Mike Smith’s Seven Responsiblities
July 5th, 2016
Preaches culture.
Throughout the month until the Bucs check-in at One Buc Palace to report for training camp, Joe is going to try to get in the mind of Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith.
Joe will regularly deliver excerpts and/or highlights from Smith’s book, “You Win in the Locker Room,” available on Google Play and iTunes.
Like most coaches, Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith preaches “culture.” It’s become such a standard talking point, this just about goes in Joe’s left ear and out the right.
In his book, Smith outlines seven responsibilities he expects from everyone.
- Have fun, work hard and enjoy the journey.
- Show respect for every person you have contact with in the organization.
- Put the team first. Successful teams have teammates that are unselfish and willing to put their individual goals behind the team’s goals.
- Do your job. It is defined, but you must always be prepared for it to change (especially if you’re a player).
- Appropriately handle victory and defeat, adulation and humiliation. Do not get too high in victory or to low in defeat. Be the same person every day.
- Understand that all organizational decisions aim to make the team better, stronger, and more efficient.
- Have a positive attitude. Use positive language (both verbal and body language).
The biggest theme in Smith’s book is all about “culture.” Joe thinks this may be an empty word bordering on misleading. Every coach preaches culture. Hell, former Bucs commander Greg Schiano was huge on this. But what happened? It blew up in his face after some head-scratching personnel moves and a quarterback going mental.
A coach can talk about culture all he wants. At the end of the day, you have to have the right players (physically and mentally), and the coaching staff better damn well put those players in positions to get the most out of their talents. Both the front office and the coaching staff must have a keen eye for talent, and how to use that talent.
If you have, say, Chucky drafting the players and Lovie Smith coaching the players, Joe doesn’t give a damn what kind of culture a guy preaches, no talent and not knowing how to use that talent will get you fired very quickly. It’s all about winning. Culture doesn’t mean a damned thing.
July 5th, 2016 at 3:38 am
I think it is pretty clear these are not the only things that need to be done. I think Smith of partially addressing the player side of things.
Obviously the front office and staff have their jobs to do as well…”You Win in the Locker Room” refers to players mostly.
I think he left out a couple things in this except though. I have not read the book, and maybe he goes into them.
July 5th, 2016 at 3:51 am
Rule changes this year are
1. It is now a delay of game penalty if a team is erroneously granted a timeout. Huh?
2. The offensive and defensive play callers can use the coach-to-helmet communications system regardless of whether the coach is in the booth or on the sideline.
3. There is no longer a five-yard penalty for illegally touching a pass after being out of bounds and then re-establishing inbounds, but it is a loss of down. Ouch
4. The line of scrimmage for extra point kicks is permanently the 15-yard line.
5. Touchbacks on kickoffs are now moved to the 25-yard line.
6. All chop blocks are illegal. YAAAY! This’ll kill the Falcons 😉
7. The horse-collar tackle rule now includes a defender grabbing the jersey at the name plate or above.
8. A player who gets two fouls for certain kinds of unsportsmanlike conduct is automatically ejected. This one will come back to bite teams. Imagine…if Mike Evans complains to a ref for a bad call twice, he is automatically ejected? This is very vague.
9. Multiple spots of enforcement for a double foul after a change of possession have been eliminated.
July 5th, 2016 at 6:34 am
Here is the definition of culture according to google search:
1.the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively.
The way I see this it means a team which has unselfish players playing with a passion to win. (Focus on the win and work together). I agree with that concept. Culture fits perfectly.
Nevertheless, I always enjoy your input Joe. You really do assist us Bucs fans to keep our Buccaneer blood pumping all year long. Thank you.
Go Bucs!
July 5th, 2016 at 6:41 am
I’ve ALWAYS liked coach smith….
…..he’s a helluva defensive coach
….I’m so excited about the upcoming season
July 5th, 2016 at 6:55 am
Mike Smith’s ONE Responsibility – Mold this defense into a competitive squad.
July 5th, 2016 at 6:59 am
Rule #3 is interesting…
3. Put the team first. Successful teams have teammates that are unselfish and willing to put their individual goals behind the team’s goals…
If our defense goes from worst to 1st and calls for Mike Smiths HC services start flooding One BuC will he put his individual goal behind our temperature goals?? probably not…
I absolutely love the coaching staff Dirk assembled…hopefully we can keep them around for a few years…
July 5th, 2016 at 7:01 am
“Team”, not temperature…smh…
July 5th, 2016 at 7:17 am
Rule #6 caught my attention right off the bat Joe … “Understand that all organizational decisions aim to make the team better, stronger, and more efficient.”
Have scratched my head many times through the years at some of the ‘organizational decisions’ made by the Bucs. Some were strictly money-driven (Brooks, Sapp, Lynch departures?) and some were just plain dumb (goodbye Michael Bennett?). I’m sure every Bucs fan can name dozens of their own. Point is … every level in an organization makes bonehead plays, sometimes. Or put another way … Rule #6 is a wish and was made to be broken.
Bonzai, thanks for that great list of rules updates. I especially agree with you on #1 (the refs screw up so the team gets penalized?).
July 5th, 2016 at 9:24 am
Without reading the use of culture in context.I would compare it to team chemistry and the idea that selfish penalties affect the whole
team.nothing wrong with team first concept.
July 5th, 2016 at 9:40 am
Bonzai.. wow, a penalty flag fest in other words. Just what fans are sick of. Culturally, if that’s even a word, the Bucs are that when it comes to losing.
July 5th, 2016 at 10:34 am
A football teams culture, to me, is the result of confidence and accountability. All players and coaches need to be confident not only in themselves but in their teammates. A professional level of accountability keeps everyone working to the same standard. Remember the late 90s? When Sapp was pleading for 17 points? Gruden came in and established confidence and accountability. In the locker room you must be able to look around and know that you’re surrounded by people that will not only do their job, but will make sure you do yours. This breeds cohesiveness and that mindset that Winston spoke of after week 17 last season.
July 5th, 2016 at 1:56 pm
I think if you asked the most successful coaches in the league about the culture of winning, they would tell you it’s essential. I’d put money on it, Joe. The difference between the mentality of being a loser and a winner is big, especially for a team trying to get over the hump, like the Bucs. It’s not just about having a talented roster. The “culture” encompasses everything that goes into preparing to win that’s outside of talent and schemes. If you don’t have it, you don’t win.
July 5th, 2016 at 4:23 pm
All of this is just a bunch of..yakety yak. There’s only one rule and one responsibility. That be..WINNING. By any means necessary. By one or by 50. Just WIN. Its like Mike Tyson once said, Everybody’s got a plan….until they get hit!
July 5th, 2016 at 6:51 pm
It sounds an awful lot like Coach Smith is describing McCoy. Be careful, you don’t want to be lumped in with McCoy on this corner of the interwebs…
July 6th, 2016 at 3:49 am
salish_seamonster Says:
July 5th, 2016 at 1:56 pm
“I think if you asked the most successful coaches in the league about the culture of winning, they would tell you it’s essential. I’d put money on it, Joe. The difference between the mentality of being a loser and a winner is big, especially for a team trying to get over the hump, like the Bucs. It’s not just about having a talented roster.
****The “culture” encompasses everything that goes into preparing to win that’s outside of talent and schemes.****
If you don’t have it, you don’t win.”
–Great take. A winning culture is created by the use of a specific methodology, particular to that Head Coach, passed on down to the coaching staff, and out to the players. Players contribute too, just like Hardy Nickerson did when he arrived from Pittsburgh, but mostly, it comes from the HC.
Anyone remember the last couple of months of the 1996 season?
THAT was winning culture taking over, proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and I believe that the 2016 season will show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a winning culture is firmly established, from the GM all the way on down. This roster clearly needs a rise in overall talent, (which we’ve seen with the last three drafts) but we are definitely trending up, and steeply.