In a vivid story Coach Gene Chizik reveals his secret intention to make a mess of things. He points to the powerful emotions behind his success sabotage: fear, guilt, and self-idealization.
We pause for a brief review of the way we listen for the secret story.
At the crucial point in the season Chizik pulls a “no quarterback” read “no leader” déjà vu as he jerks his starting quarterback at halftime after only four and a half games. He repeats his identical error from the preceding season and makes certain he doesn’t really have a quarterback. Young wide receiver Sammie Coates identifies unknowingly the real problem, “they [the coaches–Chizik] really didn’t want to win deep down.” The coach’s chaotic decisions reveal how he unconsciously undermined his team to the point of near mutiny and in the end micromanaged himself out of a job. Others including his defensive coordinator and a freshman quarterback speak volumes about Chizik’s unrecognized retreat. Yet the head coach has much to teach about the secret pressure of success.
Infamous bank-robber Willie Sutton was once asked why he targeted banks. “Because that’s where the money is,” he answered.
So why do we look deeper into the mind of Gene Chizik in light of his team’s unmatched calamitous decline? Because that’s where the real answers are. There lays the power of hidden motivation — why success itself totally blind-sided him.
Chizik’s decisions reflecting one retreat after another reveal his blind spots.
Auburn star Michael Dyer–MVP of the 2010 national championship game as a freshman running back — reveals how difficult and overwhelming the burden of early success can be. Dyer struggled through his sophomore year before completely caving into the pressure with his behavior resulting in being kicked off of two teams. He serves as a proxy for Auburn coach Gene Chizik who likewise could not handle his own early unexpected success, winning the championship in his second year as an SEC coach.
From ‘All In to All Out’
As college football prepares to begin its bowl season, a major player on the scholastic gridiron stunned its faithful fans by sabotaging its long-held tradition of success. The performance of the 2012 Auburn University football team represented an unprecedented collapse of historic proportions. No other former national champion has fallen so far so fast. Two short years after winning it all, Auburn posted the worst record ever for a former champion. The team lost nine of its 12 games.
Now Dr. Andrew G. Hodges, a prominent psychiatrist and forensic profiler, shows how a breakthrough to the mind sheds extraordinary new light …
@2023 Andrew G. Hodges
