CENTER FOR CATHOLIC STUDIES
FEBRUARY 2015
TO:
WBC AND MICAH PARTICIPANTS
FROM:
MONSIGNOR RICHARD M. LIDDY
SUBJECT:
The Management Genius of Bill Belichick
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Woodstock Business Conference Mission Statement
o The Mission of the Woodstock Business Conference is to establish and lead a national
and international network of business executives to explore their respective religious
traditions in order to assist the individual executives:
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To integrate faith, family and professional life,
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To develop a corporate culture that is reflective of their religious faith and
values and
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To exercise a beneficial influence upon society at large
o The Conference, grounded in the Roman Catholic tradition, welcomes believers who
are open to and respectful of one another’s religious tradition. It is committed to the
conviction that ethics and values grow out of one’s religious heritage.
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SCRIPTURE: Mark 1: 1-4
Here begins the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Isaiah the prophet it is written:
“I send my messenger before you to prepare your way; a herald’s voice in the desert,
crying, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, clear him a straight path.’” Thus it was that
John the Baptizer appeared in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance, which led
to the forgiveness of sins.
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Quiet Reflection 5 minutes followed by sharing insights
The Management Genius of Bill Belichick
The flap about deflated footballs does not change the fact
that the Patriots’ coach is among the best of all time
By CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL
Updated Jan. 30, 2015 8:28 p.m. ET
In a country that distrusts elites as much as it loves football, it was only a matter of time before an
NFL coach became the target of tabloid venom. Bill Belichick, who leads the New England
Patriots into the Super Bowl for a sixth time this Sunday, has spent the past two weeks parrying
allegations that his team cheated by playing its last playoff game with underinflated footballs. The
case against the Patriots is unspecific and, thus far, unimpressive. But that did nothing to stanch the
sanctimony of the media. You’d think that Mr. Belichick ran a corporation or something.
In fact, what an NFL coach does is similar. Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher calls Mr.
Belichick the greatest coach of all time. Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh thinks he’s merely
the greatest of his generation.
Mr. Belichick doesn’t fit our stereotype of a genius coach—someone who combines stirring
oratory with strategic epiphanies. Today’s NFL football is too complex and too fast for that. There
are 53 men on a roster, often with high week-to-week turnover due to injuries. They are divided
into offense, defense and kicking-game squads that race in and out of the action, and each squad
may be modified every few seconds with “sub” packages. A great NFL coach devises efficient
systems to handle this flow and makes personnel decisions with cold Machiavellian calculation.
Mr. Belichick is certainly a great strategist—he confused the Ravens three weeks ago by using his
best pass-catching running back, Shane Vereen, as an ineligible receiver. And he is a thrillingly
counterintuitive decision maker. He won an overtime game on a windy night last season by boldly
allowing Denver’s unstoppable quarterback Peyton Manning to have the ball first in sudden-death
overtime. He lost a game in 2009 by opting not to punt on fourth down, with 2 yards to go, deep in
his own territory, for fear of letting Manning (then with the Indianapolis Colts) have the ball.
But the genius of Mr. Belichick is less a matter of strategy than of management, team-building and
connecting human longing to higher purpose. Players talk about “buying into” the “Patriot way,”
which means the Belichick way. The usual NFL way—the way of the hapless Washington
Redskins, say—has been to acquire a “dream team” of stars at the start of season and hope that it
holds up. Mr. Belichick sees excellence as a process, not as an acquisition. He constantly sifts for
players who are teachable, rather than perfect, and then tries to meld them into a unit.
Mr. Belichick is self-effacing. His players don’t brag or trash-talk. This is not incidental. Modesty
is at the core of the Patriots’ enterprise. What makes a championship team varies from year to year.
It is a secret that emerges only as the weeks wear on. New plays and formations come into vogue.
Players wind up overrated, distracted, injured or inexplicably incompatible with teammates. Mr.
Belichick wants players who are capable of adapting—that is, open to considering that what made
them the best last year may no longer work.
Anyone ready to “buy in” is given a shot. The careers of some of the NFL’s more temperamental
stars—like Randy Moss and Corey Dillon —were reborn with the Patriots. Backfield juggernaut
LeGarrette Blount starred with the Patriots last year, was rancorously released by the Pittsburgh
Steelers this fall and is now starring with the Patriots once more.
In a business obsessed with raw talent, Mr. Belichick is skeptical of it. The Patriots seldom draft
running backs and wide receivers, the positions that most depend on natural gifts. “Special” people
are a dime a dozen (aside from star quarterback Tom Brady , who, by the way, was picked 199th in
the 2000 NFL draft). What’s special to Mr. Belichick is someone who can fit into an organization.
The jack-of-all-trades Julian Edelman, the Patriots’ best wide receiver and the league’s best punt
returner, was a quarterback in college. (He threw a touchdown pass on a trick play two weeks ago.)
He has also played defense for Mr. Belichick.
Versatility is important, too, because football is dangerous. A coach must plan for attrition.
Defensive end Rob Ninkovich practices snapping to punters and place-kickers during the season, in
case the team’s regular long-snapper gets injured. (Which, in late November, he did.)
Those who say that you can’t argue with success are wrong. Last week showed that a lot of people
can’t stand Mr. Belichick and the Patriots. Perhaps that is because the Patriots’ success disproves
certain treasured clichés. We tend to believe that individual flourishing leads to organizational
excellence. Mr. Belichick believes the opposite.
As games get more important during the season, teams built around teamwork improve. Teams
built around talent wear out. That is why Bill Belichick is once again working during Super Bowl
week, after 30 of his 31 coaching rivals have gone home.
—Mr. Caldwell is a senior editor at the Weekly Standard.
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Reflection Questions:
o Be Attentive: This Super Bowl article invites us to assess Bill Belichick as a leader,
not withstanding the results of Super Ball 49, what thoughts/emotions does this
article evoke.
o Be Intelligent: How do you contrast or compare him to your current
CEO/President/ etc. or to yourself as a leader?
o Be Reasonable: How do you assess the case about “special” people/ talent versus
teamwork? What is your response to “teams built around teamwork improve.
Teams built around talent wear out.” From your experience how does this play out
in the workplace?
o Be Responsible: This morning on the radio I heard Fergie Jenkins eulogize the
passing of his fellow Hall of Fame and Chicago Cub teammate Ernie Banks. “He
didn’t aspire to be a star. He aspired to be a great teammate.” Ernie Banks played
in more games then almost anyone else in baseball without playing in the World
Series yet today a city celebrates his life work. How do we assess success is it a
proximate value or an ultimate value? Is it about winning or about who you
journey with, your teammates? How will this morning’s conversation be carried
into your day? How will this conversation contribute to your season of Lent?