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January 11, 2009 Sometimes it is a Laughing Matter As you probably know, the Detroit Lions weren’t the first team to complete a season without winning a single game, just the first team to go 0-16… Back in 1976, in the midst of an 0-14 season for the hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Coach John McKay was asked while exiting the field after a particular loss, “How do you feel about your team’s execution?”… ”I’m for it!” he deadpanned. Of course he was joking, but it brought to light a dimension that Coach McKay had, and an attribute all great coaches and leaders possess…The ability to utilize humor when appropriate. John McKay won 2 National Championships at USC, and prepared countless young men for life in the NFL. The 1978 USC Trojans, his final recruiting class, featured two Heisman Trophy winners in the backfield, and 42 players on that roster went on to play in the NFL. The reason? All coaches need to know x’s and o’s, but the best coaches know people. And the fact that people, especially highly charged, emotional athletes, have multiple dimensions. A varied approach to teaching (which in my view is the essence of coaching), should include humor. Any coach I ever respected always had the ability to employ several methods of communicating, avoiding one-size-fits-all coachspeak, and it definitely included humor. Has this become a lost art? Why do I see so many long faces, and angst- ridden teenagers on the playing field? If an athlete isn’t getting his or her education paid for, or earning a paycheck, the primary reason they should be participating in sports is to have fun. Of course there are numerous other benefits, but when it’s fun, it’s packaged in a way that’s most conducive to success. Coaches can and should realize they have the power to affect this mindset. Of course, teams always have, and always will, take on the personality of their Field General. Show me a grim faced coach, and you’ve got the recipe for an uptight team that features mediocrity. With all due respect to Rod Marinelli, although he was a good man with the right intentions, he had no sense of humor. Understanding the hearts and minds of the individual athlete is a gift that great coaches have. A happier athlete is a more relaxed, prepared warrior, and if you don’t think coaches can truly have impact on young impressionable student/athletes, positive or negative, then think again. Coaches have a hard job. William Shakespeare once said, “Heavy is the head the wears the crown.” That’s why I believe humor lightens the load. Coach John McKay passed away few years ago, but I hope the art of humor in coaching hasn’t died as well, even on the High School level. (c) 2008 Novi
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