The Redemption of Josh McDaniels
Really good article here. It's a long article but I'd recommend reading it. Gives a lot of insights into his time in Denver and how he has learned from it.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...ick-his-spots#
"Dad, the Broncos let me go this morning," Josh said. "I want you to know I'm fine. Laura is fine. Tell Mom for me, would you?"
Not long after, Thom called his son back. Like most good dads, Thom doesn't hold back when he thinks his son needed to be told something. And when Thom has something to say about coaching, his words are well received by his son.
These days, Thom mows greens on a golf course. But for 38 years, he carved a legend in northeast Ohio as a high school football coach. Josh started tagging along to his practices when he was five years old.
"You need to write down everything you would do differently if you ever get a chance to be a head coach again," Thom told him. "Do it while everything is fresh in your mind. Over time, add to it."
Josh created an Excel document on his laptop. He named it "lessonslearned.xls.""He was more willing to take advice," Thom McDaniels says.
He had some long talks with Tony Dungy, his one-time rival with the Colts. Dungy told him he needed to self-reflect every year, whether he was fired or won the Super Bowl. They talked about the importance of being yourself and trusting instincts. Having fun is not a bad thing. Dungy stressed that a head coach's consistency with a team really mattered. They talked about the formula that makes a good coaching staff. Dungy gave him some ideas about keeping his faith at the center of his life as his coaching world turned.
"I could relate to where he was at the time, having been fired myself," Dungy says. "He's a very smart guy, and we just talked about finding the next spot—the one that would be best for him."Trading Cutler was not McDaniels' intention when he arrived in Denver. He had heard some things and was sniffing around. Then Cutler started to get suspicious, and the relationship started to turn.
Rather than try to salvage things, McDaniels said screw it. He traded him.
"I learned the hard way," he says. "We could have avoided that, no question."
As he grayed, Thom McDaniels recognized he became a more thoughtful, measured and calculating leader. He told his son he needed to do the same. And Josh acknowledges that he was too reactive and emotional during his Denver days.
"I don't know that I was as patient as I needed to be in most situations, whether it was game-planning, on the sidelines, preparation for the draft, personnel moves, whatever," he says. "There is an element of this game that tests your ability to slow down and make a good decision. I was allowing the way I felt at the moment to make the decision."
McDaniels still wants to be passionate, but he wants to channel his emotion in a productive way.
He is, for instance, trying to clean up his language.
"I don't think swearing sends a good message," he says. "When I do it, I feel bad about it. Before, I don't know that I ever even thought about it. My frustration would be apparent. Now my response to a bad practice is to try to find the positives and show them how to learn from mistakes."As a head coach, McDaniels had to deal with many more team employees than he did and does as an offensive coordinator. But he really didn't have time for the director of accounting or community relations liaison. He was there for football, right? They could talk to his assistant.
McDaniels was guarded. He kept to himself. It seemed like the bridge between the rest of the building and McDaniels' office was raised most of the time.
If someone had an idea, McDaniels wasn't all that interested in hearing it. He'd rather do something himself and know it would be done to his standards than delegate to a subordinate. He unwittingly suppressed creativity and growth.
Now? "I've had an opportunity to truly understand the value of interpersonal relationships and the feelings people have in the building, coach to player, player to coach, person to person," he says. "I don't know that I ever considered that before."
His goal is to be a resource to those he works with, a servant leader. He wants to empower co-workers by trusting and sharing the responsibilities of guiding a team.
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Originally Posted by Northman
