Are You a Schemer or a Teacher?

Lou Holtz, the legendary former Notre Dame football coach, would often ask his assistant coaches, “Are you a schemer or a teacher?” Holtz despised coaches who spent all of their time working on schemes and not enough on teaching the fundamentals of the game. For Holtz, scheme coaches depended on smart players to apply what they learned from the grease board onto the field. They made the game all about thinking and not enough about the simple techniques that all championship teams must possess. Then, when the players would make a mistake, these coaches would blame them and not focus enough on the lack of understanding of the scheme.

The picture above is a replica of the office of Green Bay Packers Hall-of-Fame Coach Vince Lombardi. Lombardi was one of the greatest coaches of all time and never thought of himself as a schemer, even though he was creative with play designs. One of the plaques Lombardi chose to hang in his office was an award from St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, N.J., naming him teacher of the year for his work in the classroom. This award meant everything to Lombardi despite his other incredible achievements. It was symbolic of his success and he held it dear to his heart. Lombardi understood that he was a teacher first and foremost who could challenge students to learn, think and expand their horizons. He pushed them when they were going too slowly and calmed them when they went too fast. Lombardi took great pride in his teaching methods learned from his Jesuit training at Fordham University.

Lombardi believed in discipline, focus, hard work, and most of all, never being satisfied. For him, the greatest reward for doing was the opportunity to do more.

For all of us as leaders, we MUST understand that we have to teach those we lead. We must work hard on our teaching methods, making sure what we know can transpose itself into others. After all, what good is being a schemer if the players and employees can’t execute our scheme?

The better we teach, the more improvement we’ll see in our teams.