Turpin.  The team I was coaching consisted of 20 players who played for me during my tenure.  The event was created to bring focus to a newly developed foundation for the Forest Hills School District.  I really did not know what to expect as the age of my players ranged from 46-52 and I had not seen many of the guys for 30 years.  The evening turned out to be one of the most touching and uplifting events of my life.  It put into perspective all the years that I have spent working with individuals both in a leadership and team member situation.  I saw how these high school athletes have grown into wonderful men and great leaders in their own right.  They were CEO’s of major corporations, highly successful business executives, clergymen, coaches; all with huge personal success stories and great accomplishments.  To see these men connect through the common bond of being part of our program was truly amazing.  To observe the principles and values that we believed in so strongly (hard work, being a great teammate, maximum effort etc.) re-appear in a seemingly inconsequential alumni game was truly amazing.  Being down 12 points at halftime the comment was made “We did not come here to lose.  We never accepted that when we played, we cannot accept it now.”  Clearly the competitive nature and the pride they shared in being part of something bigger than themselves took over and the 12 point halftime deficit turned into a 13 point victory.  As a leader you need to take great comfort from what you do to help the people that are part of your team.  The other benefits of leadership are fine, but knowing you have been a positive factor in their life is the biggest and best reward.  I received many emails from the guys expressing how much they treasured the night.  However I wanted to share this one email from Rick Elliott (I hope he does not mind because it is a wonderful message) who played for me and moved on to play at the University of Richmond and is now the CEO of United Health Care of Georgia.  I realize my guys, my team, my assistant coaches have given me much more than I could ever give them.

What a day/night for all of us. I tried to explain to my family how great the whole thing was – but I couldn’t really put it into words. Although the body can’t go back 34 years – the mind can. The feelings I experienced were: (1) like being 17 again – carefree laughing, cutting up, telling stories, (2) pre game jitters – feeling the butterflies before the game – the anticipation and excitement, (3) having a “coach”  – trusted mentors and leaders like Dick and Hawk, feeling that sense of protection and guidance again on the sidelines, (4) seeing a crowd of people lining up to pay money to watch you play, to see “the game”, (5) warm memories of old coaches like Art Siebert, coach Bartholomew, coach Watterson and of course coach Hawk and coach Sander – men who gave up their time, for very little or no pay, to help us young kids learn how to work, and not give up, and how to compete – many many life lessons I treasure to this day, (6) seeing my “younger” AHS teammates (and Turpin guys) from later classes – most of whom I worked with in summer basketball camps, hoping you all would discover the love and passion I had for basketball, (7) shaking hands after the game – win or lose – and the great respect athletes have for your competitors – and in this case old friends and neighbors who all grew up together, and (8) most important for me – the time with Paul, Mark, Beck, Jack, and Jerry – my boys from the late 70’s/early 80’s – who to this day feel like brothers…trust, respect, love – all given unconditionally with no pretense.

And thus the beauty and poetry of the weekend is that ALL of that gets packaged in a basketball game  –  a game I cherish, but can’t play anymore. Watching our AHS guys play from the bench was beautiful. And playing with “my five guys” was poetry, as if time stood still…I knew where Mark was moving, I knew how Beck liked to catch the ball, I could see Jerry out of the corner of my eye and knew what he was thinking, and I could see Paul’s moves before he made them. Everything was the same…it was easy, it was natural.

With all of that in play, Turpin had no chance. But best of all, we didn’t rely on destiny. Instead, we took the game, and won it. Twenty old guys with a lot of history, won an alumni game…not a big deal in the scheme of life. But for me, for my 8 minutes, I was 17, running the point, pounding the ball – looking for the open man, playing with my brothers. Gents – it doesn’t get any better than that!

Do You Believe In Miracles?

In 1980 Coach Herb Brooks orchestrated one of the greatest runs in the history of sport.  The odds of the USA winning the gold medal by defeating one of the most dominating teams in the history of “amateur” sports seemed to be a million to one.  Yet the miracle on ice at Lake Placid exemplifies a terrific leadership principle that sometimes is overlooked.   That principle is timing.  Brooks very carefully planned the timing of the development of this team and built it from the ground up understanding exactly when it needed to reach its ultimate maximum potential.  In training Brooks squad of mostly collegian showed steady progress but when the Soviet team defeated the USA 10-3 in a last tune-up at Madison Square Gardens, few experts felt the USA had any chance.  The Soviet had finished with a 5-3 record in exhibition games against NHL teams prior to the Olympics.  But Brooks had built the confidence of his team and had them positioned perfectly going into the games.  As the games went on the USA gained more and more confidence.  In the semi-final game against the Soviets after two periods and the USA facing a one goal deficit, Brooks knew the timing was right to use his most powerful motivational speech and his now famous quote, “if you lose this game, you will take it to your (expletive) grave”.  Hearing captain Mike Eruzione share his thoughts on how that comment at just the right time really got the guys attention, highlighted just how important timing is for a leader.  It is something you always need to be aware.

The bounce is more painful than the fall

When Tiger made his long awaited return to the public with his painful thirteen minute apology, the reviews were mixed at best.  The traditional major media contingent took major shots at the world’s most recognized athlete.  Stephen A. Smith, John Feinstein, Golf Writers of America and most of the elite of the mainstream print media,  all swung at Tiger with the vengeance of a Mike Tyson left hook.  What lesson does this have for everyone in a leadership position?  It has a huge message.  Whether you idolize Tiger or can’t stand him, one thing everyone will agree — Tiger definitely displayed an arrogance that everyone knew he was in control in every situation.  Tiger quite often was not gracious and at times almost rude.  When he was on top of the world, no one said much.  Once the fall happened and the succeeding bounces, everyone to whom he had ever been condescending to, was there to take their shot.  A  great lesson to remember is that you need to treat everyone on the way up  in a manner that they are there to support you on the way down.  I have seen the rise of many leaders and the fall of quite a few.  Every leader could take a lesson from Anthony Grant, the basketball coach at Alabama.  Going from VCU to a huge opportunity and great situation in Tuscaloosa, AG never changed.  Success never affected him.  Remember if you are not careful, power is intoxicating.  Keep all your success in perspective and you will always have some folks to help cushion that bounce.