Above the Line

Don't judge a book by its cover. Don't judge coaches by their books. Character, coaching and writing ability aren't closely related.

Urban Meyer, Aaron Hernandez's coach, wrote a terrific book, Above the Line. 

Here are some "priority" thoughts I recall and some notes:

1) Crossing the red line. When you cross that line around the court, be fully engaged and ready to go. 

2) E + R = O   (event plus response = outcome)

3) 10-80-10   players sort themselves into top and bottom ten percent and the 'middle eighty percent'. Meyer required players in the top ten percent to bring a middle class teammate to 'drag them upward'. 

4) It takes a lot to achieve "escape velocity" from mediocrity. 

5) "Below the line" behaviors include blame and complaining. As players, we decide to live "above the line" or "below the line."

Here are a few quotes: 

“Average leaders have quotes. Good leaders have a plan. Exceptional leaders have a system.” (habits stack into process and systems)

“If you don’t identify and expose the issue, you are never going to be able to solve it. If you try to ignore a problem, or run from it… it is only going to get worse.” (a player sees the team first or herself first)

“I’ve come to learn that your football system gets better when your leadership system gets better.” (leaders make leaders)

“Your team, business, or organization will perform to the level of leadership you provide.” 

“We teach our players to replace low-performance self-talk with high-performance self-talk. We tell our players, ‘The voice in your mind is a powerful force. Take ownership of that force.’ (you can only be as good as your belief in yourself)

“Under pressure, we do not rise to the occasion. We rise or fall to the level of our training."

“You don’t get the culture you want; you get the culture you build.” (culture eats strategy for breakfast) 

“We grade our players on every measure of performance possible at Ohio State. We grade their performances in games, practices, weight room, conditioning, nutrition, rehab, and especially, in the classroom and tutor sessions." (at the University of North Carolina, women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance provides the 'competitive cauldron' to get 'continual ascension' from players...and over twenty national championships)