Untitled - Fast and Furious Football

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PHILOSOPHY, NIOTIVATION. AND MANAGI]I,INNT 195
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Motivation-The Difference.Maker
in Goaching
LEE CORSO
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\\hen you talk to football players, you'd better
believ€ in what you're talking about. They can
sense it!They know lhat when the coach says, "I
want you to do this," that he bclieves it. If not,
they're not going to play lor you, they're not going
to perform for you, and most important,
they're not going to respect youl
You know what we do the first two weeks of
our spdng practice, bothonthe field andin me€rings
We work on the mind- We try to figurc oul
what we can do to stimulate these young men.
We have different young men every year. You've
got to motivate them in different ways. I've seen
guys try to motivateone football team exacrly the
way th€y did anotheaand that's dillicult. They're
not tho same.And I belicve jn the basic right and
dignity ofevery man to be different. Evcry rnan
hastherighttobe himselfandtobe his own rrdr,
no matter what he believes in.
Flexibility
You've got to change. There's one thing I learned
from the United States Naval AcademI if they
taught me nothine else. I leamed to "I & A'
iDprovise and adjust. That's exactly wh at it takes
in tullege coachrnp. n hiAh s.hool coeching. or ir
life.
Coaches shorld be ready at any moment to
adjust their philosophy, il n€ceEsary. You better
have r-ules with alittle outlet. You nust be ready
to move quickly, to impmvise, and to adjust every
momenl in your lile when you're dealingwith
men 15 to 20 yeals old, because they'rc changingi
They're changing from year to year, liom
week to weok, fron day to day, and from houl io
hour Evaluate whatever you did last year to
motivato your people to sce if jt is feasible this
y€a. Eve4' Sunday aftemoon we look at what
w€'.e going to do to motivate our guys this week.
And it changes evory week. But thcre are sone
basic p nciples thai IA like to go over.
Responsibility
Beforc you can motivate anyone in this world, you
must have thei r respecl. Coaches have alormorc
responsibili ty than tcachingkids to ram off-tackle.
They've got one of th€ most responsible jobs in
the worldl Sure, the Xs nnd O's are important in
winning games. But a coach's main rcsponsibil
ity to a football piaycris to teach him tobe a bet,
ter man. If it isn't, why not let him play some
othcr sport, or lcthim hang arorind tbe corner, or
lei hirn go to tho biology teacher That is to m€
the most impodant r.esponsibility of a football
coach today-to take his football players and
motivate them, mold them, and tcach them to be
There are a lot offathers sittine at home, playins
gou workins, or flyins all over, who tum their
sons over to the coach and say, "Whatever you
do, nake th€m better men, bocause I don't havc
tho time."When you look at it lik€ that, it's a tremcndous
rcsponsibility and privilege.Andthat's
Fxrl1lj thp $dy I lpelabou coacuqu a prcti,s"ion
Self-Gonlidence and Optimism
Tbe first thing is theymustbelieve in themselvos.
You're putting in their minds, a little at a tim€,
the masic of believing in themselves. You sce a
guy, fbr exanple, walkinc into a rcom and pcople
rvill say, "I don't know \lho that guy is, but he
must be a winner." This is because he moves,
looks, and acts as ifhe bclicve!' in himself. Ifyou
don't believe in youlsel4 don't ever expect any
man to bctieve in you. They won't do it. You've
got to hav€ that inner bclieffirst.
Never downgrade a man. You've got to havo a
pelsonal inner p dc. You've got to get it ou1 ot
him-it's inside. Holv You keep tclling him he's
got itthere.You tell him he's got more pride than
you've ever secn in anybodyl The player $'i1l end
up saying, "I do have that pemonal pride, and