T
tmoney35I had an experience that might be of interest during these dog days of summer.
In my Organizational Behavior class yesterday, the professor brought in a guest speaker by the name of Paul Gustovson. Apart from being one of the top organizational design consultants in the country and doing work for many of the largest companies in the world, he also has worked with Bronco Mendenhall since day 1 to make the football team what it is today. Most of his lecture was on a business and design and keys to success and whatnot, but he did have a few interesting things to say about his work with Bronco.
Paul actually played at BYU in the early days of Lavell Edwards. In fact, he was the first walk-on RM to play for Lavell.
Many years later, while BYU was suffering through the Crowton era, Paul approached the athletic director before Holmoe (can't remember his name) and offered his services to work with Crowton on the organizational design of the football team. This is when Paul gave us his first take home message:
Every system is perfectly designed to give you the results you're getting.
Basically, the football program was perfectly designed to give losing seasons and players getting into trouble, and Paul desperately wanted to help BYU change the system. Crowton wasn't interested. Three times Paul contacted the AD offering his services and each time Crowton turned him down.
Once Holmoe came in and hired Bronco, he gave Bronco Paul's card and told him to call Paul. Bronco called Paul and basically said, "I've never been a head coach before and I want to be a great coach and I heard you're the guy to call."
A few other interesting tidbits:
One of the first things Bronco did was take the team up Provo canyon and have them all write the things they didn't like about the program. He then threw the papers in the fire, as well a helmet from the previous uniform. After that, they all wrote down what they wanted to program to be.
He changed the way BYU recruits. He went to system of "self selection". Bronco doesn't beg kids to come to BYU. He tells them what BYU is all about and what they can expect from playing there and lets them choose for themselves.
While looking for a receivers coach to fix the dropped passes problem, he brought in Ben Cahoon and his interview was basically just watching Cahoon work with receivers for three days to see how he coached (apparently Ben did pretty well).
He worked to get more RM's on the team to increase team maturity and leadership. The best organizations don't need the top leaders to always be present. They have great leaders throughout the system, leaving the top people with more time to work on specific problem areas. This is what Bronco is constantly striving for in his team.
All of the coaches are evaluated 4 times a year by Bronco, and by the players, and by the other coaches.
It was really fascinating to hear from the guy who is basically Bronco's coach and some of the changes he was instrumental in making to bring BYU football out of the dark ages.
In my Organizational Behavior class yesterday, the professor brought in a guest speaker by the name of Paul Gustovson. Apart from being one of the top organizational design consultants in the country and doing work for many of the largest companies in the world, he also has worked with Bronco Mendenhall since day 1 to make the football team what it is today. Most of his lecture was on a business and design and keys to success and whatnot, but he did have a few interesting things to say about his work with Bronco.
Paul actually played at BYU in the early days of Lavell Edwards. In fact, he was the first walk-on RM to play for Lavell.
Many years later, while BYU was suffering through the Crowton era, Paul approached the athletic director before Holmoe (can't remember his name) and offered his services to work with Crowton on the organizational design of the football team. This is when Paul gave us his first take home message:
Every system is perfectly designed to give you the results you're getting.
Basically, the football program was perfectly designed to give losing seasons and players getting into trouble, and Paul desperately wanted to help BYU change the system. Crowton wasn't interested. Three times Paul contacted the AD offering his services and each time Crowton turned him down.
Once Holmoe came in and hired Bronco, he gave Bronco Paul's card and told him to call Paul. Bronco called Paul and basically said, "I've never been a head coach before and I want to be a great coach and I heard you're the guy to call."
A few other interesting tidbits:
One of the first things Bronco did was take the team up Provo canyon and have them all write the things they didn't like about the program. He then threw the papers in the fire, as well a helmet from the previous uniform. After that, they all wrote down what they wanted to program to be.
He changed the way BYU recruits. He went to system of "self selection". Bronco doesn't beg kids to come to BYU. He tells them what BYU is all about and what they can expect from playing there and lets them choose for themselves.
While looking for a receivers coach to fix the dropped passes problem, he brought in Ben Cahoon and his interview was basically just watching Cahoon work with receivers for three days to see how he coached (apparently Ben did pretty well).
He worked to get more RM's on the team to increase team maturity and leadership. The best organizations don't need the top leaders to always be present. They have great leaders throughout the system, leaving the top people with more time to work on specific problem areas. This is what Bronco is constantly striving for in his team.
All of the coaches are evaluated 4 times a year by Bronco, and by the players, and by the other coaches.
It was really fascinating to hear from the guy who is basically Bronco's coach and some of the changes he was instrumental in making to bring BYU football out of the dark ages.