Just Move Over Baby

I try and stay away from sports talk on this blog so people will realize that I have a deeper set of interests than just athletic related stuff. However, this seems like the perfect time to bring the sports world into some thoughts that I had. As talked about in class last night, there has been a lot of discussion at Florida State about replacing Bobby Bowden - the man who single handily took Florida State from a former all-girls school into an elite national program during his tenure. From 1987-2000, FSU finished the year as one of the top four football teams in the country every single year, which is an amazing feat. During that time the Noles won two national titles, played for several others, and would have played for even more if they could have recruited an average kicker that could hit a field goal against Miami. Bobby Bowden is Florida State football, and it could be argued, is Florida State University too.















When I got home last night I continued watching a five part series on the old AFL that is on Showtime. Last night's episode had a heavy feature on Al Davis, the charismatic owner of the Oakland Raiders.


Al Davis took over the Raiders after they went 9-33 over the previous 3 years (a 3-11 average record). His first year they went 10-4, and was named AFL coach of the year. As a coach, GM, and owner, Davis presided over three Super Bowl titles, and numerous successful years. Al Davis is the face of the Raiders more so than the me pirate logo they have on their helmets:









As a kid I never really warmed up to the Raiders, but I loved Florida State football. Deion Sanders was my favorite player in the NFL, and my uncle was an alum and used to watch games with me. Growing up in Long Island around a bunch of Notre Dame fans made me like FSU even more since it was different than everyone else. I will never forget watching this game in 1993 - this might be the best intro to a college football game ever:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cipJq3ZHuuQ


Now to my main point after a ramble about FSU and the Raiders. Both teams are nationally known and discussed. There is no gray area with these teams - people either love them or hate them ("Free Shoes University" is what rival coach Steve Spurrier called FSU after an incident at a Foot Locker). Florida State and the Raiders were both nothing before Bobby Bowden and Al Davis joined them. These men created a mystique and aura around both teams that can never be duplicated. However, both teams have fallen on hard times recently. FSU has lost five straight to rival Florida and has won the ACC once since the conference expanded in 2004. The Raiders lost the Super Bowl after the 2002 season, and have proceeded to have double digit losing seasons every year since.

How do you tell a legend it's time to move over? I don't know if you can. It's nice to have a succession plan in place for when production slips in any industry, but it seems a little harder in the sports world. Bowden has a successor in place, but he's not graciously passing the torch to him; Davis doesn't have a stated one. Bowden and Davis couldn't be more different on the surface. Davis was born into a wealthy Jewish family and lived in Brooklyn who has spent his entire adult life in California; Bowden was a sickly child raised in a devoutly Christian household in Birmingham and resides in Norther Florida. But these men share one common trait that most great leaders do. It takes a special person to be the CEO of a major company, or the head of a football team. The skill set that is needed to achieve at this high level includes a degree of narcissism and a bit of an inflated ego. Those characteristics are needed to achieve at the highest level.

When things are going well for a company or a football team, those traits are deemed as an asset. Being able to have surpreme confidence in your abilities and being able to tune out outside distraction is what makes a CEO or a football coach a great leader when things are rolling along nicely. However when some speed bumps or detours start to pop up and things begin to slide a little, those traits also make it hard for the leaders to recognize the current downfalls they are experiencing.

Another downfall when you've been on top for so long is that you always think you have time to turn things around. Davis turned 80 this past July 4, and Bowden will be 80 one month from today. The time isn't there for these two to just "weather the storm" and continue to lead once things improve. This is a what have you done for me lately society more than it has ever been before. Both Davis and Bowden would be fired by any peer teams for the results they've had for the past seven years. However, they both believe they've earned the right to leave on their own terms. It's hard to argue both men are excellent leaders at their profession. These men have both proven for decades just how truly great they are as leaders - but they both can't master the last thing they can truly do as a leader - gracefully stepping aside for the sake of the teams that they love. Unfortunately, I don't think either man will leave on their terms, which will make their ultimate dismissals that much more emotionally charged.

The next great leader of Florida State football and the Oakland Raiders will get an early test of how strong their mettle and convictions are. That is because that person will have the unenviable task of removing Bobby Bowden and Al Davis from the position of power they've had for decades, and are not ready to give up. That is because unfortunately neither man is likely to look themselves in the mirror and realize it's time for them to do the ultimate thing a leader can do, yet most aren't able to - walk away from the top of the mountain before being pushed down the side of it.