Untitled - Fast and Furious Football

PHILOSOPIIY. MOTIVATION, AND MANAGEMENT 191
other one will. I could be wrong, but I think fbotball
and athletics in g€neral have made our nation
the best fightins forc€ in the world
I don't like people who substitute wor& for
actions. When a team whips us, and the boys are
in the dressing room, I walk in, and I'm asked,
"\ hat about the game" I say, "We shottld have
stay€d at home. They outplayed us, they outblocked
us, and they outcoached us."
Taking Responsibility
I learned so much from football. I leamed how to
win from football.I leamed how tolosefromfootball,
to lose without offering excuses.
No assistant coach of mine can say Coach
RobinBon said that a boy lost a game, or that an
assistant coach iost it. If anybody loses a game,
Eddie Robinson does.
At one t;me early in my coaching carcea when
I d get up in the morning, I'd say, "Eddie, you're a
hell of a coach, boy, youre coming on," but that
didn t last lons. Now, you've got offensive coordinators,
coaches with d€fen8es. Back then, I was
coaching it all.
For all these years, I've ridden on the shouldels
of the athletes, the football playel8, and the
coaches. Whatever we have achieved, or will
achi€ve, then the athletes and coacbes should
share.l don't believe that I could bave done that
by myself.
The football players and the football coacbes
have been good to me. I don't have enough time
at my age to pay them back. It's so important to
riwa cnmarhind hq.L
I've never walked ollliom an auto$aph. I don't
allow it. We had a crcwd of55,000 against Temple
in Tokyo. When the game was over, we were on
the bus, getting ready to leave, and were about
an hour late. The guys werc all mad, saying Doug
Williams was not here. He finally came about 10
minutes latea and he stepped on the bus, and he
told them, "I don't make the rules; Coach makes
the rules, and he said,'don't come out ofthe dressing
room if you'r€ not going to sign them."'
Ask anybody on our team. I don't want to see
any kid mnning to somebody asking for an autograph
and not get one. Stop and sign it. This is
what you need to do.
Coaching School and the AFCA
I went to my fiIst coaching school at Northwestern.
I don't ihink anybody's old €nough to know
about tl,e Chicago Triblze all-star game, where
I think they bought glasses for the underpnvrleg€d.
At that time, they held the game at Northwestern.
The all-stars played the professional
champions. In 1941,I went to this coaching school,
after I'd been hired at Gramblins.
The coaches who werc there--you've probably
read about them-were Fdtz Crisler, Carl
Snavely, and Ll.nn Waldorf. I stil remember some
ofthe things that were said durins that coaching
clinic. What Fritz Cdsler said was tme then and
still is true. The essence of offense is blockins.
On defense, it's tackling.
Most ofyou\e r€ad abour coach Crisle. He was
a disciplinarian- He\{,astough, with adeep, commandins
voice, and he was a man that was respc.red
w}|en he ralked, )nu c^uld hear a pin
drop in the stadium.
Coach Waldorf was one ofthose guys you could
get close to. He'd tell you in his own gentle way
that one method of coaching doesn't go lor all
ballplayers. They have individual di{ferences. And
you can gjve a guy with more ability more things
to do.
Crying, Dreaming, and Doing
I'm a crier. I cry over good things. When I was a
boy,I didn't have a great deal.I remember when
they played the first Sugar Bowl same,I was sit-