Duty, Honor, Country for the Sports Fan

There normally aren't many posts about Veteran’s Day on a sports blog.  ESPN gave me an idea, though.  This morning, ESPN interviewed Bill Parcells, Bobby Knight, and Mike Krzyzewski.  They all talked about how their West Point coaching experience, during formative years, helped shape their overall coaching philosophy.  In particular, they focused on the type of people that attend and serve at West Point: selfless, hard working, team oriented winners. 

If we focus on Bill Parcells, and the essense of Army service, do we find the root of winning?  I think so.

Duty, Honor, Country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.

Delivered by General Douglas MacArthur, 12 May 1962, West Point, NY

Duty: obligatory tasks, conduct, service, or functions that arise from one's position (as in life or in a group).  This can be summed up in a simple phrase: do your job.  No teams have done this better than Parcells or Belichick (the star pupil) run teams. 

The ’86 Giant championship was a strong defense leading an average but consistent offense to victory.  The ’90 Giants weren’t even close in talent to the Bills.  The ’96 Patriots were a surprise to get to the Super Bowl.  They “did their job.”

Who bet the ’01 Patriots would win the Super Bowl?  The ’03 and ’04 Patriots were mistake-free machines.  It took another Parcells pupil, Tom Coughlin, and his Giant team that “did their job” to beat the ’07 Patriots.

Honor: a keen sense of ethical conduct; one's word given as a guarantee of performance.  Parcells teams and most of his pupil’s teams maintain a code of conduct.  Actions outside of football count, as with almost every team.  But the hard working nature of the team counts as well.  Performance counts.  If you’re not performing, then you aren’t playing, no matter who you are.  This philosophy established a culture of hard work and good performance, traits of every Parcells led team.

Country: a political state or nation or its territory.  Team first, no matter what.  A trait of Parcells-led teams and his pupil’s teams is the early exodus of non-team players.  The culture is set from the beginning: team first.  Once set and proven, non-team players (or perceived non-team players) can be added with ease (Randy Moss, Corey Dillon, Ricky Williams).

Some Parcells pupils don’t get this right.  Some go too hard (Mangini) some go too soft (Crennel).  Some are too arrogant (Weis, who was never really a good fit for CFB, IMO).  Some weren’t right for the job in the first place (Ray Handley, Chris Palmer).  Many succeed: Belichick, Coughlin, Sean Payton, Tony Sparano, Al Groh (CFB), Josh McDaniels (so far).

On our board, we’ve been talking a great deal about new GM’s, new coaching staffs, and new players.  I submit we should consider the culture we want to create before selecting any of the above.  Once we’ve figured out the culture we want, we should then pick the personnel who fit in terms of ability and culture.

Duty, Honor, Country for the NFL: Do your job; work hard and perform well; team first.