Bo knows how to lay down the laws!The most important meeting you will have with your people is your first one -- because it is absolutely vital that everyone knows exactly what your values are, from Day One.
1. RESPECT OTHERS
Respect must be shown for your immediate supervisor. If you have a problem, you to go your position coach. If, after that, the issue warrants coming to me, I might handle it in conjunction with your coach, but I can tell you right now that if there is a conflict between a player and an assistant coach, I will be taking your coach's side. Every time. I have confidence in your coaches, and they're going to be here long after you're gone.
2. HONESTY
Honesty has got to be the hallmark of everything we do, or nothing we do here is going to mean a thing. Any dishonest player will be dropped from the program. Dropped means dropped, because we will not tolerate dishonesty in any part of this program. I don't have to elaborate on that for you any more, men, do I? Why so tough? Because if you catch a guy lying, what are you going to do? Sit down and have a nice chat with him? He'll just lie to you again! It's the one problem that I just can't work with.
3. YOUR ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR GRADES
I introduced Dean Eugene Nissen, our academic advisor, and added that the ultimate academic advisor was Bo Schembechler -- and he was the toughest! Like every other aspect of their lives, I was aware of everything about their academics -- their attendance, their classes, their credits and their grades -- because I had it all right there in my files.
4. KEEP OUTSIDERS ON THE OUTSIDE
When you're part of a top-flight program -- and you are -- you're going to attract a lot of attention you don't need. Ignore it. Ignore the press, ignore the alumni, ignore the 'instant friends' who will come around looking to gamble or be your agent or be your drinking buddy. Once the players saw that I didn't care about outsiders, they didn't either.
5. THE TEAM, THE TEAM, THE TEAM
As the end of the day, all we have is each other, so you need to get to know your teammates. That's why we decide who rooms with whom, in the dorms and on the road. This was be design. I didn't see any point having two seniors room together on the road, because they already knew each other. No, you split them up and put each of them with a freshman who could benefit from a little guidance.
From Bo's Lasting Lessons
By Bo Schembechler and John Bacon
