Untitled - Fast and Furious Football

PEILOSOPHY, MOTIVATION, AND MANAGEMENT 169
I couldn't play middle linebacher uhich
uas my d.rean. The peopLe who uere
naturcrllr quick mentdllr uere the ones
uho plaJed QB and nid.dle linebather I
just could.n't thinh fast enoueh. I could
play center lfJohnny Unitas or Ban Stc'i
told ne what to do and told me what the
snap count was, I could. go up there, and I
cout l. make mr calls because I hneu uhere
I uas gonna go. I could. hike the ball, and
I could uin on repetitions.
So, I'xe lecLrrcd the DaLue of qualit!
repetition. If somebody could teach the
driL,e bloch with 150,000 repetitions, and.
lou could teach hou to delbat the driue
block with 150 rcpetitions, and that talent
uas equat, uho do you think is gonna uin
My mom grew up on a farm. She walked along
behind a plow and picked €otton, andwas part of
an agrarian society that we had not long ago. Our
ancestors in their liferime did not absorb as much
inforrnation as you and I absorb in one day.
Let's not kid ourselves about what coachingis
today. It is a lot more than it's ever been before.
And it's a lot toughex Players ar€ exposed to morc
distractjons and influences outside of family,
team, and school than we were at their age.
Just think about what you're pumping into
your hain and whath going into those playem'
heads. They're sittins there with those Walkmans
on the team bus; you'r€ wondering what in the
world isgoinginto their brains;yourjob is on the
line in ftont of a national T\y' audience. You've
prepared as b€st you can, but the competitionboth
from the opponent on the field andfromth€
distractions facing your team is awesome.
Personal Responsibility
for Actions
Becausewe have so many outside influences and
demands, it's easy to pass the buck when you fail.
But excuses don't get you anywhere. I'm talking
as a coach in football as well as in life. Understand
this: You ar€ today preciselywhat you had
planned to be up to this point.
Bill Curry has deterrnined what ever it is that
I'mgoingtobe today;I'm the one who has shaped
that destiny Nobody else.The instantyou accept
the responsibility lor your life, you have the capacity
to start to deal with the forces that are at
work on your mind.
Until you do that, you are helpless and you'll
be pulled from pillar to post and you'l] wonder,
"What in the worid's going on I wonder why I
drink so much" So many times you're not ev€n
aware. It's th€ subliminal influences. The same
thing happens to the kids we work with.
I come from an environment where my players
have been told, every single day, "YouI coach
iB not good enough to coach you. He shouldr't be
here. He's not qualified. He's not one of us." A1l
those things.
That's nobody's fault. That goes with the territory
You may be going through something similar.
So I'm not complaining. I'm just telling yol1
about the €nvironment in which I've lived. What
it did waB force me to do something that I find
ve4', very diffi cult-listen.
Listening and Ledrning
I learned hou to Listen from my daughte\
uho was then 17 years old.. She did.n't
speakto me for 6 months. This chi.ld, uho
has al.uays been her own person and. has
a brilliant nind she's just Lihe her
mom-4ecided her dad uasn't uorth
talhing to. I didn't like that. We uent
thrcueh some heII tosetheL
I went tom being terribLy o/fentled., to
being angry, to pLaing the aduLt roLethe
pdrent role. I tried to hammer he.
chanee her antl tell her who she wouLd
and uould not see. I tried to loch her up.I
tried to shut off the telephone. I did. all
the stuff stupid da& do to beautiful
Until one dar I said. to her, "I loue you
morc than mr oun litb. I'ue giten you
eoerything l haue.What is it that's urone"
She said, "You tell me rou loue me, and I
hnou you thinh you mean that, but I don't
feel it uhen you sal it. When I try to talk
to Jou, rou neuer lkten. you're onl!
th.inhine about uhat you're gonna sa!
wfi." I wept. And I almost fell out of the
chai. because she uas sht.
Then, less than a ueeh later, I asked our
coaching staff's opinion on a uer!
important matter Ooe of the brightest
Iootball coaches I'ue euer knoun, Don
Lindser, is agur who uiLLtett.you hou he
feels about things. you don't halte to
uond.er about uhat's eoine on in Don's
mind. He'U teII rou e&ctb hou it is.