Watching the President’s speech on the economy last night, there was one image that I couldn’t get out of my head–the stern high school coach standing in the locker room after the first half of a difficult football game.
His team is losing, losing badly, but not because its doesn’t have the talent. The team is getting run over, because the players won’t run the plays the coach is calling. They would rather run their own plays or argue with each other. The quarterback is angry, because he’s been sacked 5 times. The wide-receivers are complaining because they are running these magical routes, but the QB won’t throw them the ball. The defense is surly, because it gets no respect from the team or from the opposition. But what is really holding the team back is one simple fact–everyone hates the coach.
The coach is new; he wasn’t around last season, and there are a lot of rumors among the parents about he got the job he has now. The team doesn’t trust him, doesn’t respect him. The coach doesn’t understand the team or its traditions. He doesn’t understand what the players and parents want. His plays are too complicated and his strategy is too long term. The small community that has supported this team for decades expects to see big wins, and the town folk don’t care for the coach’s statement in the local newspaper that the team is facing hard times that require change, compromise, and sacrifice. A couple of the players, not first-stringers mind you, decided to attend a party rather than show up for the evening’s game.
So there’s the coach, standing in the middle of a sweaty locker room (didn’t it look hot in the chamber last night?), giving it his level best to motivate the team to victory. His stern voice praises the players for their potential, but he is clearly frustrated and angry. He tells them that it isn’t too late, that they can turn the game around if only they follow his game-plan now. He reminds the team of its storied history, that it has seen difficult times before but always overcome them. He rehearses their best plays, plays that they have been practicing for weeks and points out, again, that some of these plays were developed not by him but by the players themselves. They are good plays, he insists, but they won’t work unless everyone comes together and starts pulling in the same direction.
“The opposing team is good,” he says, “but we are better.” “Time is running out, but there is still enough time to win.” He concludes, “These are difficult years for our program. But we are Titans! We are tougher than the times we live in, and we are bigger than our problems have been. So let’s meet the moment. Let’s get to work, and let’s show this community once again why our town is the greatest town in this state!”
Stirring stuff. Is it enough? Will the team pull together and make the second half look like a summer blockbuster movie? Probably not. This is Washington DC and not Hollywood, after all. On this team it isn’t just that the players don’t care for their coach. The more important factor is that each player secretly believes that he or she should be the coach.
Kirt H. Wilson