It’s easy to lead when you’re 9-0. It’s harder to lead the team now that you’re 9-1 and there’s a little scar on the resume.
“Anyone can lead when you’re up by 21. We’re all good teammates then. That’s not when we need it. When we’re down by 14, when the weather’s crappy, when things aren’t going well, when injuries happen, that’s when we need leaders and teammates to step up.” – The Program, LLC.
The Miami Hurricanes were riding high on a nine game winning streak with quarterback Cam Ward looking like a Heisman Trophy candidate. And then adversity struck. Georgia Tech put together a 10+ minute scoring drive and Miami’s possessions were going to clearly be limited.
The more time started to tick down, the less third and fourth downs Miami managed to convert. The Hurricanes were backed up to a wall.
After an incomplete pass Miami had the ball down five with 1:48 left in the game and a perfect season on the line. With a potential trip to the ACC Championship Game on the line Ward dropped back… was sacked and fumbled away the football game. The Final: Georgia Tech 28 – Miami 23.
Now what? Now we’ll see the trust test of Cam Ward’s leadership in the Miami Hurricanes program and on the football field.
Letters on Leadership
In The Program’s “Letters on Leadership #12: Sacrifice,” Erik Kapitulik writes:
Talent wins games. However, “that much better” – put your index finger and thumb two inches apart – allows us to compete for championships on whatever your chosen battlefield may be. We need that talent to also make a commitment to being great team leaders and/or great teammates. Why? Because we accomplish nothing as an individual.
To get “that much better,” you must sacrifice.
Now is the time to sacrifice. Some of your ego must die for the betterment of the group. Diamond chains, TikTok meme celebrations, Heisman Trophy campaigns- leave that to your business manager. The offensive line doesn’t want diamond necklaces, they want a championship, and if I’m wrong- that’s why they’ll never win a title in the first place.
“You go to movies with good friends, you go to battle with great teammates.”
So how does a leader become a great teammate? In “Letters on Leadership #11: The Roles of a Leader,” Jake MacDonald writes:
Remember, all Leaders are held to two standards:
1) Accomplish the Mission.
2) Take care of your People.
The mission right now is to go 1-0 against Wake Forest. There can’t be a ‘letdown, look ahead sandwich’ (shoutout The Solid Verbal) issue for Miami re losing to Ga. Tech, then overlooking Wake Forest for the Thanksgiving weekend matchup at Syracuse.
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Taking care of your people isn’t accomplished through fancy headphones. It’s accomplished by showing them you’ll sacrifice just as much as you’re asking them to. It’s making sure they’re doing well, and doing good by them.
As Erik Kapitulik says in the letter “Leadership is a Contact Sport,”:
Leadership requires us to: a) be present and b) physically interact with our teammates. “Let’s go guys,” in the history of “let’s go guys,” has never actually made anyone “go,” who wasn’t already going.”
The rah-rah sideline stuff during games is great, but now is the time to look present and not look like you’re holding back a little bit before your NFL career begins.
Miami turned the ball over on downs three times against Georgia Tech. Two of the three read: “Cam Ward pass incomplete” and one reads: “Cam Ward sacked.” When the game was on the line to save the undefeated season and a potential trip to the College Football Playoff, adversity struck.
Overcoming Adversity
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Now that adversity has truly happened, not just a near loss, what can Ward and his team do to bounce back?
As Sam Cila said in leadership letter #45 “Overcoming Adversity”:
One of the best ways that we can overcome adversity as an organization is to have great teammates, to our left and to our right. Great teammates not only meet the standards of their organization personally, but they hold their teammates accountable to the same standards, as well and make them better.
Accountability has to start with the self. As Erik Kapitulik said in “Letters on Leadership #22 – Take Responsibility!”:
We all have a thousand excuses for why we don’t achieve our goals in life. There is one reason: because I failed to prepare properly. Take responsibility for your actions. This may not be what is fair, but we don’t get what we deserve, we get what we earn. There are no excuses.
The Miami Hurricanes clearly weren’t prepared for the Yellow Jackets. Not on offense or on defense. That starts and stops with the CEO of the program, Mario Cristobal. But as we all know, “On good teams, coaches hold players accountable, on great teams, players hold players accountable” (Jake MacDonald).
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When adversity strikes, “We don’t ‘rise to the occasion.’ We sink to the level of our training.” (MacDonald). Something has been missing in practice that the ‘Canes didn’t really learn from their early stumbles with Virginia Tech, California, or even Duke.
What’s Next?
One of the most important lessons of leadership I learned in my first season as a varsity head coach is reflected in this quote from Erik Kapitulik from, Letters on Leadership #55, “Calm breeds calm and chaos breeds chaos.”
We lost our final two games, moving our record to 2-7 rather than 4-5 because I failed to remain calm and keep our sideline calm. The program is a mirror of the head coach, in all facets. A head coach that freezes and folds under pressure will breed a program that freezes and folds, too.
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We would have hoped that the 25-point deficit to Cal, or struggling at times against Duke would’ve been lessons for Miami. But they weren’t.
As John Klessinger wrote in #44, “Can We Develop Toughness?”:
We must create opportunities for them to develop their toughness. We need to force them to struggle and show them that they will make it through. Train to be tough. Build it. Grow it. Recover. Repeat. The more they take part in opportunities to develop toughness, the tougher they will become.
Let’s hope that THIS TIME, Miami has learned from their mistakes and will practice, prepare in the film and meeting rooms, and game plan better so they can perform better on Saturdays. As Ghislaine Stonaker said, “Excuses are the tools to nothingness.”
The Wrap
This is all moot if nothing changes for the Miami Hurricanes at practice, in the meeting rooms and in their preparation for opponents. The game plan for beating Miami’s defense has been out since the Hokies carved Lance Guidry up. The plan for stopping the offense was created by FSU and continued on through the Duke and GT games.
Something has to give, Ward has to stop looking for Heisman moments and take what’s given, and the coaching staff has to prepare their team better Sunday through Friday for success on Saturday.
Is this season going to be marred by ‘what could have been?’ Or will the Hurricanes finish strong and win the ACC Championship and a bid to a bye in the 12-team playoff? We’ll find out Saturday at noon.