Quote:
Originally Posted by HailToMichigan
Sure....I don't doubt that Tressel is building/has built a very successful program and that right now, Michigan is playing catch-up. But football is not banking. RR's system isn't subject to the whims of investors and consumers and the volatility of the economy and various markets. RR has to win a football game. Sure, there's a system to doing it, but it doesn't even approach the complexity of the banking world. Football is not a "complex web of people and processes"....not on the scale of a major banking corporation.
Let me put it this way: Ohio State has beaten Michigan for four straight years, had a share in the Big Ten championship for the past three and won it outright and played in the national championship game for the last two. Tressel has a national championship already under his belt besides. Where, exactly, are you going from there? The bank you speak of can grow and grow and grow, and expand in so many different areas. Tressel's been around for seven years and beaten Michigan for six of them. What's gonna happen in three or four more years that hasn't already? We don't expect you to get much worse, and you can't get much better, so it's on us to even things up.
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I would argue that college football has much of the same complexity that the banking example used. Let us not forget that banking is regulated in the US, that product-based routes to competitive advantage are fleeting because product features are easily copied, and that all banking is local.
On the other hand, a few key competitors change their fundamental offensive or defensive schemes and college football is remarkably impacted. It has its own complexity.
You either have a QB who can run the spread or you don't. He may be able to be a pocket passer or run the spread, but if he can't run the spread, he can't run it. Do you stock the cupboard with 350lb linemen who will open a hole for that three yard burst or smaller, more mobile linemen who can pull and block with as a more mobile QB is in motion? It is about people.
Funny thing is, that on the way to implementing your strategy, the world changes. You can do things right or do the right things. You may need to stretch the field horizontally or vertically. You may need to rely on big plays against tight defensive teams or pound them into submission three yards at a time.
Coaches who win can sense the time and context in which to change the nature of the game and then execute a new more appropriate strategy. But that requires a complex web of prior decisions.
You are limited by your people, processes, or both. Getting the right people starts with recruiting. Then, it's skills, strength and conditioning programs, and other elements of people and process. Mental toughness, focus, and discipline of players affects and is affected by processes. If a coach chooses wisely when building these competencies, his team can change and adapt.
One of the reasons I like college football so much is that it is very much like the competitive strategy battlefield. Read any top journal today, even applied mags like Fortune and Business Week, and you will see the words flexibility and agility (or their opposites) as underlying themes throughout many stories.
I am not saying that TSUN cannot affect their own destiny or that it is desirable that they are weak. I want to see you guys win every game but one every year. I want The Game to be for the national championship every year and then for both teams to soundly defeat their bowl opponents. The last thing we need is for our top rival to go through what Notre Dame is going through. I am not saying that your team does not have the greatest impact on whether it is 7-5 or 11-1.
What I am saying is that it is silly to think that TSUN is improving in isolation. If it takes RR at least two full years to implement his system, he won't be sneaking up on anyone. By the time he gets that offense installed, he won't be putting shivers down anyone's spine at Ohio State, contrary to conventional thinking on the TSUN fan boards. TSUN will be better and they will beat Ohio State some time in the future. They will be better offensively and defensively, I think. I just don't think it will be enough to achieve your goals of ending Tressel's domination.
So, we can disagree, time will tell. My prediction is that you guys will be looking to replace him in three years time.
03-21-2008, 06:21 PM
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