From Nowhere To Super Bowl Champ? It Happens All The Time. Here's Why

 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl with the usual collection of well-pedigreed players and coaches. They have All-American’s from Michigan, LSU, Nebraska, Iowa, Arizona, and other top-flight football schools all over the place. They’ve got coaches who combined for over 100 years in the NFL as players and nearly double that many years in the league as coaches.

 

What might be a little surprising is that Tampa Bay also has 15 players in their program, more than half of whom were active for last night’s game, that did not play at the FBS level. Schools like Hobart, Wagner, Southern Arkansas and North Carolina Central are represented among the players who will be wearing shiny rings from Super Bowl LV. Great rags-to riches stories. Every one of them.

 

But, that’s not even the group of champions that will surprise fans the most. Fans will be shocked to know that the former Assistant Defensive Line Coach of the Semi-Pro Central Penn Piranha will get a ring. The Former Head Track and Field Coach at California University of Pennsylvania will get a ring. Schalick High School (NJ) will see it’s former Running Back’s Coach get a ring. Whittier College of California can boast that it’s former Wide Receiver’s Coach is getting a ring. The same boasting is going on this week at dozens of high schools, division III colleges, and other smaller, lesser-known programs around the country, all because a coach who was once theirs is now a Super Bowl champ.

 

Lifelong coaches are not surprised. We see it all the time. The coach that spend three seasons getting the head man’s coffee as a freshman assistant basketball coach at the local high school may someday be the head hoops coach at a Power 5 school. The coach that volunteered to coach soccer clinics in a small town in Texas might someday be the 3^rd base coach for a big league team.

 

What matters in coaching is not where you start. Where you start is often a product of the opportunities afforded to you by others; your parents, your high school coach, your neighbor with connections. What matters in coaching is your ability to adapt, your commitment to coaching, and your network.

 

Tampa Bay’s Head Coach, Bruce Arians, is known throughout football for being willing to give a shot to somebody in whom he sees potential regardless of what other coaches think. He’s the only coach in the league with black coordinators on offense, defense and special teams, and he’s the only coach in football to employ two women on his coaching staff. And, while both of these facts are impressive, noteworthy, and noble, they’re a product of relying on his network and committing to coaches who can adapt and are committed to the game.

 

Look further into Arian’s staff and you’ll see almost a dozen coaches who once played for Arians, whether it was back in his days at Temple in the 80’s or in the NFL. You’ll see a strong group of young coaches who attended the same university as Arians (Virginia Tech), some of whom Arians would have never even met if he didn’t stay connected to his Alma Mater. And you’ll see coaches who did a ton of winning and had a great reputation as many different levels of football. They stayed with the game, they changed with the times, and they stayed connected to the football community any way they could.

 

With each new season, a coaches’ network grows, as does an athletes network. Players and coaches don’t have to keep in touch with every teammate. They just need to make sure that their connections respect them. I’ve had players and coaches who I haven’t spoken to in years reach out for help, a reference, or a recommendation, and I’ve done the same reaching out. Absence and dime don’t diminish how I felt about that player or co-worker when we were together. I remember what they brought to the table when it mattered. The ones that I don’t have a strong memory of rarely reach out, and I rarely reach out to them. That’s just how it goes.

 

Next fall, when you watch high school football games, your eye will often be drawn by the kids who score all the touchdowns and the kids who look like Greek gods in a helmet. There’s nothing wrong with that. Those kids are impressive. But the kid who’s most likely to take football to it’s highest level is the one who learns from every play. The kid who soaks up the information and finds a way to use that information to help him and his teammates grow is a valuable commodity. And, if the kid who scores all the touchdowns is also the kid who learns from every play, you’ve really got something special on your hands.

 

Just remember that the kid most likely to succeed in any sport might not be the best player. It’s possible that, during any given season, the most successful long-term could be the least successful at the time. In fact, he or she might not even be on the team.

 

The most successful will be the one who is committed to the game, committed to evolving, and committed to their network.