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Passion: The Right Stuff
“We could hardly wait to get up in the morning.”
—WILBUR WRIGHT
Upon arriving at the Green Bay airport, I went directly to the baggage claim area and spotted a boyish-looking, blond-haired kid holding an 8-by-10-inch card with my name on it.
I introduced myself: “I’m Bob LaMonte. Thanks for picking me up.”
“It’s a pleasure to know you, Mr. LaMonte. I’m Jon Gruden,” the polite young man answered. “Here, let me take your luggage.”
Trim and suntanned, he looked more like a surfer or a beach boy than the typical ex-jock NFL team employee. At 225 pounds, I volunteered to carry my own luggage, but he insisted he would. What the hell, my suitcase had wheels on it, so I let him pull it.
“You’re a great agent,” he said enthusiastically. Then he proceeded to talk about my clients and some of the deals I negotiated for them. I was impressed with how well he had done his homework. “You go way back with Coach Holmgren I’m told,” Gruden said. “You both taught high school history. My mother is a schoolteacher.”
We talked nonstop until we arrived at the Packers’ summer training camp a few miles down the road. At dinner that night, I mentioned to Holmgren, “Nice kid, that driver who picked me up today. We must be getting old, Mike. I thought he was a college student doing a summer internship. Quite a talker. He kept drilling me with questions.”
“That’s Uncle Buck.”
“Uncle Buck?”
“Yeah, that’s what Jerry Rice nicknamed him and it stuck. From the movie Uncle Buck with John Candy.”
“He doesn’t look anything like Candy. Candy must weigh 300 pounds.”
“The Candy character slept in an old, beat-up Buick in the movie,” Holmgren said. “They call Gruden Uncle Buck because when he first came to the ’49ers, he slept in an old Buick Delta he picked up for $500.”
“No kidding?” I said, intrigued.
“Man, he’s the first one here in the morning and the last to leave. The kid’s got a passion for this game like I’ve never seen. He has an insatiable appetite to learn everything he can about football. Extremely bright too. Mark my words, someday he’s going to be a head coach.”
“Really?”
“I’ll tell you how I first hired him,” Holmgren continued. “When I was with the ’49ers, I was looking for a quality control coach, a job I figured might last six months. He was the best of the lot, but when it came time to make him a job offer I told him, ‘I can’t hire you because I’m asking you to make too much of a sacrifice. I don’t want to do that. It’s a short-term job and it doesn’t pay much.’ ”
“ ‘That’s okay,’ he said. ‘I really want the job. Working for a team like the ’49ers is a dream come true. I’ve got my heart set on it.’
“ ‘We want to start using computers for developing our game plans so we can score them,’ I explained to him. ‘This has never been done in the League before. We need somebody who knows football and computers.’
“ ‘I know football,’ he answered. ‘Been around it all my life. I was a quarterback in high school and a backup quarterback at the University of Dayton, a Division III school in Ohio. I come from a football family. Growing up, my dad was an assistant coach at Notre Dame under Dan Devine.’
“ ‘What do you know about computers?’ I asked.
“ ‘Truthfully?’ he said. ‘Very little. But I can learn.’
“ ‘I’m going on a vacation for a month. You have 30 days to learn because when I get back, you’ve got to know computers.’ I don’t know how he did it, Bob, but in that one month, he became quite knowledgeable, and before long, he was a whiz kid on the computer. He has such a strong work ethic, and you combine it with his passion for football, and I’m telling you, he’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done. Another thing. He’s a sponge. The guy absorbs everything he sees and hears. I have to kick him out of the office at night and make him leave. And he can’t wait to get back here the next day. He’s the first one here every morning.”
WHEN I BEGAN MY TEACHING career, I couldn’t wait to get up in the morning to conduct my classes. For the first time in my life, I was able to stand in front of an audience, and without a single note, I could talk nonstop for an entire hour.
I had been teaching classes in the evenings at San Jose City College, and one night, Dr. Murgia, the school’s president was walking by my classroom and heard me lecturing on American history. He came in and sat at one of the desks with the students. He stayed for the entire hour. I was surprised he would take so much time because he was a very busy man. As students were heading out the door, he walked over to me and said, “Thank you. I’ve been an educator going on three decades, and that was the most interesting class I ever attended. Keep up the good work, LaMonte!”
I know my enthusiasm came through when I taught history. A teacher can tell when students are turned on. It’s interesting that the word enthusiasm comes from a Greek word meaning “God within.” I believe a person’s enthusiasm is something that has to be sincere. You can’t fake it because people can sense if it’s real or not. When you love what you do, your enthusiasm will spread to others. As the British novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote, “Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.”
As I mentioned, for years after I started up my agency, I continued to teach high school history. “As a teacher, you make only a fraction of what you do as an agent,” a friend once said to me. “Why are you still teaching school when you can be putting that time into your agency? Think how much more money you’d make.” I was never driven by money. I have always believed that if you chase money, you’ll never find your dreams. But if you chase your dreams, you’ll find the money. I taught school because it was my passion. If it were not, I would have become a full-time agent after I started to represent Rich Campbell. However, after celebrating my 25th anniversary as a teacher, I did decide it was time to move on. I have seen too many teachers burn out—good teachers who lost the spark they had for teaching—and I had been doing it for a long time. Also, after having been an agent throughout the 1980s, my passion for the agency now matched my passion for teaching. I look at it as a job transferal rather than a career change. That’s because as the head of a sports agency, I still teach and coach.
Now that I’m approaching age 60, people ask, “When are you going to retire?”
My standard reply is, “Why would I want to retire from a job that most people would die to have?” Lynn and I are having too much fun to retire.
The other ex–history teacher submerged in the world of professional football is Mike Holmgren. He shares my sentiments. “I loved being a teacher,” he exclaims. “Today, I still see myself as a teacher, because as a coach, I still have the role of a teacher. I am a very fortunate man because I have been able to put together the two things I love most—teaching and football. It’s wonderful to be able to get up in the morning and enjoy your life’s work.”
Holmgren is an anomaly in professional football. He was a professional educator who got into coaching much later than the norm. I don’t know of anyone who has gone from being a professional educator to winning the Super Bowl in such a short time. Remember, he was teaching high school in 1980, and he won the Super Bowl in January 1997.
“I used to go to football coaching clinics,” Holmgren tells, “and somebody in the audience would say, ‘You were teaching at Oak Grove High School, and eight years later, you were a coordinator with the ’49ers. How do you do that? I want to do that.’
“My stock reply has always been, ‘I can’t tell you, other than I have always been happy wherever I was. Love where you are and work hard where you are, and I can assure you opportunities and good things will come your way.’ ”
MIKE SHERMAN HAS HAD A strong passion for the game of football since his boyhood, tracing back to Northborough, Massachusetts, where he was a three-sport athlete in high school, lettering in football, wrestling, and track. In 1977, he went on to be an offensive lineman and defense end at Central Connecticut State University. He was a solid small-school player, but never good enough to play at a Division I level. He describes himself as a plugger. “I loved the game of football so much—I even loved to practice. I thrived on the challenges, cherishing each success, always the last to leave the locker room after a win. I even appreciated learning from the failures. I placed a high value on the integral bonds and relationships that were built in team sports.”
After picking up a diploma in education, Sherman taught English and coached football at Stamford High School in Connecticut. “Once I got a taste of coaching, I knew that’s what I’d do for the rest of my life,” he tells. His next gig was two years at Worcester (Massachusetts) Academy, and from there, two years as a graduate assistant at the University of Pittsburgh. At Tulane he was an offensive line coach for two years, then an offensive line coach at Holy Cross for three years, followed by a one-year stint as offensive coordinator at the same school. For four years after that, he went back to being an offensive line coach, at Texas A&M. He next spent one year at UCLA as offensive line coach, and then returned to Texas A&M in 1995–96, again, offensive line coach. Finally, in 1997, after being named offensive coordinator at Texas A&M, Sherman broke into the NFL ranks when Holmgren hired him as a tight ends/assistant offensive line coach. He went to Seattle with Holmgren in 1999, signing on as the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator and tight ends coach. In 2000, Sherman was named head coach of the Green Bay Packers. He had paid his dues. His 23-year apprenticeship included four years of high school coaching, 16 years at the college level, and three more years of NFL coaching. All told, his family moved 11 times—such is the life of a football head coach.
Still, the Green Bay Packers head coach never lost his passion for the game of football. He was as zealous as he had been in the days he spent plugging away as a Division II college player. Not surprisingly, his passion permeates the Green Bay Packers organization.
All people with passion are not cut from the same mold. For this reason, each person expresses it differently. Andy Reid, for example, has a zeal for football; however, a quiet man, his passion is not as demonstrative as Gruden’s or Fox’s, two expressive individuals who bubble with enthusiasm. For this reason, people have said to me, “I can envision Jon Gruden, raving and shouting and straining his vocal cords, summoning up every ounce of energy in his body to inspire his players to go into battle with a take-no-prisoners mind-set. But Andy Reid? No, he’s too soft-spoken and gentle.”
Indeed, Andy Reid comes across like a “Gentle Ben.” He truly is one of the most caring, giving men I have ever met, and outwardly, bears little resemblance to a stereotypical head football coach—a Vince Lombardi or a Tom Landry, for instance. But don’t be fooled by appearance and think he lacks passion or can’t inspire men to play at their uppermost level. His style of leadership doesn’t require him to pound his fist on tabletops. He doesn’t swear or yell at his players to “get out there and annihilate the opposition!” His win-loss record is a testimony to how effective he is, with his more subtle passion. As Rick Burkholder, the Eagles’ head trainer says, “Andy Reid is one of the greatest motivators in the history of the NFL. And I don’t think he’s ever given a motivational talk.”
The fact is, Andy Reid is not an animated guy. He doesn’t jump up and down on the sidelines. His passion is a quiet, more subdued exhilaration. Just the same, you know it’s there, because you can sense it by his intensity, even though he’s calm and methodical. Anyone who knows him knows his passion for his work. As Eagles offensive coordinator Brad Childress says, “Andy has a strong passion for football, and other people can feel that passion because he exudes conviction and confidence. When Andy addresses our team, there’s dead quiet in the room. They believe as gospel everything he tells them.”
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN AN EAGLES team meeting and one of Jon Gruden’s with the Buccaneers is striking. With Gruden it’s like you’re at a revival. “I’m not in my office all damn day and night to see this bullshit going on out here,” Gruden will tell his troops. “We better pick it up. I’m not wasting my time or your time.” The players respond to his message. Andy Reid isn’t shy about reading the riot act to a player or the entire team, but he never curses. Never. He is a devout Mormon, and while he doesn’t criticize swearing, he personally refrains from foul language.
It would be unlikely that a fan in the stands or a television viewer would pick up on Andy Reid’s passion for the game of football. What you see from a distance is a large, robust man who appears stoic, even unemotional. Only those close to him—the members of the Philadelphia Eagles organization—know the real Andy Reid. This inner circle know it by his day-in, day-out work ethic, his commitment to his players and coaching staff. With Jon Gruden you can see it by his body language and his facial expressions. There’s no hiding it. They’re dead giveaways to all in view that he is indeed a very passionate man.
In 2001, People magazine voted Gruden one of America’s 50 most beautiful people. No doubt, he has leading-man good looks. But it was his sideline facial expressions during a Raiders game in 1998 that earned him his nickname, “Chucky.” It happened when running back Harvey Williams was the victim of the head coach’s wrath and Gruden tore into him for going the wrong way on an audible. The television audience was privy to a close-up view of the coach’s arched eyebrow, his glaring eyes, and a lopsided grin that expressed his chagrin. This startling sight prompted reporters to write about Gruden’s striking likeness to devil doll Chucky in the Child’s Play movies, the creature that goes around killing everybody.
“Williams went to the left when he should have gone right,” Gruden explains. “With five major networks televising the game, a newspaper puts a picture of Chucky next to a photo of me in the sports page and the next thing I know, no one knows my name anymore. Soon thousands of fans start taking Chucky dolls to the Raiders games and they’re sporting Chucky masks and T-shirts.”
The Buccaneers encounter his intensity and passion on a daily basis. They are privy to the countless hours he puts in at One Buccaneers Place. Setting his alarm for 3:17 A.M. every morning, working close to midnight, Gruden gets by on three to four hours sleep each night. At one time, he worried about not getting enough shut-eye. “Why can’t I sleep? What’s wrong with me?” he asked. He visited several doctors, tried sleeping pills—nothing worked. People had him convinced that it wasn’t good for anyone to operate on so little sleep, cautioning him that running on empty was potentially harmful to his health. One doctor asked, “Why do you set your clock for 3:17 every morning? Why not 3:15 or 3:30?” Gruden explained to him that 3:17 was the time set on the alarm when he bought it. “I just never bothered changing it,” he said grinning.
After meeting with several doctors over the years, one advised him not to worry about it. “Think of it as a strength. You’re blessed because you don’t require a lot of sleep. I suggest that you find something you love doing, and you’ll have more time to do it—and be better at it.” Gruden followed his doctor’s advice and he did get better at it. Years later, he was the youngest head coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl.
Head coaches are notorious for their work ethic, but nobody in the game matches the hours Gruden puts in. That kind of energy can be fueled only by pure passion for his work. Where does such passion come from? Perhaps it’s a mix of the right genes and environment. His father, Jim Gruden, was an assistant coach during Jon’s youth at the University of Indiana and later at Notre Dame. Jon was 14 years old when the family moved to Bloomington, Indiana, where he got a firsthand view of football head coach Lee Corso, famous for his work habits and inspirational tactics. As a youngster, Jon also became pals with Tim Knight, the son of legendary basketball head coach Bobby Knight. It could be that some of Bobby Knight’s intensity rubbed off on him. At the very least, Knight made a lasting impression on the young boy. At age 16, Jim Gruden moved his family to South Bend, Indiana, where he joined Dan Devine’s coaching staff. The hallowed grounds of Notre Dame intensified the teenager’s passion for football.
Gruden saw how hard his father worked, both with the losing Indiana team and a winning team—Notre Dame. “At Indiana, my dad took some real thrashings from Ohio State,” he tells. Later, while still at an impressionable age, he also learned about success when Jim Gruden coached at Notre Dame during the Joe Montana era.
His mother Kathy, a schoolteacher, also had a strong work ethic, arriving at school at 6:45 each morning to get ready for her classes. She worked nights and weekends finding ways to inspire her students. “You have to have a passion for what you do,” she told her three sons. “And a quest for excellence within yourself.” She referred to it as “self-inflicted pressure.” She repeated what her father had told her as she was growing up: “The worst thing you can do in life is go to a job you don’t like. Make sure you find your passion.”
Kathy and Jim Gruden’s love for their work made them wonderful role models for their boys. “I saw how my parents loved what they did and the time and energy they devoted to their professions. Consequently, I know no other way to coach. I tell young people to find something you believe in that you love. When you feel this way, you will succeed.”
As the Buccaneers’ assistant to head coach/football operations, Mark Arteaga understands the impact Gruden’s passion has on those around him. Gruden brought Arteaga with him from Oakland to Tampa Bay; their history of working together dates back to 1998. “I’ve seen Jon speak in front of the players,” Arteaga says, “and if you aren’t motivated to play for him, then nothing can motivate you. His passion is so contagious, it kind of spills over. The players know he pours his whole life into it for them, for us, for the organization. He works day and night for us so we will be a champion.”
Upon Gruden’s arrival, the players didn’t exactly roll out a red carpet welcoming him to Tampa Bay. At age 39, he replaced Tony Dungy, a popular head coach with the players, fans, and local media. Although Gruden came to town with a reputation of being an offensive genius, with the huge price tag to acquire him, he was going to have to prove himself. Some of the cool reception Gruden initially received had to do with Tony Dungy’s excellent record during his stay. In 1996, Dungy’s first year with Tampa Bay, the team went 6-10, but ever since, they were winners, going 47-32 for their next five seasons, playing in six postseason games. It would take less than a heartbeat for a majority of the other NFL teams to swap their five-year records with Tampa Bay’s under Dungy’s reign. But the Glazers wanted more. Jon Gruden was brought in for a single purpose: to win a Super Bowl.
Although the players and coaching staff cynically viewed their new coach with wariness, it was only a matter of time before Gruden won them over. That’s because he not only outworked everyone, he never tired, and he had energy to burn. In time, the players, coaches, and everyone else in the organization—staff personnel, equipment people, and executives—began to push themselves to work harder and do better too. As the saying goes, “The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang.”
At first, Warren Sapp, one of the most dominant defensive players in recent times, had a wait-and-see attitude toward the new head coach. It didn’t take long, however, for Sapp to warm up to Gruden. The six-two, 303-pound future Hall of Famer says it was Gruden’s determination that won his admiration. “He is a madman. He wakes up while I’m rolling over!” the five-time All-Pro tackle says. “It became a challenge the way he poked at us and it became really personal for us. It put us in a whole different mind-set.”
“He is the consummate salesman,” says offensive line coach Bill Muir. “His enthusiasm is contagious. He can sell you like a carnival barker with a $1.25 snake oil bottle that will cure anything.”
Oakland Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon raves about his ex-coach: “Of all the coaches I’ve been around, he’s most like a player. He’d give me plays during practice, and often he’d get in the middle of the huddle and call the plays. He’d love to take the snap. Then, in meetings, his comments were comical. I would say ruthless, but with his tone they were just hysterical.”
“He’s a special guy,” says Roland Williams, Oakland Raiders tight end, when speaking of his former head coach. “Not only with the X’s and O’s, but also because he knows how to get us going, and his love for the game comes through. I’d play for him forever.”
LIKE THE OTHER HEAD COACHES, the Carolina Panthers’ John Fox has a strong passion for his work. You can hear it when he speaks because he’s consumed with enthusiasm. You see his passion in the gleam in his eye. Fox is very likeable. I can’t think of anyone I ever met that makes such a good first impression. He has one of those engaging personalities that immediately wins you over because he seems so interested in you. No matter that Fox has a hundred different things on his mind, when he looks you in the eye and speaks to you, you feel as though you’re the most important person in the world—that’s because at the time, to John Fox, you are!
When Fox arrived in Charlotte in 2002, he took over a team that had a 1-15 record, the worst in the NFL. It was his passion for football that convinced everyone—players, coaches, staff members—that the fortunes of the team were destined to change. “I had to get rid of the losing mentality,” Fox explains. “I made noticeable changes in personnel so everyone could see that going forward, we’d be a different organization, not the one that lost 15 consecutive games. I carefully brought in people who I knew shared my passion and enthusiasm—people who spend more time with the players than I do. These were people I knew because I had worked with them at other organizations over the years. They were individuals with the same energy level and passion that I have for this game.”
One such individual that Fox recruited was Sal Sunseri, a defensive line coach and former All-American linebacker at the University of Pittsburgh in 1981. A remarkable thing about Sunseri’s collegiate playing days is he began as a walk-on who became a three-year starter. Following his graduation, Sunseri had been an assistant coach at several colleges, and in the mid-1980s he and Fox worked together with the Pitt Panthers. In 2002, they were reunited once again as “Panthers”—this time in Carolina.
“John Fox really loves his work,” tells Sunseri. “He lives, sleeps, and breathes it. This is evidenced by his ‘instant recall’ with plays going way back to the early days of his career. For instance, he’ll say to me, ‘Do you remember when we were at Pitt playing Penn State? In the third quarter, they ran such-and-such play on a third and 10.’ He can visually picture it, and even recall what defense we were in. Only someone with a real love for football can do that!
“When Foxy first came to Pitt in ’86, he was defensive coordinator and secondary coach. He took a defensive unit in the bottom half of the NCAA and completely turned it around. Within three years, it was one of the top 10 defensive teams in the nation. I attribute his success to his passion for his players. He wants so badly for them to succeed. If a player is doing something wrong, John will inform him how to correct it. He’ll say it in a forceful yet nonthreatening manner. ‘Hey this needs to be done. This is the way I want you to do it. Get it done this way.’ He will deal with a specific incident right on the spot. He does this with consistency and everyone feels comfortable with it.”
HOLMGREN, SHERMAN, REID, GRUDEN, AND Fox are deeply committed to their life’s work. Sure, they express it differently. Some are more demonstrative than others. That’s because their love for the game is expressed in a variety of ways. When it comes to having passion, there is no cookie-cutter formula. Nonetheless, it is a common denominator that I believe is required to be a good leader. More than that, it is necessary for a good life.
People sometimes refer to work as “the salt mines” or “the grind.” To them, work and drudgery are synonymous. I feel sorry for people with contempt for their work, people who dread getting out of bed each morning. As William Faulkner wrote, “You can’t eat for eight hours a day nor drink for eight hours a day, nor make love for eight hours a day—all you can do for eight hours is work. Which is the reason why man makes himself and everybody else so miserable and unhappy.”
Passion for our work is what drives us to push ourselves beyond our limits. It energizes us to exert an extra effort, which is often the difference between failure and success, defeat and victory. Here’s how it works: Think about a time when you came home after a long day in the workplace. You’re absolutely whipped. Then you receive a call from a friend to play a round of tennis or go jogging, and the next thing you know, you’re dripping with perspiration, yet filled with a newfound energy. How could it be when you were drop-dead tired after work? The difference is that you’re engaged in something you enjoy, that you thrive on. Similarly, men and women who thrive on their work enjoy the advantage of having abundant energy.
As I’m sure you can tell, I feel blessed because I love my work. I can’t wait to begin my day every morning. This attitude stays with me throughout the day and provides added stamina to keep me going at full speed. I felt the same way when I taught at school. I believe my enthusiasm inspired my students to learn about history. I could tell by the way they participated in class, did their homework, and excelled on their examinations. Besides, there was always a high demand to enroll in my courses. The word spread throughout the campus that “LaMonte’s history lectures are exciting and interesting. Sign up for his classes.”
Unfortunately, exciting is not a word we hear enough of when young people talk about studying history. That’s because there are teachers who dread teaching it. They fall into that category of people that get up and go to a job they can’t stand. Their negative attitudes carry over to their students. Just as enthusiasm is contagious, so is monotony. A teacher with passion can make any subject exciting, whether it’s science, math, or literature—any subject. It’s the teacher’s job to excite his or her students.
Imagine the positive impact a parent’s passion for his or her work has on a child. When you leave the house each morning filled with enthusiasm for your job, you send a positive signal to your child that work is a joy. Conversely, if you dread going to work each morning and complain about your day at the dinner table, this is also picked up by your kids. What a terrible legacy to pass on to them! When our son Brian decided to major in history at San Jose State University, I felt blessed, knowing that my passion had rubbed off on him.
Having passion for one’s work is important in all fields. I’ve seen it firsthand in my work as a teacher, coach, and salesman. A salesman who doesn’t think his product is the best thing since sliced bread won’t close many sales. I can’t tell you how many times I was “just shopping” for a new car, suit, or television set, and an enthusiastic salesman talked me into a purchase. Did you ever accept a free two- or three-day trip to a time-sharing resort where your only obligation for the vacation was that you had to listen to a mandatory sales presentation? I know many people who went only because it was a “freebie” and vowed they’d never buy a time-share unit. But they did. The companies that make these offers know what they’re doing. They know that many people will change their minds and buy a unit once they’re in front of an enthusiastic salesperson. They know how contagious enthusiasm is—and how it loosens otherwise tight purse strings.
Recruiters of well-run companies pay close attention to the passion exhibited by job interviewees. I know business leaders who prioritize it. “People can be taught how to do their work,” a top executive told me, “but we can’t teach passion, so we seek people who already have it.” He went on to emphasize that if there was a choice between hiring one of two job candidates, he’d hire the one with the most passion over a slightly more qualified person. “We have a lot of passionate people who work here,” he said, “and we seek out the individual who will adapt to our company’s culture. Someone who lacks passion won’t fit in around here.”
Of course, while looking for people with passion, it’s important to understand that not everybody exhibits it the same way. As with coaches, some people ooze with so much enthusiasm that they are about to burst. But then other people don’t show it because they are more inhibited. Don’t overlook the undemonstrative ones. Not everyone reacts the same way when they’re turned on. There are quiet, reserved people in this world who are also equally driven to succeed. By asking thoughtful questions about their interests—and then being a good listener, those with passion will reveal it. Sometimes, you just have to do some digging. For example, if he’s a fly fisherman, talk about fly fishing; if he’s a gourmet cook, talk about cooking, and so on. Hit on the right subject and they won’t be able to conceal their animation.
Where does passion start within an organization? Any organization, whether it be a football team, a government agency, a business enterprise? It starts with the leader—the guy at the top—and permeates throughout the organization. People feel it in the hallways, in the warehouses, everywhere. Visitors in the building feel it too. Passion spreads like wildfire internally and then externally to vendors and customers.