Leadership and Coaching: A Football Quote

“I don’t think football is a difficult sport. I think people and their emotions is what makes football difficult.” –Thaddeus Moss

Moss is the son of Randy Moss. He’s currently a back-up tight end for the Cincinnati Bengals. His quote comes from an interview where he was asked about the team’s starting quarterback, Joe Burrow. He followed it up with: “In the toughest moments, in the most critical moments, the moment with the most pressure, he’s still the same.”

I think Moss is right–and not just about football. Emotions can help or get in the way of any sport. You can see this in the last holes of a golf championship, a pitcher’s breaking ball hanging during the World Series, or any of Draymont Green’s technical fouls in the NBA. To the good, you see this in a pitcher reaching back for a couple extra MPH–or an exhausted Green fighting through a screen to block a last-minute shot.

I think the question worth considering though–if this is true for the athletes playing, doesn’t this hold true for coaches as well? Within volleyball, how much ‘coaching’ are you doing when complaining to a referee (or about a ref) regularly? Are you considering adjustments in your tactics when sulking over a blown call–or just ‘why did we have these bozos assigned as refs for this game?’ It doesn’t have to be just bad stuff either–do you get caught up in the excitement of a huge block of the opposing team’s star player?

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As an aside–man, there’s a dreadful shortage of officials across all sports especially at the youth level. Why work for $50-60/contest (just above what McDonald’s starting salary is when you take into account time) to be yelled at by parents and coaches?

That gets worse because those complaining have no regard for an inexperienced official trying to learn on the job. It used to be new officials would get ‘easier’ contests–perfect for learning (things like fresh-soph games). Not enough officials for that anymore.

The other issue with this is that for most of my coaching career, officiating has been like coaching–it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Illinois determined state ref assignments on things like seniority rather than skill for instance. Suck up to an assignor, you get lots of games–including good ones. Don’t kiss butt–we’ll call you if something opens, pal. That’s a leadership failure–and it happened in all sports.

So if you’re reading this–consider ways to help. Become an official. Don’t like that, consider a donation to the Foundation. We’ve done things like donate whistles/give talks to groups–including on the importance of officials. Do more than complain.