Newsletter Features | Coach Pat Sullivan

15 Jul

WORK: The 4-Letter Word That Underscores Leadership

It is such a simple concept.

How do you succeed in life? How do you make teams, businesses, or institutions succeed? There can be a number of reasons for success in any arena, but the one recurrent concept that always comes to the front is work.

Besides leading his team to the NBA championship, Stephen Curry was honored as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player this year. When you look at his physical body, then look at the size of the players he drives into as he attacks the basket, you hope he will come out alive!

Due to his size, the major colleges all decided not to recruit him. They simply felt he was too small to take the beating he would receive at their level. When he led Davidson, a mid-level Division 1 school that took a chance on him, deep into the NCAA tournament, he made believers out of all the coaches who passed on him.

But when he came to the NBA, the very same size concern followed him. The experts said he probably could not take the punishment.

Not only did he show people that he could play in the NBA, but that he could play at the highest level, the MVP – championship level.

How did he get from a player who was told all his life he was too small to play at the level he aspired to, to a player who not only made it to that level, but excelled there? The answer that I hear from him is just one word – work.

Vince Lombardi, the highly successful Green Bay Packer coach, used to tell his players, “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.” UCLA’s John Wooden used to tell his players, “There is no substitute for hard work.” He also used to say, “Understand there is a price to be paid for achieving anything of significance. You must be willing to pay the price.”

Lombardi’s statement on surrender is exactly why you practice so hard. Having given all that work in practice, there is no way you are going to surrender in the game when the tough times come. Wooden’s statement on hard work says it all. If there is a substitute for hard work, what is it? His thoughts on a price to be paid seems to go right back to one word – work.

I have been fortunate to coach individual athletes and teams that were willing to pay the price. I cannot think of one of our athletes who made All-Conference to All-American who wasn’t a very hard worker, just as I cannot recall any team that won championships that did not work.

Athletics is definitely an arena where work is very evident. If you want to be good, you must pay the price. There are no short-cuts. But work most certainly transcends athletics. Success, in any venue, demands that the leader works and that he inspires others to follow suit. I saw that concept work at a high school and a college.

When I was teaching and coaching at Providence High School, the Bishop’s committee voted to close our school. After some months of reflection, the Bishop vetoed his committee, kept Providence open, and sent us an extraordinary leader to be our principal, Father Roger Kaffer. If you were going to work for Father Kaffer, you really had to make a commitment to work because his work ethic was off the charts! Providence today excels because of the work Father Kaffer did when closure was so imminent.

When I came to the College of St. Francis, the school, I learned years later, was almost bankrupt. Under Dr. Jack Orr’s leadership, St. Francis thrived. His total commitment to work for the good of the College laid all the groundwork for the College to later become the University of St. Francis. His work kept the University open. St. Francis today has been recognized as one of the best universities in the Midwest.

If leaders are to achieve success in their organization, they have to look at their work habits. They have to lead by their commitment to WORK.

16 Oct

Al and Life

“Every college graduate should take a year off and work as a cab driver or a bartender.”
“When we win a championship we may cut the net down with a switch blade, but we will be the most disciplined team in the country.”
“Either we all go uptown together or nobody goes uptown at all.”
“Excuses are weaknesses.”

The above represent the wit and wisdom of the late Al McGuire, the outstanding Marquette University basketball coach and NBC basketball analyst.

I was very fortunate to get to know Al pretty well during the fifteen years that I co-directed his Chicago camps along with the late Bill Gleason.

I never met anyone who lived life more on his terms than Al. When he took his motor cycle to work at Marquette and came to a certain stop sign, he had to make a decision. If he turned right, he went to work. If he turned left, he rode to the countryside and enjoyed the day.

One night John Wooden had this to offer on Al. He said Al had worked his UCLA basketball camp and on the last day the coaches would have a party. Al was bartending when Coach Wooden brought him his plane ticket to get back to Milwaukee. Al thanked him, introduced Coach Wooden to the bartender whom Al had just met that night, and then told him he would not be going to Milwaukee as he and the bartender were going to Vegas. Coach Wooden was stunned.

My friend, the late Kevin Donlan, was refereeing a Marquette-Notre Dame game and when he went to administer a free throw, he turned around and Al was at the free throw line commenting on Kevin’s officiating. Kevin told him he was going to assess one technical foul for each step that it took for Al to get back to the bench. Al thought for a moment; called two of his players to him; and had them carry him to the bench. Kevin ruled no steps; no technicals. Digger Phelps, the ND coach, went nuts!

NBA teams would call to offer him their head coaching position. Al felt the players made too much money compared to the coaches. So, he told the owners he would only come if they gave him a percentage of the gate. He knew his teams would bring in spectators.

On recruiting he had two insights: recruit Mom and don’t recruit guys with a front yard of grass.

Can leaders take an insight from Al’s wisdom? We may have a lot of responsibilities but we are here only once. Take that left turn at the stop sign and enjoy life and the blessings we have.

14 Sep

Small Acts of Kindness

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, in his outstanding book, The Gift of Peace, wrote, “The things people are naturally attracted to and remember most are small acts of concern and thoughtfulness. Years later, that is what they tell you about their priests and other clergy.”

Saint Theresa, the Little Flower, wrote in Story of a Soul, “A word, an amiable smile, often suffice to make a sad soul bloom.”

Poet Maya Angelau summed it up when she wrote, ”I’ve learned that people forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Father John Welch, a Carmelite priest, wrote about a man who received hospitality from others at a critical time in his life. The man said, “Always show more kindness than seems necessary because the person receiving it needs it more than you will ever know.”

The above quotes were referenced in an article written by Father John Welch titled, “Small Acts of Kindness” in the March edition of the Diocese of Joliet magazine, Christ is Our Hope.

I think these small acts of kindness are something leaders may want to reflect on. Leaders carry the title of their profession with them everywhere they go. Often they are respected because of that title and the position they hold in their community. Therefore, people tend to remember their acts of kindness more than others due to their exalted position.

For the most part I really think people in athletics understand that athletics has brought them fame and when they are kind to people, that kindness can be remembered for years. We had a program called Brown & Gold Night at the University of St. Francis where we brought in a celebrity from the world of sport for a fundraising dinner. Our celebrities did not get any bigger that Hall of Famers’ Mike Ditka and John Wooden. Both of them could not have been more gracious to the hundreds of people who were in attendance. They showed no arrogance, no ego, no “I’m better than you because I’m a Hall of Famer.” Instead, they exhibited an attitude that they were genuinely grateful to meet our people and both stayed until every autograph was signed. To this day our people remember their graciousness and kindness.

When Maya Angelou wrote that people remember how you made them feel, it made me think of my mentor and coach, Gordie Gillespie, who did this better than anyone I have ever known. There could be 600 people in a room, but if he was talking to you, he made you feel like you were the only person in that room.

Our St. Francis basketball players demonstrated at Chicago clinics for some of the top coaches in the country, coaches like Bob Knight, Dean Smith, and Greg Popovich. Were you to ask our players what they remembered most about these men, I know they’d say how kind these coaches were to them. When our players were demonstrating for Coach Knight, they misunderstood his teaching on his very first drill and performed it poorly, so poorly that a good number of the 800 coaches in attendance laughed at them. Knight immediately stopped the clinic and told the coaches if he heard any more laughing from them, he’d bring ten of them out of the stands and have them demonstrate! Our players have never forgotten Coach Knight’s kindness to them.

Most leaders are in positions where they are able to do small or sometimes even big acts of kindness.

Not a bad way to be remembered.

03 Aug

Leaders and Decision-Making

The most important and possibly the most difficult task a leader has to do may be decision-making. The proverbial buck does stop with the leader and more often than not, he or she will be judged by the decisions he/she makes.

I’d like to share three thoughts with you to consider when making decisions. See if you think these concepts have merit.

For its 75^th anniversary Fortune Magazine dedicated the entire edition to one concept – decision-making. They interviewed leaders from the business, military, education, and political worlds on their philosophies of decision-making. Because I was the Athletic Chair serving 350 student-athletes and 35 coaches at the time, I was most interested in learning more about this topic. After reading every article in the magazine, I thought the most insightful comment came from Jim Collins, the author of “From Good to Great.” He said the best decisions made in business board rooms in the past 25 years, regardless of the business, began with the same three words from the leaders – “I don’t know.” As I thought about this, I realized that the strongest and most secure leaders I worked with were those not afraid to say, “I don’t know.”

Cardinal Newman once wrote about faith stating, “A thousand doubts don’t make one disbelief.” Decision-making is tough because the most difficult decisions do involve doubt. That is why if your decisions ultimately come from your core beliefs, you do eliminate some of the doubt. The great leaders I worked with always operated from their core beliefs and they did one more thing to attack doubt. They got as much feedback as possible from their constituency, then made the final decision.

When Rose Kennedy was asked how she dealt with all the tragedies she experienced in her lifetime, she gave this answer. “When the storm is over, the birds do sing.” The most trying decisions a leader has to make are usually made during a storm. It may have merit for leaders to remind themselves during the throes of making a decision that tough times do come to an end.

Realizing that you don’t have all the answers, that you make your decisions based on your core beliefs, and that the birds do sing after the storm may help you in your decision-making.

07 Jul

Chuck Noll and the Art of Leading, Teaching, and Preparing

Former Pittsburgh Steeler coach, Chuck Noll, passed away June 13, 2014. He certainly was a leader.

When he accepted the Steeler head coaching position in 1969, they were the worst franchise in the NFL. In the previous 34 seasons, they had no championships and only a single playoff appearance.

In his first year they won one game and lost thirteen. The next two years were losing seasons. To say the least, success was not immediate.

But his consistent teaching and preparation led the Steelers to four Super Bowl championships, the most of any coach in the history of the NFL. It is Chuck Noll, not Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, nor George Halas who led his team to four Super Bowl championships.

“Mean Joe” Greene, one of his many Hall of Fame players, said of his leadership, “I know of no one like him before and have never met anybody like him since. There was no hyperbole about him. None at all.”

Those who played for him reiterated that he was a man of few words who never wanted the spotlight on him. Although he could have capitalized on his Super Bowl fame by making commercials and taking endorsements, he made only one commercial in his career and that was for a friend whom he wanted to help.

It was not about him, but it was about the two things he did best – teaching and preparing.

Tony Dungy, another great coach who played safety for him said this about Noll, “He was a teacher first and foremost.” Two of his mantras that his players heard often regarding his teaching were, “Whatever it takes” and “Back to the basics.”

Like all great teachers, he kept things simple. His teaching emphasized the fundamentals, the basics. The first 30 minutes of every practice were spent on blocking and tackling.

The late Bill Gleason, an outstanding Chicago basketball coach and a dear friend, was the first person to teach me the “5 P’s – Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.” Keeping things simple, I believe the hallmark of great teaching has always been and always will be preparation.

Noll showed his preparation in two ways. The first was the draft. Through meticulous preparation, he was able to spot talent. His teams were composed of numerous Hall of Famers, almost all acquired through the draft.

Secondly, his preparation showed itself in his teams’ readiness to play. John Clayton, who covered his Steeler teams and is a current ESPN expert on the NFL, said his teams were “the most prepared teams I ever witnessed. His preparation was immaculate.”

It is no wonder why Art Rooney, Jr., one of the Steeler owners, said, “Chuck Noll is the best thing to happen to the Rooney’s since they got on the boat in Ireland.”

Noll left a legacy for leaders to reflect on. It’s not about you; you have to teach; and preparation is preeminent.

31 May

Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say

The first person I heard use the expression, “Say what you mean, mean what you say,” was former NFL coach, Don Shula.

I think it is critical that leaders hire people who abide by this maxim.

This was especially true in coaching. The last thing a head coach needs is “yes” men. He needs assistant coaches who can see things differently than him and who don’t hesitate to express their opinions.

Most games are won or lost in the second half, especially when the two teams are fairly equal in talent. Therefore, half-time adjustments are extremely important. I developed the habit of going off by myself to think about what I had seen in the first half and make decisions on what I thought we should concentrate on for the second half.

While I was doing the above, my assistants would talk among themselves and come to decisions that they felt we should execute in the second half. We would then come together and decide what adjustments we would present to our players for the second half. The most adjustments we would present at half-time were three. We wanted execution, so we kept the instructions simple, congruent with our belief that success in sports comes from two essential ingredients – simplicity and execution. Two things were important at these half-time coaches’ meetings:

I certainly did not want coaches who were always thinking what I was thinking and as we were debating our approach to the second half, I did not want “yes” men. I wanted guys to give me their thoughts and to defend them passionately.
The second point was very important for our staff togetherness. Stephen Covey, in his internationally famous book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, stresses that interacting with people is like putting deposits in a bank account. The more we learn to trust each other, the larger that bank account grows. So, when a disagreement arises, it is handled with little problem because the bank account, the trust, is so strong. If the assistants had a different idea than I had as to how we should approach the second half, I sometimes rejected their suggestion and went with my conclusions. If we then proceeded to play poorly in the second half and lost, I never heard a “told you so” from my assistants. The converse was true as well. If they convinced me to accept their idea and reject mine, and we lost, I never said a critical word to them after the game. We were all on the same page. All of us tried our best to find the best decision for the second half for our team. It was that simple and there were no recriminations, either way, after the game.

I always have believed that the difference between a head coach and an assistant coach is decisions versus suggestions. The same is true for all leaders. The proverbial buck stops with the leader. He or she must make the final decision. Doesn’t common sense dictate that quality leaders want to get all the input they can before they make the final decision? I always liked Coach John Wooden’s philosophy when he would tell his assistants that he was not interested in their individual ideas. Equal to that, he was not interested in his idea. What he wanted was for all of them to get together and find the best idea. The leader can only make the best decision when everyone speaks their mind.

I have served on Boards where some people were constantly telling the leader what he wanted to hear. Constantly. I always felt that this was totally unfair to the leader. If the leader is not getting honest feedback, including ideas contrary to his beliefs, how can he make the best decisions?

In the last analysis, leaders need to surround themselves with people who say what they mean and mean what they say. With this kind of teamwork there is a great chance that the very best decisions will be reached.