High Ten

5New Lenses

“Can't believe we lost another five-star player,” thought Marcus as he stared out his office window. Marcus had another late day at the stadium picking up the broken pieces of his program. Because the records for the last two seasons were 4 and 7 and 3 and 8, Marcus didn't have to guess he'd been hired to turn the program around; the president, athletic director, and boosters had made that crystal clear.

“The old man's right again,” Marcus mumbled under his breath. He sat and looked over his schedule. Packed with recruiting trips, interviews, and meetings, it overwhelmed him. He picked up the golden brick.

“Am I doing anything to knock down the walls the previous players and staff have built around themselves?”

Marcus had held a team meeting to introduce himself before the holidays. He knew that after New Year's would be time to start building relationships with his players, but the former coaching staff wouldn't have to wait until after the holidays to learn where their job stood. Marcus had begun interviewing the previous coaches for their jobs.

“Am I the coach my people would run through a brick wall for?”

His answer was no. With few exposures and knowing relatively little about his players, Marcus was not the pilot of this team. Yes, he'd been a star in the NFL, but for these kids to trust him, he needed to connect with them. That connection would be made stronger when his team understood his philosophy. Marcus spun the brick and asked the third question.