Was thinking about this earlier while talking with one of my old JOURNALIST FRIENDS.
What skills does the MYTHICAL, perfect coach have? I don’t mean for this to be a rant for or against Bryan Harsin, but it’s interesting to think about how he measures up to this theoretical blueprint.
MY MUST-HAVE SKILLS:
1.) Politicker. A successful Auburn coach is someone who can talk with money people, with influential people, and curry favor with them. Tommy Tuberville was great at this — he’s now a US Senator. Auburn has an ardent yet fractured base of influential folks helping behind the scenes. Somehow convincing all those people (or at least most of them) pulling in a similar direction is crucial.
2.) Recruiter. A successful Auburn coach knows good players when he sees them. He also knows how to hire people who can identify talented players. Then the head coach and those people can convince a number of those talented players to COMMIT to the Auburn Tigers. The head coach can be a major asset in recruiting; it doesn’t have to be all about assistants.
3.) Inspirational personality. Talent ain’t enough. A great coach inspires good players to be even better. No great football player got there on his own; a parent or a coach or some combination of both set that in motion. The work is up to the kid, but getting that kid started requires some measure of inspiration.
4.) Excuse-Free Approach. There are 100 reasons why coaching football at Auburn is more challenging than coaching football at Rival College X. Auburn doesn’t have the automatic recruiting zones you see at Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida. Auburn is stuck in the middle, so to speak, but that cannot be viewed as a serial disadvantage. Remember when Tony Barbee said Auburn was toast due to the Under Armour affiliation? Bruce Pearl came along and made miracles happen anyway. Why? Because BP doesn’t make excuses. He attacks challenges head-on.
Those are mine. What are yours?
What skills does the MYTHICAL, perfect coach have? I don’t mean for this to be a rant for or against Bryan Harsin, but it’s interesting to think about how he measures up to this theoretical blueprint.
MY MUST-HAVE SKILLS:
1.) Politicker. A successful Auburn coach is someone who can talk with money people, with influential people, and curry favor with them. Tommy Tuberville was great at this — he’s now a US Senator. Auburn has an ardent yet fractured base of influential folks helping behind the scenes. Somehow convincing all those people (or at least most of them) pulling in a similar direction is crucial.
2.) Recruiter. A successful Auburn coach knows good players when he sees them. He also knows how to hire people who can identify talented players. Then the head coach and those people can convince a number of those talented players to COMMIT to the Auburn Tigers. The head coach can be a major asset in recruiting; it doesn’t have to be all about assistants.
3.) Inspirational personality. Talent ain’t enough. A great coach inspires good players to be even better. No great football player got there on his own; a parent or a coach or some combination of both set that in motion. The work is up to the kid, but getting that kid started requires some measure of inspiration.
4.) Excuse-Free Approach. There are 100 reasons why coaching football at Auburn is more challenging than coaching football at Rival College X. Auburn doesn’t have the automatic recruiting zones you see at Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida. Auburn is stuck in the middle, so to speak, but that cannot be viewed as a serial disadvantage. Remember when Tony Barbee said Auburn was toast due to the Under Armour affiliation? Bruce Pearl came along and made miracles happen anyway. Why? Because BP doesn’t make excuses. He attacks challenges head-on.
Those are mine. What are yours?
