Plant Where You'll Bloom: 2022 College Football Lesson Two

Plant Where You'll Bloom

There is a saying I consider famous: "bloom where you're planted". I understand it as a way to say wherever you find yourself, make the most of it and find success. On the surface I think that is appropriate and a good mentality, and in a lot of ways you probably cannot control where you are "planted". But when you can control it, I believe the better attitude to have is to plant yourself somewhere you can bloom.

Last week College Gameday did a special on Nick Saban's assistants, in what I like to call the Nick Saban Coaching Rehabilitation Program. In short, he has a history of taking struggling coaches under his wing and churning them out like a machine back into the head coaching world, with many finding success in their new roles. I don't hide it at all, to the displeasure of many of my fellow Georgia fans, but I keep Coach Saban in a very high regard and have no doubt his actions help these other coaches out. As highly as I think of him, however, I think there is another aspect to some of these new success stories, and that is each of them finding a home that is more fitting than where they struggled. 

Lane Kiffin is the perfect example. I certainly do not know him personally, but from what I see he is a great fit for Ole Miss, and probably was not a great fit in some of his struggling roles. I don't see a young, good looking, polished guy as a fit for the then-Oakland Raiders. I certainly don't consider those traits a good fit for that disgusting, bright orange school north of the border. I might consider those traits for a Hollywood-embraced Southern Cal, but at that point in his career it wasn't great timing and I feel he set himself up for failure. After his stint in Tuscaloosa, relearning his love for explosive plays and fun football, and with a significant increase of maturity, he appears to be the perfect fit for a cool place like Oxford, and Ole Miss fans seem to love him too.

You can say the same for a lot of the old Saban assistants, but the point really is some folks are just good at what they are good at, and sometimes it is best to stick to it. I feel this way about a lot of coaches in football, mostly guys who are head coaches trying to call plays at the same time either for their offense or defense. At some point, as a head coach or a manager of an organization or the commander of a unit, you must come to terms with the fact your primary role is leading that team. Your X and O days are coming to an end, and your vision must stay bigger than one play at a time. 

The best example of that recently is found in my in-laws' home in central Indiana. Purdue, a school I learned to love quickly after meeting my wife, has a really good play caller as a head coach. Jeff Brohm is a master tactician and extremely impressive with his offensive design. Simultaneously, it is evident he struggles leading a program and can very easily take the blame for his team's loss to Syracuse. With about a minute left and in the lead, he lost his cool and doubled down on one of his player's mistakes, forcing Purdue to kickoff from the 10-yard line. Syracuse moved the ball easily down the field, partially due to questionable coverage decisions to close the game, and Purdue lost another close game under Brohm's leadership. In this case, maybe Brohm is simply meant to be an offensive coordinator rather than a head coach, and there is nothing wrong with that at all.

I feel the same way about a lot of coaches these days. Kliff Kingsbury, Josh McDaniels, and many others leading teams and programs might be better off in the booth than on the sideline. Guys like Bill OBrien, Will Muschamp, and Derek Mason are great examples of outstanding coordinators who simply struggled to lead their own teams. But this isn't restricted to football, this is a concept applicable in a lot of places.

In my current role I spend a lot of time counseling young Marines as they near the end of their enlistments. One of the primary questions I want to find out is their plan if they decide to end their service. Will they go to school, learn a trade, work in the family business, or something off the wall? Most of the time they have solid plans and I leave the conversation with minimal concern, but every now and then I get a really solid Marine without a great plan. In many of those cases I explain to them how the Marine Corps just might be their fit, and where they are meant to be. After all, why take a chance on an unknown when you know you're so good at what you are doing already? This is an oversimplification of those situations, but the point is the same as those coaches mentioned earlier: find where you fit best and keep getting better there. 

There are many sub-lessons that go into this one. Surrounding yourself with high-character, high-work ethic teammates is critical to helping you grow and succeed. Being in a place or community that fits not only your job, but your family too will go a long way to focusing on your profession. A willingness to adapt and change your style while maintaining your values is difficult, but necessary to stay at the top of your field. Those are just some of the related tips, but they all relate to the idea of finding your place and putting yourself in the best position to compete and win.