PHILOSOPHY.MOTIVATION.
AND MANAGEMENT I93
Cosell and. Grambling QBs
Bach in the 1970s, e hdd seDeral
outstand.inequarterba&s. At this time,
the questionwas uhether anJ bldch could
euer plclr quarterbach for the NFL. We
uere in New Yorh, and Houard Cosell
(who helped us quite a bi.t, helped.our
teams, helped eet a lot of people drufted'
helped us eet our game in Neu Yorh) told.
me he anted me to be on his shou. I tol.l
him. "Hoaa , I don't mind beingon your
shoa, but I don't udnt Jou ta ask me alL
thosetaz! qu*tiorc."
He said, "Well, I bon't ash Jou anJ
questions like that, that Jou haDe to
answer" Now, on the show: "Larlies ancl
genrlenen. I hat r Eddr R"htn!'n. EJdp.
do rou thinh, uith low Dast elper;ence
and. the number of xecLrsthat you haL)e
coached,that Jou coul.dprepare in four
years a young man who coul.dplax football
in the NFL and direct the team?"
What uas I supposed to say? I'm a
c.mch.I saidJes.I uasjust trying to hurry
and eet olf. when I eot on the airplane
and left New Yorh, I went straight to
James Harris'house. He's 6-5,210 and I
told James Harris, "I am re(ruiting lou
to play quafterbach in the NFL." He tnk
the chalLenge.James Harris steppedout
ofs, hool and uos thp firtt d" t' sto.t in
the NFL, in Buffalo.
After that, I wond.ered.
if in mr tifetitk,
uith mJ years runninq out, will I live to
seea Gramblins QB in the Super BouL?
So I'ue neuer been more satisfied than
seeins Doue wiUiams set off the eround
and uin the Super Boul for the
WashingtonRe&kins.
Since 1941,there have be€n so manythings to
be pleased about at Grambling. We have three
peoplein th€ pm football Hall ofFame. We have
Willie Davis in the '50s, and Willie Bro$n ald
Buck Buchanan in the'60s.Vince Lombardi said
Davis' quickness,power, and intelligence made
him the besi dcfansiveend that he'd ever coached.
We've had t€levision covelage,great teams, and
great players.
But with all the succesBGrambling has had
over the yeals, sometimesyou still have to ask
somebodyfor help.You probably won't agreewith
this, but GeorgeSt€inbrennerhelpedus keep our
program soine. When the Urban League couldn't
"ponsor Ihp game in New York anlmore. h"
sieppedin and guaranteedthe guarantee. Since
he's been connectedwith this sroup, the Yankees
have played at Gramblinstwo times, and 46 kids
graduated from collese on tho tunds that we rc-
ceivedfrom those games.
Leadership
You young coacheshave to creat€ in the men you
are coachins a real love for the same and a spirii
for work- Yor have to give them the will to win,
because that's the deciding factor in close
ballgames.After you teacb the fundamentals of
blocking and tackling, you have to t€ach them to
erecute. You have to have morale and create a
goodfeeling among the teams.
All coachesmust be absolutely sincer€ to the
work ethic. You cannot $.in th€ confidence of the
men you coach unless you are dead honest in
what's soins on.You can't fool the kids ifyou are
not sincere,ifyou're not doine the work.
Each pmctice should be carefully planned in
advanc€, with rcom for modification. You've eot
to know exactly what is to be done on the field.
B€forc you so on the field, you have to be ready.
The same will be won or lost by what the play-
em know, not what the coachesknow. Coaching
is repetition, explanation,illustration, imitation,
couection, repetition, and that is the way that
you'll do it.
Hello, Remember lle?
I'd like to leave you with something I always fin-
ish with when I speak somewherc:
Somepeopk caII me OLdGlat.\,others ?all
me b! the Star-Spangkd Banne. but
uhatzuer the! 0II me, I arn your flag
of the United States ofAnerica.
Somethins has heenbothering me, so
I thought I mieht talk it orcr uith
you, becauseit is ahout lou and tne.
I rcnember sometime ago,peopk lined up
on both sidesof the street to watch the
194 FOOTBALL COACHING STRATEGIES
paradc dnd. noturolU.I ua,leading
eL)ery parade, proudly uauinE in the
breeze.Whenyour daddy saw me
coming, he immedidtelr rcmouedhis
hat and placed it dgainst his left
shouldErso that the hand uas
directly ouer his heatt, rcnember?
And you, I rememberyou. Stand.ingtherc
straight as a soldier. vou d.idn't haue
a hdt, but Jou uere giuing the right
salute. Renember lit tle sisler'No1 1u
be outdone,Eheuas salutinE the
same as rou uith her right hand oDer
her heart. Remenlber?
What happened?rm still the Bameold
flae. Oh, I haL)ea feu more stars
since you were a boy.A lot morc blood
has been shed since those parad,es of
Ions dso.But nou I don't lbel as
proud. as I used to.
WhenI comedoun pur street,Joujust
stand.there with lour hand.\ in your
pocheb. I mar get a smdll elance, and
then rou Loohaua!. Then, I sez the
1991 Prcceedings. Codch Robinson b head coach at Grumblins State UniLtersity
children running around.and.
shoutinE;ther dan't seemto knou uho
I am. I saw one man tahe his hat off,
thzn looh arcund. He didn't see
anybody else with theirs off, so he
quichly put his bach on.
Is it a sin to be patriatic an! more? Haue
rou forgotten uhat I stand for and
uhere I've been?Anzio, Guad.alcanal,
Korea, and Viet Nan. Tahe a looh at
the memorial honor rotls sometimes,
of those uho neuer came back to heep
this repubLic flee, one nation, under
God. Whenrou salute me,rou are
saluting them.
WeIL it won't be long until rU be coming
doun the streetagain. So, uhen you
seeme, stand straighL place Jour
fight hand ouerrour hedrt, dnd I'LL
salute lou by ualting bach,and I'li
hnow that rou remembet
You are the greatest people, and this is the
greatest pmfession. Keep making these young
boys be good Americans.
 PHILOSOPHY, NIOTIVATION. AND MANAGI]I,INNT
,, l t :',..1 :,::
Motivation-The Difference.Maker
in Goaching
LEE CORSO
I
\\hen you talk to football players, you'd better
believ€ in what you're talking about. They can
senseit!They know lhat when the coachsays,"I
want you to do this," that he bclieves it. If not,
they're not going to play lor you, they're not go-
ing 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€r-
ings? 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 exacrlythe
way th€y did anotheaand that's dillicult. They're
not tho same.And I belicve jn the basicright and
dignity ofevery man to be different. Evcry rnan
hastherighttobe himselfandtobehis own rrdr,
no matter what he believesin.
Flexibility
You'vegot 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 exactlywh at it takes
in tullegecoachrnp.n hiAhs.hoolcoeching. or ir
life.
Coaches shorld be ready at any moment to
adjust their philosophy,il n€ceEsary. You better
have r-uleswith alittle outlet. You nust be ready
to move quickly, to impmvise, and to adjust ev-
ery momenl in your lile when you're dealingwith
men 15 to 20 yeals old, becausethey'rc chang-
ingi 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 changesevory week. But thcre are sone
basic p nciples thai IA like to go over.
195
Responsibility
Beforcyou can motivate anyonein this world, you
must have thei r respecl.Coacheshave alormorc
responsibility than tcachingkids to ramoff-tackle.
They've got one of th€ most responsiblejobs in
the worldl Sure, the Xs nnd O's are important in
winning games.But a coach'smain 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,play-
ins gou workins, or flyins all over,who tum their
sons over to the coach and say, "Whatever you
do, nake th€m better men, bocauseI don't havc
tho time."When you look at it lik€ that, it's a tre-
mcndousrcsponsibility 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'vegot 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'sgot more pride than
you've ever secn in anybodylThe player $'i1lend
up saying, "I do have that pemonal pride, and
l
196 FOOTBALLCOACHINGSTRATEGIES
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".Youvn gor rhe finebruniforrnsin
'hp world You look lik. a .hamp,on: Youre soins
to play like a championl"You know wbat happened?
They lookedat eachoth€r and said,'You'rerightl
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 tal-
ents comeinio 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 ac-
tually think it's worth a touchdownat the end!It
du"inl malp an) difference $ hFrhorir 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'stalent. 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 $har rhe mher g!) s gor
Youcan't do anlthing about it. Worry aboutwhat
you've got, and make them the best.
We run into a lot ofnesative thinking in foot-
ball there's always something wrong, always
something bad. We don't allow one negative
phrase in our whole oryanizatjon. We've got the
world's worst dressing room, but it's cloEeto the
pmctice field. That's positive thinking. Always s€ll
this positiveattitud€. If you think thines are bad,
go by the cemetery.
Self.Discipline
We bave two haining rules. The first one is to
treat eueryman as Jou uant to bc treate(L\our-
sefi That's all we ask you to do. And you know
what happens?You']l find a beautjful family stad-
ing to d€velop.B€causewhen a guy starts to say
qomerhingro s^mabod)cl"e. and he raali/-., I
wouldn't want him to say that to me,"it comesas
a rFa.rionbp.auseIhe) fcpl ir in rh. herrl.
The secondhaining rule ]s to act likt a man
and.rou'll be treated.lilrea /'?dn.Act like a bum
1972Proceediaes.CoachCarsais d footboll andlrst lor ESPN.
and peoplewill trcat you like a bum. You might
say,"$Ihat does'act like a man' mean?" PlayeIS
knowl Let them use some of their imagination.
You gei ihose iwo pdnciples acrossto 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 disciplrnedfrom r he in"ide out, pr-
acUy 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 every-
thins 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 extremesifyou can. Don't go
all tho way in one direction,letting them do any-
rhing 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 collegocoaches6ay,"Run the deadwood
o1f."Ilyou do, you re not gaining anlthing there-
you'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 run-
ning mybest friend out ofher€." So,berospectful
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
peoplein the world besidesyour family are your
players, becausethat's what you want them to
beljeveabout th€ coach.Every day,do something
respectlul toward a playe. Somedayit will come
back to you. We try to do that.
The challenge coachesface 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.