Schiano Working On Being Trusted “Completely”
June 10th, 2012
The leader of the New Schiano Order carved out time from his daily 1440 recently to hang out with Tampa Tribune sports columnist/humorist Martin Fennelly. The result was Fennelly penning a very long column today with his various observations.
Below Joe has excerpted part of the segment on trust, one of Schiano’s core beliefs.
Trust – it’s the biggest thing.
“That to me is the hardest thing as a head coach and a staff to try to build with our players,” he said. “You may not like what we say but you’re going to get the truth. No shenanigans. We’re not going to say something, then do something else.
“Do they trust me yet? Not yet, not completely. I think, step by step, it’s like putting money in a bank account, it grows. The balance grows.”
The Bucs head coach says he gets it, the whole publicity thing, the media thing, the ticket-selling thing. We might get to know him, or might not, but if we do it will take a long time – and it will take trust. Translation: You might never see a Greg Schiano Bucs team on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”
“As far as the private part, I think the relationship between player and coach, it either grows or it gets ripped apart,” Schiano said. “If you have a relationship and all of a sudden the most intimate parts of that relationship become public, that makes it very hard for that relationship to grow. That’s why I’m very protective of relationships within the building.
“I understand, more than probably most coaches, that we’re entertainment. That’s what we are. I get that. Yet, as coach, that’s not where my focus is. My focus is to provide a vision, teach them the fundamentals and make sure we play with great effort. But at the end of the day, that’s not what the fans see, they see the entertainment part. That’s why I think if a player wants to be open about human interest stories, I think they’re great. That is what fans hook onto.”
Joe found the last sentence above very interesting, and Joe has to disagree with the coach. Joe’s of the mind that fans in 2012 are not craving human interest stories that don’t involve cheerleaders; they’re yearning to soak up as much real football as possible — from changes in drills to nuances of schemes to what a player’s read was on a particular play. Especially with the millions of fans trying to gain an edge in fantasy football.
There’s a reason BSPN and NFL Network are offering more and more film breakdown looks every season. And Joe knows how popular former Bucs defensive end Steve White’s Xs and Os analysis has been over the years.
Regardless, Joe hopes Schaino makes great strides in all phases, from trust to all the other stuff referenced in Fennelly’s column, during this week’s mandatory minicamp. After Thursday’s practice, his team will disappear until training camp opens in late July.
June 10th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Joe is right! I don’t care about how much the Bucs are involved or not involved in the community one bit. If someone wants to be a do gooder, that’s their business. But I think the Bible says not to brag about your good deeds, because your father in heaven sees all of them.
I want to hear about Sports stories.
June 10th, 2012 at 4:35 pm
Schiano is the head coach this team needs and got.
He takes his job very seriously and that bodes well for fans.
June 10th, 2012 at 4:38 pm
I thought the same thing about coaches last statement in that quote when I read the original article today…
I live, eat and breathe Bucs in my spare time… If I wanted human interest stories I’d watch reality television… Probably just me.
Did the Bucs PR guy get to Coach? I think that statement is out of character and not exactly his own original.
June 10th, 2012 at 4:42 pm
Judging how the NFL Network is slowly turning into TMZ, I tend to agree with Schiano’s thoughts about “human interest stories”. Make me sick, however, that football is turning into that. Most NFL fans aren’t the die hard kind that read their favorite teams football blogs daily. Or even at all. They are the kind of fans that watch those house wives shows and read people magazine. The kind of people that like Adam Rank.
June 10th, 2012 at 4:55 pm
Agreed^^ I just love football and everything about the game. And i just so happend to be a die hard bucs fan. Its good that teams go out and help the community but im all about football
June 10th, 2012 at 6:03 pm
I love the human stories about players!
You see the one about Patick Willis??
Man, I love deep stories. But thats why I am a philsophical fan and not just some meathead.
Peace!
Get well soon Brian and Daqwan!
June 10th, 2012 at 8:52 pm
I think they’ll trust him 100%. Everything is brand new right now and it gonna take till mid season for everyone to start feeling the synergy. Until then, they just have to out work everyone and just do their job on the field
June 11th, 2012 at 2:47 am
What Schiano is saying is 100% true. He’s not saying that’s all fans care about, but human interest stories are what make fans feel connected to the players. As an example, most of us are cheering very hard for Brian Price, because of his story. We feel for him, and want him to do well. Why is Buccaneers.com having a hard time keeping Eric LeGrand jerseys in stock? Why will Warrick Dunn always be a fan favorite in Tampa, even though he played for and has partial ownership in the Falcons?
Obviously winning is the bottom line and the most important. I don’t see anywhere in the article that Schiano is arguing that. But to say that fans don’t care about human interest stories is just not true.