The Greatest Commissioner National Football League

In 1989, on the eve of the final championship game, Steve Fisher became the head coach for Michigan State. He and the team went on to win the championship. Even though they won Steve didn’t really get the credit for the game since he had just been hired the night before. With the next season fast approaching fans and critics were anxious to see if the new coach had good recruiting skills.

The theme of this book is about the legendary coach Paul Bryant and how he helped Joe Namath overcome the struggle of segregation on and off the football field. Considering the relationship of the athlete and coach during golden era of the game, it addresses the losses, the commitment, and the determination in becoming one of the nation 's elite.

The NFL has become the most popular sport in the United States. It is watched my millions every weekend. The NFL is only growing in popularity. With new fans joining the fun every day. The NFL has faced its share of problems too. With concussions scaring away many future players, the NFL is hoping to lower the possibility of concussions in the future. Each NFL team plays a total of 16 games over a span of 17 weeks. There are two conferences in the NFL, the AFC and the NFC. There are four divisions in each conference, each with 4 teams. The playoff teams are decided by the division rankings. The winner of each division makes the playoffs, with the two best 2nd place teams making it in as a wild card.

Joe Ehrmann describes how he has developed his philosophy of coaching by relating the story of his life in his youth, high school and in college describing two different types of coaches he had played for. The first are coaches who were impersonal, authoritarian, and sometimes abusive which he calls transactional coaches; this is in contrast to the humane coaches he calls transformative coaches. Coaches must face this responsibility because we all remember our coaches. “This is the awesome power and responsibility of coaching: You give your players memories, for better or for worse that stay with them until the day they die” (Ehrmann, 2011 p 46-47). Joe Erhmann goes on to ask, “What is the moral and ethical composition of their program?

Ralph “Shug” Jordan is widely considered Auburn’s greatest coach of all time and is a legend that any Auburn fan greatly admires. Jordan was a 1932 Auburn University graduate. Fans knew that he had a connection to the team already and had confidence that he would bring Auburn forward in football. Coming into Auburn, the football program had been struggling and Jordan had a long way to go to turn the team around. With 176 wins, including a SEC championship and a National Championship, in a twenty-five year

Bobby has coached many star athletes during his tenure as head coach including Florida State’s first Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, Warrick Dunn, arguably the most popular college football player of the 90s, and Chris Weinke, the

Walter Payton, running back for the dominant 1985 Chicago Bears team that went 15-1 and won the Superbowl, is one of the best running backs in NFL history. Walter Payton was also known for his philanthropy off the field, earning him the nickname “Sweetness”. There is now an award given out every year called the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which recognizes players for their charitable contributions off the field as well as their excellence on the field. The last recipient of this award was Thomas Davis, a Carolina Panthers linebacker. Walter “Sweetness” Payton died in 1999 of cancer. He was one of the most influential athletes in history, not just due to his ability on the field, but also because of his persona. Stats, influence on the game, and persona off the field are how a player’s influence should be measured. The three most influential quarterbacks of the last twenty five years of the twentieth century are Warren Moon, Joe Montana, and Jim Kelly.

Tony Dungy is a highly respected pillar in the athletic community. Breaking barriers throughout his coaching carrier; he was propelled into the spotlight when he became the first African American coach to win a Super Bowl title. Shortly following his victory in Super Bowl XLI came much intrigue into his coaching style and personal life. Many wondering how he gained the respect of all his players and produced positive results while maintaining a calm demeanor. In his book, Quiet Strength, Tony Dungy speaks on the importance of faith and family. Emphasizing the power of prayer, commitment, and patience within faith. As well as the impact of his family on his career, that ultimately changed the path he had preferred for himself.

The sixties were changing times for American people with not everyone excited for the new views. Coach Graham would refuse to start the All-Pro due to his race. Lance Rentzel would be named as his replacement. The standout from Oklahoma was 2nd in rushing and 3rd in receiving in all of college football, but Sayers was the better prospect. Their careers would differ in every aspect from their days on the field to their offseason antics. Sayers was drafted a round ahead of Rentzel by the Bears along with fellow all-star teammate Dick Butkus, but Graham’s refusal to not only start but to bench Sayers for the entire game. Even with Rentzel accomplishments, Sayers was seen as a phenomenal runner who would split any defender in his way and provide to be a defensive coordinator worst nightmare. Rentzel, though, was the big kid from the big program and set for bigger and better things with his Hollywood wife, actress Joey Heatherton. The Kansas Comet only had to play seven years with the Bears to get a Hall of Fame induction and all seven of those years were with Butkus. Those two solidified the offensive and defensive identity of the Bears of the late sixties and early seventies, representing the city’s hard-working, blue collar attitude that made Bears feel connected with their beloved athletes. Rentzel would become a footnote in the long history of the NFL, and troubled footnote he

I selected the Louisville Cardinals’ to discus this week for my week two assignment. This was Louisville’s fourth conference change since 1996.Louisville join the Conference U.S.A that year and was not welcome by its other conference colleagues, because the men’s basketball team was on probation by the NCAA. The Louisville program was also apart of a 60 minutes investigation, their home football games were being played in a minor league baseball stadium and their school has some serious Title IX issues according to Murphy, B (2014, July 1). Despite all of the surrounding issues Louisville went on to become successful on the field and basketball courts, they join the Big East conference and made their brand very attractive.

Vince Lombardi Vince Lombardi was a great man, many say. He exemplified that American ideal that greatness can only be achieved by hard work and discipline. However, Lombardi’s life was far from perfect. He did not begin his career as the head coach of the great Green Bay Packers of the 1960’s; hardly, as he began as a lowly assistant at a run down Catholic high school, just scraping by.

When asked who is the greatest coach to lead a NFL team to the Super Bowl, Vince Lombardi’s name would be mentioned. He took the worst team in the NFL and transformed them to be the best. His team succeeded to win 6 divisional titles, 5 NFL championships, and 2 back to back Super Bowls. Vince Lombardi was both a visionary and ethical leader by leading his team through a new way of systematic thinking and obstacles. In this essay, I will state claims on how he became a visionary leader. Two core concepts came to play while researching his life. The first was how he displayed inspirational motivation while guiding his players to the Super Bowl and painting a vision. Secondly, he displayed team dimensions by knowing how to balance a team and also earning mutual respect. Later, I will state claims on how he was an ethical leader. First, he used reflective thinking, system 2 in critical thinking by using some decision making no one has ever used to ultimately win the Super Bowl. He also used the Three P’s (principles, purpose, and people) concept in the ethical leadership lesson on how he used those three principles to reach a common goal and display excellence in all we do. Additionally, I will tie his visionary and ethical leadership styles into my personal relevance and use some examples. Finally, I will conclude with a summary of the main points and end with a couple of quotes.

Frank Supovitz is the senior vice president of event for the NFL, and some of his responsibilities include planning the NFL draft, Pro Bowl, and Super Bowl. In his current position Mr. Supovitz, is in charge of serving as the curator of all aspects of these individual events, and finding different ways to improve the events.

Since the introduction of organized team sports into American culture, numerous sports have stepped into the limelight for certain periods of time but none have stuck around as long as football has. Just as with everything else in life, football has had it’s fair share of drawbacks since its invention in the mid-19th century. Despite the drawbacks and criticism football has faced, its role and influence on American culture between the 1890’s and 1930’s far outweigh the negative aspects of its past.

In Case 7 “Perceptions of Leaders Following Public Failures: A Tale of Two Coaches”, two leaders both college football coaches of their respective teams were encountered with scrutiny, as they lacked a certain level sensitivity regarding serious incidents within their program. The case study talks about both Mike Leach and Gary Barnett’s background as coaches and progress to the events with their program that lead to them being involved in the public failure. This eventually led to people having various perceptions of both coaches based off of how they dealt with the incidents. As a result of both programs image being tarnished, Mike Leach was fired, however; Gary Barnett’s job was retained.