I wrote this blog last month, Stay Low and Look Forward. 

It was a look into the inevitable future for Strength Coaches in November. Change is inevitable and learning to manage that transition is paramount to success. 

It made me think of starting new. You are either going to a new school, a new level, or a whole new profession. One of the best aspects of this is blocking out all your negative thoughts about how it ended at your previous job. Dweck coined the term growth mindset for people who view challenges as possibilities. Albeit it is nice to say you have control of your destiny through mindset, but you are destined to repeat your mistakes if you do not accept your role in previous failure. Future problems are not the only thing you should think about. 

I am going to say it, you have more of an impact of wins and losses than you think you do. I have been getting questions a lot lately about whether you should negotiate being categorized as a position coach/coordinator over being designated as a Strength Coach. My opinion is yes. With the modern transfer portal and NIL, you are doing as much recruiting as a position coach is. What that gets you is a lot more guarantees, bonuses, and a higher ceiling of payment. This is not all positive, it comes with negative. 

More responsibility also means more blame. You should covet the responsibility of an outcome: good and bad. You should want that pressure to have blame placed on you. We are too often a patsy in the game of high-level football. If the coach fires a Strength Coach off the pretense that the team’s physical development was not sufficient enough and cost the team wins, your value by default is more than you think. If you can impact losses, you can impact wins. 

If you are starting a new job, go into that job thinking you are massively important to the outcome. What is the alternative? You thinking you are not, then getting pushed around, and then being blamed for things? If you walk in and assert yourself as instrumental to the entire outcome, you will have more confidence in your role. You have a shelf life at every job. Pat Riley says it’s 5 years. As an assistant, it is shorter. I tell my assistants: good ones go, bad ones stay. If you are an assistant you are 2-3 years. 

How much of an impact can you make in that time frame? Will your legacy last far beyond your tenure? If your legacy still lasts after you are gone, your overall value is based on that. That is what you should ask for when you start a new job. Regardless if you were fired or were sought after, you should go into that new job knowing your inevitable contribution. BUT, that is based on your willingness to accept your role in both failure and success. 

You are valuable and you do have an impact on wins. It starts with believing that and then having the ability to deliver on that. You are going to be overwhelmed with new and exciting things at your new job. Do not let that distract you from doing the most important thing – introspection. Carve out time to inventory what went wrong and what you can do differently. We always regress to a mean in behavior. Inertia will want to keep you in that state no matter what unless there is a strong outside force. Diving into how you can change and improve is the most important thing you can do for that future and getting the compensation, respect, and credit you deserve.