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He’s done it again. Bill Belichick has led the New England Patriots to a record-equalling 6th Franchise Super Bowl win. Belichick has an almost unchallenged record of success with only two coaches winning more games than him (Don Shula 490, George Halas 497).
Belichick has won the most playoff games (42) and now the with his 5th Super Bowl he extends the gap between himself and any other active coach in the NFL. There is no other active NFL coach with more than 1 Superbowl win. Let that sink in for a moment.
In the UK there has been one football manager (soccer team head coach) who has had a similar level of success over the past 25 years. His name is Sir Alex Ferguson and from 1986 until his retirement in 2013 he led Manchester United to an unprecedented 13 league titles and 12 major domestic and European cup final wins. He holds the record for the highest number of matches managed, 808, won, 527, and the best games won percentage at 65%.
What have both of these great coaches done differently than those who came before them and those they coached against?
Rebuilding their teams
Building a winning team is a great achievement that may last for a few years but rebuilding that team, several times, to win in different decades and changing tactics is their greatest achievement. Some coaches are able to have periods of success but cannot repeat it with another set of quality players. Both of these coaches have, not once but three or four times.
Spotting young talent
Being able to spot and develop the talent of young players, supporting them and bringing them into the team at the right time is all important. Famously Tom Brady was picked number 199 in his draft year but it was his development under Belichick that had made him the great player he has become. For Sir Alex, it was always part of his philosophy to develop young players. His famous class of 1992, including David Beckham, produced 6 of the players who formed the spine of his trophy-winning teams for the next 10 years.
Balancing youth and experience
Most important to the process of bringing in new younger players is to maintain a high level of performance for the entire team. Balancing the number of experienced players with young ones is vital. In tough games, it is the veteran players experience that will guide younger ones and achieve success for the team. Sir Alex would keep a balance between his youthful under 23-year-old players, his under 30’s and his veterans, the over 30’s.
Maintaining high standards
Setting and maintaining high standards for the players to achieve is not easy, especially after a few years of success. But keeping levels of training and expectations high will transform into success in the long term. There may be individual years when the team doesn’t achieve the goals that were set for them, but continuously focusing on the high standards set in the past will eventually translate into more years of success.
“Once you bid farewell to discipline you say goodbye to success. I always felt that our triumphs were an expression of the consistent application of discipline.” Sir Alex
“My personal coaching philosophy, my mentality, has always been to make things as difficult as possible for players in practice, however bad we can make them, I make them.” Bill Belichick
Coaching average players to be a trophy winning team
Both of these coaches have been able to take players who are good or above average and inspire them to play on a higher level than they had done previously. Both Belichick’s winning team this year and Ferguson’s last winning Premier team were not the best in the league that year.
However, each coach was able to inspire their players to achieve more and play above themselves to win a championship that seemed beyond them. Each team had two or three players who are considered greats, or world class. But it is never those players who ensure a championship winning team. It is the rest of the players, and it is the ability of the coach to inspire those players to be better that makes the difference.
Changing and adapting their tactics
Coaching and training players will only get you so far. The added ingredient to long term success is tactics and they are both great tacticians. They have shown time and time again the ability to outthink and outplay their opponents. They have prepared to combat the greatest threats that their opposition poses.
In the Superbowl Belichick had a plan to halt the Rams offense and had anticipated many of their moves and prepared his team accordingly, and that was why they won.
Both United and the Patriots have their own unique style of play, but they also adapt to the circumstances of the game to defeat a team that may be better than them. Neutralizing the best players or out thinking their opposite coach has often been their trump card.
Don’t think that this is obvious. Some coaches decide that their system and tactics will work in all situations and do not need to be changed. Or that their team cannot win by changing their style for one or two games.
Changing their own style as the years progressed
Not only did these great coaches adapt their game tactics for individual games but they also changed their styles and formation every few years.
Players become quicker and more athletic than in the past, rules are changed, other teams emerge as top teams and keeping to the same tactics will give your opponents time to work out how to beat you or spot your tactics in advance. That is why great coaches will adapt over time.
A successful manager will look for a slightly different player to mold their team around, someone stronger or more agile maybe, and adapt old tactics, styles and formations to maintain their achievements.
These are just a few of the qualities that have led to these men reaching and staying at the top of their fields of endeavor. It is amazing how these same qualities have led two people to such long-term success in two different sports, maybe they can also teach us about achieving long term success in our lives as well?
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