Football coaches—coaches in general—rarely get the credit they deserve for the complex work they do. Now I’m not conflating this work with what Neil Degrasse Tyson and his ilk do, but all too often the thinking man’s side of athletics is overlooked. Consider this: as a football coach you have to be a strategist, a poker player, a master motivator, and leader, and what can be best described as a ‘personality wrangler’. This multitude of roles must be achieved expertly and simultaneously in order to be a success. I’m learning this as a coach and as a researcher/observer of coaches. I’ve been studying the good ones from pee wee all the way up through the pros, watching game film and even attending games to gain a clearer understanding of what I want to put into coaching and what I want out of it as a result. Through my research I learned that I do want to coach more, not just for the excitement and gratification, but because it is going to make me better at everything else.
I don’t multitask terribly well. It is a flaw that I have tried to address through research, but research only taught me that you cannot research about multitasking without discovering the futility of the act and pressuring evidence of the inability to truly do so. I disagree with the experts. I know this because I do coach. I carry these multiple roles and tasks forward in the coaching role and do so through compartmentalization and planning. I especially do so through seeking the help of those around me. Every coach has coordinators and assistants handy to take a lead role in aspects of the work. In my personal life I try to do all of that on my own and fall flat. So, delegation is the key there—do as much as I can reasonably and effectively handle and delegate the rest—leaving room to manage that delegation.
Easier said than done, of course.
Some Thoughts:
- I might be done with the skater look on guys and gals alike. The problem is the ubiquity of it all, at least here in the flaming AZ valley where girls rock jet black booty shorts, vans, and a concert tee as a kind of ‘cool’ shorthand. This came to a head over the course of a week when I saw no less than six girls from behind and thought, quite reasonably, that they were the same person. This was not all at once, mind you. This was not the sometimes cute, sometimes stupid tendency to wear matching outfits as a symbol of teen unity. These were individuals in locations throughout the city that looked exactly the same. The guys are worse. If I see one more dude in black shoes, black socks, and a purple flat brimmed ball cap I am going to snap. Of course, I say this as a black man who is exceptionally fond of gym shorts and athletic sandals with socks, so there’s that.
- It is raining.
- Sitting here at McDonalds watching an old man and his son or grandson interact. It makes me look forward to being a grandpa and having those moments when my grandkids are old enough to understand the world and still want to talk with me about that world.
- 1814 marked the birth of Samuel Colt and the first public steam locomotive rail line. You don’t get more wild west than that.