The sources of true motivation in football coaching.

"Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it... tell them to go in there with all they've got and win one for the Gipper. I don't know where I will be then, Rock. But I'll know about it, and I'll be happy."

Everyone in sports knows that story and how the Notre Dame team of 1920 stormed out of the locker room and won one for the "Gipper."

Was it all inspiration and emotion? Maybe. More likely, it was a little extra adrenalin at work. A great Notre Dame team, loaded with talent, perfectly prepared, led by a dynamic coach - ready to be fired up by a few inspirational words.

In this sophisticated age, it is unlikely that words alone can win a football game, but they can help. The marriage of attitudes and mind-sets to scientific preparation is called motivation.

Joe Fusco of Westminster College (PA) explains: "Preparation and hard work are the keys to success in football. But the athlete must also want to do the task. Without the motivation to act, all his preparation and work would come to nothing."

An editorial in Scholastic Coach adds a cautionary word: "Coaches will tear off a frog's head, castrate a bull, and invoke the name of a gipper, all in the name of motivation.

Unfortunately, this kind of crazy stuff is giving motivation a bad name. Coaches are beginning to confuse motivation - a cardinal principle of teaching - with gimmickry."

Joe Paterno, the esteemed Penn State coach, acknowledges this in his advice to coaches:

"Don't be a gimmick coach. Coaches can use all kinds of color schemes in their locker rooms or have the band play Chinese music to get their kids to play football. But if they don't have the horses, they are going to get licked.

"I don't know any slogans or locker room signs that ever won a game. That's why we don't put stars on our helmets like some coaches do. If a kid has to have a star on his helmet to play well, he can't be much of a player."

Coaches have to build a motivational rapport with staying power - something that will hold up through the stresses of the season, year after year.

Great, but how do you motivate? What do you say at pregame, halftime, and postgame? Do you tell inspiring stories. Yell, scream, and rave? Should you say anything at all? Can you affect the players' actions?

The answer to that last question is yes. What you say may not win a game by itself, but it can enhance the team's effort. So, the next question is: What do you say and how do you say it?

Three basic factors are involved in motivation: the communicator, the communicator's words, and the audience.

As the communicator, you bring a recognized personality and reputation to the scene. That's a big plus. But what ultimately will determine your success will be the contents of your message and how you deliver it.

Words or ideas tend to be universal. Phrases such as "work harder," "hustle more," "turn up the intensity" dot every coach's mind. The way they are put together to convey a message will hinge on your personality, articularity, power, and credibility.

DELIVERING THE MESSAGE

1. Be goal-oriented in everything you say. Let every comment and action lead you to a set goal, relevant to your level of competition. The goal, the attitude you hope to implant, should be realistic, attainable, but should also force the athlete to reach up to achieve them.

2. Understand that it is unreasonable to expect an average team to win a super bowl, a national championship, or a state or league championship. But there is always a reasonable goal. If necessary, you can start at the very bottom of a pyramid. Stress goals from the bottom up: stay eligible, lift weights, run sprints, win the first game, beat our big rival, win the league, have an undefeated year, win a playoff berth, and, at the top, Win the National Championship!

3. You have to keep questioning yourself and your staff. What will it take to reach' the summit? You can have everyone write down his answers on a sheet of paper. He can start at the bottom of the pyramid with general day-to-day tasks, such as running sprints, eating balanced meals, lifting weights every other day, etc. (No task is too absurd to put on the pyramid. so long as it can help propel the writer toward the summit.)

Obviously, the goals should become harder and harder as the writer ascends the pyramid: beating the big rival, winning the division, going undefeated, making the playoffs, all the way up to the ultimate goal. You and your team must always determine what it takes to get there, set your attitude, and start climbing.

4. Stay focused. Never pack your speeches with unrelated images and metaphors. Focus on one or two basic principles, and limit yourself to meaningful symbols.

If, for example, you come to the end of a Tuesday practice in which no one hustled, you will certainly want to tell the team about it. But you won't want to confuse them or get away from your point. Don't stress the importance of hustling and then segue into a long-winded explanation of what it takes to stop the option play. Decide what you want your team to know and say it, period.

5. Be compelling. This doesn't mean that you have to get emotional or give everything the gipper treatment. If you want to stir emotions, do it intelligently and maturely, explaining the why of everything. And always bring your audience along with you, step by step, to the logical climax.

It is surprising how a simple, straightforward story line can stir the emotions and bring the players to an emotional climax. Your sincerity, your honesty, can move the players and sell them your message.

It's doubtful whether you can impress an audience by raising your voice or otherwise attempting to overpower them. You have to convince them of your sincerity and make them understand that you are pitching to them from the rubber, not via center field.

The most compelling speeches come from the heart. The best way to reach people and motivate them is by saying what you mean and meaning what you say.

6. Always be direct and uncomplicated. Never leave anyone in doubt about what you mean and believe. This is absolutely the most vital of all the guidelines.

Since coaches are supposed to be able to stir the emotions of an audience, they are always at risk. "If, rightly or wrongly, the audience perceives insincerity, it will stop believing in you." (Walter Nash, in Rhetoric: The Wit of Persuasion).

GUIDELINES

The following suggestions will help make your talks more compelling dispel doubt and instill motivation:

1. Make eye contact. People equate eye contact with honesty, and honesty is a key to success in motivation.

2. Be sure of yourself. Avoid such flabby terms as "sort of," "maybe," perhaps," etc. Be firm and precise. Show confidence in yourself, your goals, and your team. All this is an integral part of motivation.

3. Don't yell unnecessarily. Yelling can be effective, but not all the time. Change-ups in tone can be useful, however. You may shock and surprise the players when they least expect it - yell when they expect a whisper or whisper when they expect a yell. A silent stare or a suspicion of a smile may also work effectively.

4. Be careful about humor. Decide upon a mood and then stick with it. Don't rain a serious mood with a joke. Sure, your team can use a laugh from time to time, but it shouldn't come in the middle of a serious motivational talk.

5. Steer clear of strong, emotional appeals. Overly strong appeals can defeat the purpose of a speech. When fear or emotion is strongly aroused and not fully relieved, the audience tends to shy away from the speaker. Shock tactics or ploys such as bull castration and frog dismembering, can be self-defeating. Once the deception fades, so will your audience.

The important constants in any speech are to keep everything simple, unwavering, and altogether credible.

A team has to believe in the coach to accept his philosophy and to talk it up with others. Good attitudes and good relationships make for good morale, good practices, and good games.

COACHES' PERSONALITY

Though football has a lot of gums, there are no blueprints for success. Coaching is like teaching in that the process is an extension of the coach's personality.

As Westminster's Joe Fusco says:

"My personality is very much the same on and off the field, and it would be the same if I were involved in any other type of management situation. If I were selling widgets, I'd believe in my product and have a strong pride in it. Since I am involved in college football, I try to instill pride in my players."

No one can be another Bear Bryant or Joe Paterno, or Tom Osborne. Everyone has his own personality and should live within it. He should develop his own coaching attitude and let it dictate his decision. Any time you try to be someone else, you will sound false and people will see right through you.

Develop a wholesome personality and make it work for you. Coaches have been activists and humanists, compassionate and tough, strong-willed and adjustable, screamers and pacifiers.

Holtzes, Paternos, Osbornes, and Bowdens are quite different in personality and coaching style, but all are successful. All rely on a universal principle: There is no substitute for proper preparation, clear perspective, and hard work.

All things being equal, winners will be the ones with greater motivation. Motivation doesn't have to be expressed in ranting and raving. It does not have to take the form of an inspirational story. Neither Paterno nor Osborne believes in impassioned oratory.

But you are not Paterno or Osborne. Maybe you can change things around with a 30-minute talk - backed by good game preparation. What you have to do, as George Allen once said is, "Do what you believe in and be yourself while doing it. If you try anything else, you will fail."

So, motivation can be ranting and raving. Motivation can be an inspirational story. Motivation can be a pat on the back or a knowing nod. It all depends on the situation and, ultimately, the personality of the coach.

But always remember: Motivation hinges on belief - strong belief in a goal, belief passed on to and embraced by the players, and shared for the remainder of the relationship. All of these must be tied into the preparation for the task at hand.

Because, as Tom Osborne explains:

"All that fired-up emotion is good, but any time we line up in a formation we're not prepared for, all that emotion won't do any good. We believe that a highly motivated team is a team that is basically very soundly prepared."

Preparation is the science and art of coaching.

Thomas R. Wilson Football Coach Grove City College (PA)