Culture is the Why

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is my favorite time of year. Growing up in Ohio and playing football in both college and high school, the traditions of the Christmas Season are very much intertwined with the sacraments and orthodoxies of high school and college football. In Idaho, this year our Boise State Football team has given fans a glimpse into how the joys and witness that individuals and teams, when striving to be the best they can be, make us all better. This is happening when business corporate interests are threatening the integrity of the sports they are subsidizing and incentivizing and exploiting the student athletes who have become their “gravy train”.

Building a football team—probably more than any other sport, requires the molding together of people with very different talents and skill sets. The 175 lb. wide receiver has different talents and abilities than the 305 lb. offensive tackle. On a basketball team everybody must dribble, pass and shoot. There is a commonality to what is done. In football, the players come in all sizes and shapes and have skills unique to their positions.

In building any organization, the coach or manager of a company needs to define what talent is needed, he needs to find and develop that talent, and he then needs to execute a plan and specifically deploy that talent toward a specific goal. The individual tasks are different, but the goal for the team is the same.

Boise State has for 50 years taken three-star recruits, developed their talents better than anybody else in the country, and 2-4 years later placed that talent on the field of battle against teams that never thought of recruiting the members of our team. Through player development and precise execution of game plans, more often than not we win! When Ohio State or Alabama gets ready to take the field their coaches look across the 50-yard line and know that the other side’s talent is not as good as theirs. In the case of Boise State—and I might add the military academies, the better talent is almost always on the other side of the field. It was once said of the legendary Bear Bryant that “he could take his ‘ins and beat your’ ins or take your ‘ins and beat his ‘ins. No matter what talent great coaches have, they can deploy it against the other team and win. That is what Boise State, and the military academies have done for years. That is what Boise State is doing this year.

There is one other element to developing a winning team—a corporation, a military unit, or even within a legislative body that many times is overlooked. That is a development of a “CULTURE”. A way of doing business, of holding members of the unit individually and collectively accountable to a standard of excellence. The standard of excellence is extremely important. Whether we are called on to perform to a secular or religious standard, the standard should not change (I am a Scalia Strict Constructionist). I believe a temporal standard without a moral, ethical and religious standard being applied to whatever activity we endeavor to excel at, is the first and not the last step in building an organization. The What (win), how (work hard and execute) is not as important as the why (play for the highest moral standard possible, (for me and for many on the BSU football team substitute “to glorify God). That is a moral standard that doesn’t use the words win or lose. It doesn’t say “I must be perfect”.

My concern moving forward with college sports is that with Name Image and Likeness (NIL) and the Transfer Portal (TP) the ability for organizations to build a culture will be compromised. Players jumping between teams in order to have access to possibly a starting position, places the individual above his own teammates. It is selfish. Corporate America has been in the (TP) space for 60 years. That is not all bad, but “riding for the brand” is seldom looked at as a virtue in corporate America—especially in a world where many of the large corporations that were founded after WWII, are now being run by legates and middle managers who lack the connection to the process and values of the founding fathers of the company. Just like many citizens in our country lack a connection to our Founding Principles.

How many players entering the transfer portal say, “I want to find a team and coaching staff that shares my values”. Instead, they say I want to find a team where I can play first team and maybe not have to compete as much as I did with the team I am leaving. They are actually running away from competition, not toward it—Joey Burroughs aside.

Finally, I want to give a shout out to not only BSU, but all the service academies this year, who like BSU have to rely on “player development” instead of the best talent and they have to make the sum of the parts (team) more important than the individuals making up the team.

Army is 10-1 and playing in their conference championship just like BSU. Navy is 7-3. Air Force has had an off season after graduation both sides of the ball last year, but they will be back.

I would also like to criticize all the college administrators who are exploiting young kids in all sports for the revenue that those sports bring to their institutions. The purpose of a college education is to give the student a lifetime skill and prepare them to be good citizens and lead their families. That is precisely what is being done at BSU and our military academies and a very few other schools like Clemson who refuse to exploit their players. That is the WHY of education and should never be forgotten.

Fr. Theodore Hesburgh the former President of Notre Dame once opined that “if a student athlete comes to Notre Dame and doesn’t graduate—we have used (exploited) them. If they come to Notre Dame and graduate—they have used us.”

In the era of (NIL) and (TP), financial calculations being made by young people and their families seem too often to be the priority. Instead, they would be better off in both the short and long runs looking into the WHY and the commitment of teams and organizations to their student athletes’ futures.

Go Broncos Go Navy—Beat Army Let the Games Begin