I just realized how bad it is when you're not in charge and you're a head coach.
We've lost a lot of coaches around here, but the philosophy and the approach, the standards we have set and the expectations we have maintained have always been upheld from one year to the next.I attribute that to the great character of the players and the willingness of the coaches to not get influenced and get off-message and to get out of the way.
I learned a tremendous amount about what was important to me as a head coach in that I was not in charge. I didn't have final say about what was going on, and I was always having to represent other people's views, and it was very difficult to be real, to be authentic, to be true because there were a number of people who had say about what was going on.
One of my favorite guys was Ronnie Lott. I had and have such tremendous respect for him that when I finally got a chance to coach him, I couldn't get enough of uncovering and understanding what made him tick and what made him be who he was.
Troy Polamalu was a fascinating player, and that made him.
Our philosophy doesn't change. We're always competing. But the ways to approach it and the ways to make that up and make it available to our players, there's no end to that. That's why the thought is that you're either competing or you're not, and that's why I'm learning and searching and trying to transfer information to our coaches and to our players.
I read a lot of different stuff, but I keep being open to inspiration.
Every year, something happens, and it turns me in a direction about where I need to go and what I need to do to give these guys direction.
I'm telling you what I'm telling you. I will go wherever I have to go, listen to whoever I have to listen to. Whether it's a player or it's a coach. Whether it's a corporate leader, a political leader or it's the guy sitting on the corner. It doesn't matter to me; I'm on, I'll go wherever.
My dad was a great competitor in his own way. He would never let us win at anything, and we had to work our tails off to beat him.
It's not that you're not smart anymore; it's that you're unwilling to do it. Coaches who coach know what I'm talking about. You just keep battling to help your coaches and your players, to refine your scheme, to break down your opponent, to find ways to travel and take care of your players.
My dad was a good competitor. I know he'd think I was a little off the charts.
I think the stress of having to continue to fight the fight day in and day out, whatever it is, that which keeps you driving. You can get to a place where you no longer want to do that.
You do what you have to do to compete, and that takes you to places where you are in a relentless state to find an edge and compete. That mentality keeps you on and on point. The how is following the drive, being resourceful and creative.
The how-to is all about day in, day out finding a way to feed the monster, the drive that lives inside.
You will find a way to make your message fresher. You'll find a way to make your connections in a way that will continue to inspire and direct and motivate. That's what I'm banking on.
I love Larry Bird, but I don't agree with him. I love him and respect everything about him. I learned a long time ago, and I've made this statement: Coaches don't lose their expertise and ability to make the calls.
I think that drive to fight the fight day in and day out, I think that can go away. You can lose that. As long as you continue to be consumed and overwhelmed with the desire to get better and find another way and keep competing to figure out what you can do to help make this guy be better than he was a day ago, as long as that's there, I don't agree.
We live in a world that needs entertainment. And that entertainment has to be provided by men who sweat and bleed.
And sure, there's a universe where I made a bonehead call that blew the Super Bowl. But that's not my universe.
Each nanosecond of history branches off into an infinite amount of parallel universes.
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