Ownership and Investment

I just finished watching the Utah-Wyoming basketball game, and there was a featurette on Ute head coach Jim Boylen and his 3 assistants, and a behind the scenes look at one of their practices.

The thing that he said that stuck out to me most is how he delegated responsibilities to his assistant coaches. Now delegating responsibility in and of itself is no great revelation. It was more the attitude that coach Boylen set with those responsibilities, saying that the more he gave them, the more 'ownership' they had in the program.

Now I have to say, I love that shit man. Former Utah football head coach Urban Meyer used to say the same kind of stuff, calling for 'investment' in the program from his staff and players. I even hear it coming out of mouth of BYU football coach Bronco Mendenhall, although I think he just stole it from Meyer after he left for Florida.

But you look at the track record of the coaches mentioned: Boylen has (as of this minute) the Utes atop the MWC with a 7-2 record, 16-7 overall with an RPI of 12th in the country; Meyer won 2 consecutive conference championships at Utah, busted the BCS, and has continued on at Florida with 2 national championships in the last 5 years; Mendenhall won 2 consecutive MWC conference championships and turned around a floundering BYU program. It's hard to argue with the results, so maybe we should listen to the common tune these guys are singing.

I think if you have a staff that feels ownership in what you are trying to accomplish, and you have players that buy in to the system and are invested, you'll have a team that is at the very least competitive every single time they step between the lines.