[ad_1]
Until things get official, it certainly looks like current New Orleans Saints assistant coach / tight ends coach Dan Campbell will eventually become the next Detroit Lions head coach.
And so begins the mad rush to get information on the guy. As Campbell has never been a coordinator, it’s not easy to know exactly what he’ll bring to Detroit in general terms. But what has become very clear is his capacity for inspiration as a leader. Everywhere you look within the Saints organization or the Dolphins organization during his three months as an interim coach in 2015, you will find testimonials of his skills as a motivator.
But why take my word for it? Why not hear the man himself?
Since the Saints, at the time of this publication, are still in the playoffs, it could be weeks before we hear Campbell speaking to local media. But in June, Campbell joined the Liuccicast, hosted by Texas A&M writer Billy Liucci.
Liucci asked Campbell about his coaching style, especially since athletes today are very different from what they were 20 years ago when Campbell was a tight end in the NFL. Here is his long, unpublished answer:
“You have to be able to adapt to today’s athlete. And what today’s athlete is – it’s not necessarily “Oh man, that’s a negative thing”. It’s just different. And these kids were raised differently, and they have different experiences than we did 20 years ago and before.
“I think a lot of it was back then that you did what you were told to do, period. And that’s how you get better, and that’s all you knew, and it was black and white. And it was, ‘Dude you do that and if you don’t do that we have a problem with you and your team has a problem with you. ”
“And with that you put all of these things in a basket and sometimes things get lost. You’re losing some good players because he’s got one hell of a rock in his shoe, and he doesn’t know how to communicate that, so no wonder he was limping.
“You have to be prepared to listen to these (guys), and I feel like you need more working relationships with your athletes, certainly at the NFL level. They are grown men with whom we are dealing. As I always approach as we work together. Now beginners are a little different, but once you’ve been trained a bit, we work together.
“’Now how can I make your job easier? It’s my job. How to get the most out of you It’s my job as a coach. And your job is to use me as a resource, player. So what do you need from me? How can I help you? Let me ask you the following question: What makes your job easier, Player X? Do you prefer to do it that way?
“You have to have some flexibility in the way you train and deal with the players… You have to be prepared to open up to the players. You have to be prepared to show yourself.
Another interesting part of the interview was Campbell’s description of Bill Parcells’ philosophy when he was a player in Dallas. Words might as well come out of Matt Patricia’s mouth.
“On offense, I need you to control the ball, man. Chew the clock. Let’s get into the third manageable tries, get your first try, and do some other stuff that is high efficiency games that are going to eat up the time.
However, this is not where the story ends. He then tells how, facing the best attack in the league (the Chiefs), Parcells has completely changed things. He knew he had to score a ton of points, so the Cowboys got aggressive that week. They changed their philosophy depending on their opponent.
“I’ll tell you what, we went there and it was totally like we weren’t even under Bill Parcells, like we never learned anything under him.” Anything you can imagine to be aggressive about this game, we made it. We did everything and we won. We won with about 30 points and we beat them by one or two points or whatever. And I will never forget him.
“It was like, ‘Man, what are we going to do to win?’ You can’t use the same thing every game. You have a philosophy, but all adversaries are not the same. You have to judge each opponent, what they have and what you have and what the game looks like, different every week. And sometimes what beat this team won’t beat this team this week.
The entire podcast is definitely worth your time. You can listen to it here. The last half is mostly Texas A&M, but the first 30 minutes is a good look at the kind of person and leader he is.
(H / T to herdonknees for sharing this podcast with me)
[ad_2]
Source link