“Coaching is a profession of love. You can't coach people unless you love them.”
(Click Here) to read a story I found on-line about Bill Campbell, who prior to getting my monthly newsletter from Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), I had not heard of. The only Bill Campbell I had heard of was Bill “Soup” Campbell who used to pitch for the Red Sox when I was growing up. Bill has trained the best and based on this article is the Yoda of CEO’s. But below, it is what PCA wrote about Bill in their monthly “Connector” newsletter that impressed me the most. I hope PCA does not get mad at me as I was trying to link to this article on their site but it may not be up yet and I will do no justice trying to paraphrase it. Thus, I have cut and pasted founder Jim Thompson’s exact words from time spent with Bill recently as they are that powerful and genuine that I can feel myself on the field with them.
Watching Bill coach football is fun partly because he enjoys it so much. Although I would characterize him as a positive coach, he sees himself differently: "I'm not positive or negative. I'm enthusiastic! I'm a screamer and a hugger. I never yell at a kid for dropping the ball, but kids want to be told the truth. I might give a kid who makes an effort mistake a mental massage." Here Bill puts his fingers on both sides of my head to demonstrate, "Charlie, I love you, boy, but you're not giving me the attention I need!"
He's more often apt to praise an unheralded action than the touchdown pass or catch: "That was a beautiful block!" When a player drops a pass, he's likely to just yell "Next!" to focus him on the next play.
Bill engages players in a personal way that makes them feel important and capable of great things. He is so enthusiastic that you just have to get excited yourself about what this team can do "if we all work together!" He is obsessed with team-ness. "It goes back to when I played," he says. "It's all about the team. My team was good enough that they could hide me," he jokes. He cites college teams he's known with great running backs or great quarterbacks that still didn't win titles. "But at Columbia (where Bill later was head football coach) we won the Ivy League title with an unknown quarterback. Everyone playing together, completing their assignments. Precision makes the difference."
His love of football is deep. Speaking of his fellow flag football coaches, a veritable who's who of Silicon Valley, he says, "We love this game so much and we want to teach these kids what a wonderful game it is. Too many people think of trick plays and brutality when they think of football. The reality is somewhere between those. We focus on the fundamentals -- blocking, pass defense, containing the ball carrier, holding onto the ball -- things that will carry over to playing in high school."
Bill is proud that Sacred Heart Prep has become something of a power in high school football and that the kids he coached in 8th grade form the spine of the team. "We made football something serious and fun. They understand that it's important. Our locker room is like a classroom."
Bill fills the sideline with his presence but by football standards he is not a big guy. He told a mom who was worried that her son was too small to play football, "Your son doesn't think he's small, so don't tell him!"
Bill wants to win -- no one should ever be confused about that. But his love of the game, of the kids he coaches and of the act of coaching itself is mostly what you come away with when you see Bill Campbell in his element. No, not the board room -- the football field.
Bill Campbell embodies what all coaches on and off the field should strive to be and one that I will try to emulate and feel good that we share a similar style (enthusiasm, screamer, hugger). Thank you Jim Thompson and PCA for all that you do and sharing Bill with us. To learn more about how PCA can help you as a parent, coach or organization, check them out on any highlighted link in this entry. Today’s quote is from legendary college football coach Eddie Robinson and says it all about coaches both on and off the field.
