NOT ABOUT THE BEST ONES -- IT'S ABOUT THE RIGHT ONES

As college coaches prepare to head out this weekend to evaluate talented players around the country, I am reminded that far too often we get caught up in rankings by so-called experts and we can sometimes forget to understand and look for the intangibles.   There is no better line in a movie that sums up recruiting than in "Miracle" when Herb Brooks was being criticized for not keeping the "best" players from the US Hockey trials.  Brooks response is shown in the video clip below:


It also reminded me of a passage that I read from "Finding The Winning Edge" by Bill Walsh:

"When I was selected to lead the first mission I was responsible to name who would fly with me.  Very simply, I picked the best flyers, men I could trust in the heat of deadly combat.  This was serious.  Rank, credentials, efficiency reports didn't mean a thing.  It would be the guys who could fly and shoot."

-Admiral Jim Stockdale, U.S. Navy