New School or Old School?

Does process matter or do results matter? Nick Saban definitely would be labeled “Old School”, to show for that he has 4 National Titles in the last 8 years and narrowly lost winning a 5th in 9 years. Dabo Swinney might be more “New School” even though he won an NCAA Football Championship as a player at Alabama under an old school coach, Gene Stallings, and later served as an assistant under Nick Saban. 

Saban grew up working at a service station owned by his father. When he washed cars, if the car had one streak or smudge on it he had to wash the whole car over again. Talk about learning a process. Fast forward to Nick Saban the coach and recruiter; he watches every play on tape of a potential recruit, not just most plays but every play. Talk about process.

On the other hand, if you ask Dabo Swinney what won Clemson the NCAA Championship Football game he would say it was love. 

After the Championship game on January 10th Dabo told ESPN: “I told them tonight that the difference in the game would be love, and tonight we’re going to win it because we love each other”.   

A year earlier in the New York Times he said: “My driving force in this business is to build and create great men.” He also said: “and to do that, you have to have great relationships”. 

Love and relationships or process, no one is wrong or right, they have both won the NCAA College Football Championship in the last two years. Which do you use to make your business the best it can be?