Monthly Archives: July 2014

Bronco Owner Pat Bowlen Is …

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My wife, Jamie works for the company, Atria Senior Living.  They manage senior living communities… retirement and assisted living.  She is in sales, but also writes for the Atria blog.  This was her post from yesterday… it is fitting for this audience as well…

bowlen

On Wednesday, the Denver Broncos released a statement indicating the owner of their franchise, Pat Bowlen, is stepping down as a result of his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Bowlen has been living with the disease for a few years, but chose to keep this private.

As I listened to the reporters describe Mr. Bowlen, I was struck by the recurring use of the word “was.” Mr. Bowlen was this or was that.

In reality, Mr. Bowlen IS. He IS still very much alive. His family cares about him, loves him, and, I imagine, finds ways to adjust to his memory impairment on a daily basis.

Mr. Bowlen IS still the man who loves the Broncos, who established their winning tradition, who loves to bicycle. And, since his family lives with him, they will engage him daily by remembering for him that he loves all these things.

There will be days when Mr. Bowlen will feel a strong connection to his family because they encourage him to think about everything he loves: The Broncos, those Superbowls, the outdoors, bicycling, wearing cowboy boots, laughing at practical jokes and being part of the team. Mr. Bowlen IS. Let’s refer to him with the respect he and his family deserve.

Thanks to Jamie for her insight into this issue… you can read more of her posts dealing with a variety of topics at these links:

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

No Commitment?

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Last night, driving home from football camp along a major highway in Kansas City, I had this billboard scream its message at me.

planet fitness

No Commitment?

Maybe a good business plan…

Not a good fitness plan…

Nor a good life plan.

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Conor Oberst and the AFCA National Convention

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How are Conor Oberst and the American Football Coaches Association National Convention related?

Get ready for a relatively circuitous ride…

If you are over 30, there is probably a good chance that you do not know who Conor Oberst is. The 34 year old singer-songwriter has been playing music for over 20 years … he released his first recording, Water, when he 13. He was recording folk music before the likes of Mumford and Sons, and the Avett Brothers made it popular again.

My 24-year-old son, Carter, has been an Oberst fan pretty much his whole life… my wife and I, not so much. When Carter was in middle school, Oberst and Bright Eyes (his group) populated our iTunes library. Carter would sit at the computer doing homework and listen to Oberst … we would make his wear headphones because the music was… well… pretty awful.

tdc_conorMy son and his fiancée have seen Conor Oberst perform live three or four times…. most recently a couple of weeks ago with my wife and I. My son informed me that “Oberst had a newly released record (Upside Down Mountain), I had to listen to it, download it, and we should go to the concert.”

I did listen and download… it was good…. very good… surprisingly good! The concert was excellent… really pretty awesome.

You know how iTunes works… you select an artist, click on a song, and it goes through all the songs on an album (either sequentially or shuffle) then moves to the next album from that artist.   Well, the other day I was listening to Oberst’s new album…an album that I like a lot. It went through the whole record, then started on the next album on my iTunes library, an Oberst vestige left over from when our son lived at home. In fact it was a tune from his first record, Water… and it was just as awful as I had remembered it… bad… really bad.

Juxtaposed against his new work, it was very evident how far Oberst had come as a singer-songwriter.

So, how does that relate to the AFCA National coaches convention.

AFCA_logoI had the opportunity to attend many of these conventions through the years. I enjoyed listening and learning from the best in the nation. One thing that always struck me was how many of the guys that had “made it”… that were successful coaches, at any level… had “paid their dues”.   Very few of them were “flash in the pans”.   If you looked at their resumes most had toiled as assistants… for years… at various levels… from high school to college, learning and honing their craft.

I am quite sure that if you were able to watch these “big name” coaches that had “made it” when they were early in their career… when they were graduate or student assistants… that their growth and improvement would be just as apparent as Oberst’s was to me.

  • You get good by practicing…
  • Growth is normally incremental…
  • Hard work pays off….
  • If you love what you are doing, it isn’t “work”…
  • Keep learning…
  • Embrace the “grind”…
  • Enjoy the journey…

Related Posts:

And as a bonus, here is a link to Oberst and Dawes performing an NPR “Tiny Desk” concert.

Oberst-NPR Tiny Desk

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Seven Days in Season

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cmsu football25 years ago, during the 1989 football season at Central Missouri State University (now named the University of Central Missouri) Mark Hulet filmed a documentary chronicling a week in the life of a college football coach. The name of the movie was Seven Days in Season.

Mark went on to become a successful college football coach himself, coaching with me at the University of Central Missouri as defensive back coach, at William Jewell College as defensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator at St. Cloud State University.

The 40 minute movie is classic, and offers a pretty realistic glimpse into the life of a football coach at any level. If for no other reason, it is worth watching to get a good laugh at the fashions and technology of the 80’s.

Enjoy!

 

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Film Grading Tool

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Many of us find ourselves at this point of the year between summer workouts and before heading into the full-on madness that is “in-season”. It may be a good time to add some teaching/ coaching tools to your arsenal.

This is a post from a while ago, but with an added “bonus” . Coach Justin Meyers improved on the film grading tool that can be downloaded via this post, adding a formula to automatically tally all the “+” and “-” grades for each athlete, and use that to calculate their percentage grade. Great work, Coach!

You can download the new and improved spreadsheet at this link “2014Franklin“. I will add a video in the next couple of days to help explain the formulas used.  The formulas that Coach Myers added are on the second tab, “FranklinGradeout”.

 

50/50

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When I began this blog over one year and 300 posts ago, I made a decision not to solicit from you, my readers, or inundate you with ad banners on the site. I value your attention and time and do not want to impose or waste it.

Today I am asking something of you.

My soon to be (end of this summer!) daughter-in-law, Cambria Potter is the director and curator of an amazing project called 50/50 KC. This project will put an art gallery, made of two shipping containers, in an underdeveloped area in our city (Kansas City) called the West Bottoms.

50/50 KC is important for our city, for the arts in our city, for the West Bottoms, for the environment… and yes, too, important for Cambria Potter!

Last month Cambria5050kc was awarded the Rocket Grant from the Charlotte Street Foundation to help develop this project. This weekend her team also launched a Kickstarter Campaign to help fund the costs of 50/50 KC, which is slated to break ground in one month.

You can click on this link to learn about Cambria and the project… there is a short (under 2 minute) video there as well: 50/50 KC Kickstarter

Here, specifically is what I am asking you… Visit, Back, and Share

  • Visit their Kickstarter Campaign Page
  • Back this project at any level you feel comfortable with (levels from $1 to $1000)
  • Share the information about 50/50 KC with your colleagues, cadre, and friends with any vehicle you use.

The sharing element of this is critical. Even if this type of project is not your particular cup of tea, I am guessing that somewhere in you group of friends, colleagues, or cadre, there is someone that 50/50 KC would resonate with, and who would love to help in some way.  Here are the links you can use to share:

Cambria and her team are also having a Kickstarter launch party (50/50 Kickstarter Launch Party ) next Sunday evening (July 13)… if you are in the area, please RSVP and join us. You do not have to attend the event to back this project using Kickstarter… but you will be able to back via Kickstarter at the event.

Thank you for your time… it is valued by me.

If you have any questions about 50/50 KC, please email or leave a comment!

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Playing Time

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Over the years I have (fortunately) had very few difficult conversations with players or parents about “playing time”. I think part of the reason is that I have always tried to be very clear regarding the expectations that will lead to playing time.

benchOne of the best pieces I have seen that articulates clearly what “playing time” and the “depth chart” will be based on, I “borrowed” from coach Greg Oder, the Head Football Coach at Blue Springs South High School, several years ago. We included this Player Placement piece in our Players Manual, which we required the athletes (and parents) to read and sign prior to the first practice.

Player Placement:

Every player would like to be a starter on our Football Team. Unfortunately, this is not possible. The coaching staff will determine who will start. Consequently, I feel it is important for you to understand how we will determine depth charts as practice progresses.

The following five points will be:

  1. Knowledge of assignment – we cannot and will not play people who do know their assignments. Your position coach will spend extra time with you if you so desire. Everyone can and should know their assignments.
  1. Hustle and effort – everyone will be expected to give 100% at all times. Your teammates will be giving 100% and they will be expecting that you will also. Extra effort wins games.
  1. Hitting and mental toughness – we will discover during Summer and Fall training who has a strong desire to be physical. Football is a contact sport and must be played with a great deal of toughness. Everyone can hit.
  1. Contribution to the overall team – the individual who motivates his teammates to do better, is always enthusiastic and ready, will make a greater contribution than one who does not have this quality.
  1. Talent – If the above four characteristics are equal – and they should be – then the young man who produces on the field in the way of making plays will start.

We explain to the athletes in our program that part of our job (at the varsity level) is to put the best players, the players who give us the best chance to be successful, on the field Friday nights. If we were not doing that, if we were just playing “our favorites” then we would not be doing a very good job of coaching. The preceding Player Placement document articulates nicely what constitutes the “best players” in our program.

Thanks again to Coach Oder for sharing this document with me years ago!

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You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com