The Only Thing

September 16, 2024

Dear Leaders,

Football season in the USA.? Rather than mark the change of seasons by the solar cycle, Americans use holidays and the sports we play and love to watch.? As the days grow shorter and the air a bit cooler, we turn from the leisurely warmth of baseball to the cold intensity of football, a sport more ruled by the clock and the coach than any other, for while quarterbacks direct play on the field, it is coaching that makes or breaks a team.? In a sport that produced legendary coaches in 150-plus years, none is more synonymous with the title than Vince Lombardi for one simple reason:? wherever he coached, his teams won.

Lombardi came into coaching football more for the need for a steady job to marry rather than a burning desire to coach.? Rising to become head coach of St. Cecilia’s High School in New Jersey, his teams were known for winning and were rated the top high school program in the nation.? Moving into the college ranks, apprenticing as an assistant coach at the US Military Academy under famous coach Red Blaik gave him the sense of discipline that would serve him well in the future.

As an assistant coach for the New York Giants in professional football, he and defensive coach Tom Landry quickly turned around a losing program and brought a championship.? Unable to secure a head coaching position in college football, possibly to what he believed was discrimination due to his Italian and Catholic heritage, he accepted a position with the Green Bay Packers in 1959, a team that won only one game in the prior season.

With an iron discipline and an eye for how to use the talent he inherited, Coach Lombardi immediately changed the narrative and perspective by moving players into different positions, promoting second-string players, and drilling his team hard in fundamentals.? In their first year, they won seven of their 12 games, and by the second year, they were in the league championship game, winning it the following season.? His teams went on to win five National Football League championships and the first two Super Bowls.?

Along the way, Vince Lombardi developed a tough relationship with his players and family alike.? He was a demanding taskmaster who gave his all and accepted nothing less than their absolute best, and adherence to his outlook on life.? The players quickly became aware of “Lombardi Time,” which meant being at an appointed place ten minutes early was five minutes late.? They also learned that he believed in equality for all at a time the league was slowly integrating, bringing in more Black players, not segregating them in hotels, and making it known that any establishment that would not serve them would be off-limits to all.?

As part of his program, he was famous for how he expressed his vision.? “Winning is not everything, it is the only thing.”, and “Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”, were more famous quotes, but those he made about coaching and life, such as “They call it coaching, but it is teaching.? You do not tell them, you show them the reasons.”, and “People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses or the problems of modern society.”, reflect a broader perspective on life.

Football coaches today cannot be the stern disciplinarians of yore like Vince Lombardi, and leaders, save for drill sergeants, have to take a different approach.? Nonetheless, the fundamentals that he taught and practiced are eternal, for leaders who know their people, recognize their talents, train and use them in the best possible ways, and get them to demand more of themselves not only for the organization but their individual growth and achievement breed the same level of success that he achieved.

Vince Lombardi died of cancer before he was 60, and the devastation on the faces of his former players at his funeral showed they lost more than just a football coach.? He is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame along with eleven of his players.? His name is on the trophy given to the Super Bowl winning team, and to many generations, he is the image that comes to mind when you say football coach.?

As a coach, Lombardi made average players good and good players great. ?Coaches don’t do the task or the work, they motivate others to do it, and leaders who coach their people to go beyond just doing, but excelling in the achievement, won’t have their names engraved on a trophy, but they will engrave it on the hearts of their people.? ????

Sincerely,

Tim