A Sporting View

The Role of the Manager

You know what I hear over and over again?

"The manager doesn't strike out in the bottom of the ninth."

"The manager doesn't drop the pass that would've been the winning touchdown."

"The coach doesn't miss the last second free throw."

And what goes along with that is:

"The manager (or coach) does NOT play a major part in winning or losing games and most definitely isn't responsible for winning or losing championships."

Throw in:

"The manager is only as good as the talent on the field."

Okay, I hear you guys loud and clear. And now I'm here to straighten out this incredible misconception.

The manager can (and does) have a HUGE effect on the success of his (her) team. There are of course the decisions that are made during the course of a game: who to play, who to substitute for, when to substitute, what plays to call. And if you don't think that each one of those decisions can affect the outcome of a game, certainly the combination of them can.

But let's go a bit further on this.

Super Player A is in a slump. And we're told you can't blame that on the manager. Well, I wouldn't use the word "blame" particularly, but a skilled manager could sit down Player A and find out exactly when the slump started and locate what changed. Did something change in the player's mechanics? Did something occur in his personal life that is now having an impact on his performance? Or this manager could have made sure he had on his staff an assistant (coach) who expertly does this kind of thing.

So the highly skilled manager surrounds himself with other highly skilled personnel. Even so, the top guy isn't afraid to take the player aside and dig in to find out what's not working right. He doesn't sit around and "hope" the player will play his way through it.

The skilled manager studies his competition. Finds ways to defeat them. And once again has on his staff others who can do the same, possibly much better than him.

I have only touched the surface of what the manager can (and does) do on a regular basis to improve his team's ability to succeed. I think this is a very important topic, so I'll post some more on this later on.

For now, if you think the manager is only as good as the talent of those he manages, then every team with the best talent should always win.

Right?

Exactly.

Creating a Winner Versus Supporting a Winner

The following is an article I wrote a few years ago that was published in the sports section of The Tampa Tribune.

Fans express themselves in two very basic ways. One is to support a winner and the other is to CREATE a winner.

Many fans will come out and support a winner. They’ll cheer madly, they’ll proudly wear the team merchandise, and they’ll boast to out-of-town friends about how great their team is.

But what happens if the team performs poorly? What if the team performs poorly over a long stretch of time? Some of these supportive fans now become not so supportive. You start to hear boos. They call in to talk shows complaining about the players, the coaches, the strategies, the playing styles. Some complain with incredible vehemence.

Now let’s turn to the fan who is intent on CREATING a winner. This fan does not boo the home team. Interview any professional player and they will tell you there is nothing gained when their own fans boo them. Many will tell you that it actually undermines them, as they often count on the "home team fan" to be the extra player. Home team advantage is not a mere theory … it is a statistical fact. But the home team advantage erodes when more and more “fans” boo their own players.

Each and every fan has a part in creating a winning team. That may sound farfetched, but just as each member of a family or each member of a group contributes to the survival of that family or group, so it is with fans and their local team.

Creating a winner. What does that mean? Let’s take an example from everyday life. Let’s say you’re a salesperson and you’ve just put a tremendous amount of effort into closing an important deal for the company. Closing it means that you’ll get a excellent commission and your company will have a ton of business to deliver over the next 6 months. But something goes wrong and the sale doesn’t close. You come back to the office and your boss meets you at the door and says: “You crummy piece of dirt! I can’t believe you didn’t close that sale!” You walk down the corridor and an associate sees you and yells: “Thanks for nothing!” The rest of the day goes pretty much like that.

Now, I’m sure there are a handful of people on this planet who just love to be criticized and they do their best work when people spit on them, but my observation is that people perform best in a different type of environment. The more positive and the more encouraging people are around you, the better you do. People just accomplish more when that’s what others around them are intending them to do!

That last line is very important. When people around you are intending for you to succeed, your likelihood of success increases. When people shift from supporting you to criticizing you, you are less likely to succeed.

Does a fan have the right to boo? Of course. And I guess your associates have a right to make your life miserable if you don’t get something done well at the office. But you certainly appreciate it an awful lot more if your associates show you some understanding and then keep right on intending that you’re going to get the job done right.

Should a fan keep completely silent and never voice his displeasure with a team that is under-performing? No and yes. There are different ways and different forums for that. But when your team is in the heat of battle and they don’t complete a first down or get a key basket or goal, that is the last place to voice it.

When the players sense, really sense, that the fans are really, really behind them, the majority of players will up their intensity level and play like crazy to win.

Yes, we have other factors permeating professional sports these days: money, free agency, unions, strikes—all of these contribute to a scene that can make the “old days” seem a long, long time ago.

And if the home team has very little talent or if the team owner doesn’t really care if his team wins or loses as long as he makes a profit, then the prospects for success are dramatically affected.

But this article is simply about how you can play a part in creating a winner. You can support the home team when it wins or you can help create the home team into a winner. As a fan, you make a big difference.