Untitled - Fast and Furious Football

196 FOOTBALL COACHING STRATEGIES
Self.Discipline
thc othcl guy doesn't, and when it gets down to
tha fourth quader, I'm going to winl" You may
think that won't work, but it will.
When I eot the job at Louisville, in thrc€ days I
spent morc money on football unifonns than my
predecessor didin five yeals.I said to the players,
"Gentlemen, you now look like what we're going to
be champion". You vn gor rhe finebr uniforrns in
'hp world You look lik. a .hamp,on: You re soins
to play like a championl"You know wbat happened
They looked at each oth€r and said,'You're rightl
You're damned righi, we do look b€tter! We're a lot
bettd team than we were I ast yearl" In their minds,
they fclt lika they were bett€rl
Aftcr you snap the ball, you can't promise any
body anything- That's when the other guy's talents
come inio play. But on your side ofthe line,
you can do anything you want. And they can't hjt
you! Stop and thjnk about that sometimei How
long bave you spent on your pregame wannupl
Our guys take pdde in their pregam€ warmup.
Tbey actually think it helps them win! They actually
think it's worth a touchdown at the end!It
du"inl malp an) difference $ hFrhor ir i. !r isnl
whai's important is that they think it is.
Anotber thing we've leamed is ihal therc's no
use worrying about the other guy's talent. There's
nothing you can do about it. You cannot contml
the other man's team, and 907r of the coaches
$untr too much aboul $har rhe mher g!) s gor
Youcan't do anlthing about it. Worry aboutwhat
you've got, and make them the best.
We run into a lot ofnesative thinking in football
there's always something wrong, always
something bad. We don't allow one negative
phrase in our whole oryanizatjon. We've got the
world's worst dressing room, but it's cloEe to the
pmctice field. That's positive thinking. Always s€ll
this positive attitud€. If you think thines are bad,
go by the cemetery.
We bave two haining rules. The first one is to
treat euery man as Jou uant to bc treate(L \oursefi
That's all we ask you to do. And you know
what happens You']l find a beautjful family stading
to d€velop. B€cause when a guy starts to say
qomerhing ro s^mabod) cl"e. and he raali/-., I
wouldn't want him to say that to me,"it comes as
a rFa.rion bp.ause Ihe) fcpl ir in rh. herrl.
The second haining rule ]s to act likt a man
and. rou'll be treated.lilre a /'dn. Act like a bum
and people will trcat you like a bum. You might
say, "$Ihat does 'act like a man' mean" PlayeIS
knowl Let them use some of their imagination.
You gei ihose iwo pdnciples across to them, and
they'l play. And wh€n they get to respecting the
coach, then he can motivat€ them.
A11 coaches are looking for disciplin€, and
no matter what anybody tells m€, the first
thing you've got to have in order to discipline a
man is his respect of you as a person. We've
rflpd i di|rerpnt approd.h ro rho normal ngid
discipline. We tell our players that we want
them lo bc disciplrned from r he in"ide out, pracUy
the way you try to heal a wound. The real
danger is when you discipline by commands,
as ifthe playe$ are robots.
If you rcgiment players and t€ll them everythins
to do, they'lI do it, but jt won't be part oi
them-inEid€ ofthem. Wlen it gets down to the
fourth quader, and it's fourth-and-1, thelll quit
a lot oftimes. They'll sar "To hell with it! I dont
believe in that guy anyhowl"
Tra to avoid the extremes ifyou can. Don't go
all tho way in one direction,letting them do anyrhing
they $anl ro: and don t go all the $ay in
the oth€r dir€ction, telling them they can't do
anyihing! Try to hit, in your own way, a happy
medium.
Respect
I've head collego coaches 6ay, "Run the deadwood
o1f." Ilyou do, you re not gaining anlthing thereyou're
losing a possibility. You'r€ losing a guy who
could possibly help in some way. And when the
guy you run off is on the loudh team, guess who
his best friend is The star! And tho star says,
"Some day, coach, I'm going to get you for running
mybest friend out ofher€." So,be rospectful
lo rhe guy with less ability, became you are usu
ally judeed by the team on th€ way you treat your
You nust believe that the most important
people in the world besides your family are your
players, because that's what you want them to
beljeve about th€ coach. Every day, do something
respectlul toward a playe. Some dayit will come
back to you. We try to do that.
The challenge coaches face is a tremendous
one.W€ can only succeedifwe continu€ togoover
the rclationships and duties with oul playeft with
the samo aggressive and progressive attitude that
we have doing Xs and O's on the blackboard.
1972 Proceediaes. Coach Carsa is d footboll andlrst lor ESPN.