I didn't realize this for a while. I and many others always thought of him as the master of the "backhanded slap" or the "backhanded compliment." Then he wrote a letter asking for donations to the school from football alumni. There are also a couple of videos out on the web of him talking about the current team. At first this letter and videos reiterated my opinion, but then I realized that in reality, he was just brutally honest. He had lost enough and been fired enough to know: Talent wins football games. Sugarcoated heart makes for good newspaper stories.
I have always thought that economics and good economists describe trade-offs. Every time one makes a decision he gives up something. This blog has trade-offs. This sentence has trade-offs. Giving a donation has trade-offs. What economics has taught me is that there are no free lunches, everything costs, every gain requires some sacrifice, some pain.
But economics doesn't say much about how to deal with the pain. Cost-benefit analysis assumes one knows the cost and the benefits. But in reality we're always guessing. It isn't about probability or expected values; it is guessing and facing the consequences of decisions, accepting pain, accepting brutal honesty concerning our lack of talent.
Sometimes I avoid decisions, because I am scared of the pain. I have never believed in "something beats nothing." There is value in waiting. There is value in agonizing. But economics says very little about when to make a decision or what to do when agonizing starts to adversely affect your life.
But knowing the trade-offs has to help, right?
2 comments:
How did him being a hardass work for getting contributions? I imagine that its hard to be critical of people's abilities one minute and ask for their money the next.
Well that's the thing. He sent this letter asking for money. He personalized the letter, and my intial reaction was to tear up the letter. He even put a backhanded compliemnt/slap in the letter. I still haven't contributed, and his contribution goal isn't really that much. But I think most players are like me and have very mixed feelings about the man. He isn't that figure like other coaches. There are a couple of coaches who if they asked, I would borrow money to help them.
He couldn't (can't) handle the fundraising-B.S. side of coaching very well. I think that is why he is still at Division III. This is really a long coversationg about what it means to be a good coach and what it means to be a memorable coach.
Post a Comment