Urban Flight
It's amazing to me when people blessed with ability and the drive to become great are able to have enough perspective to leave on their terms. In sports, the endgame is something many of our heroes have not been able to win. So many of the superstars that we've come to love have the need to hang around a little too long, sometimes damaging their legacy. Sometimes, players underestimate the impact of injuries that accumulate over time. We saw Larry Bird try to hang on with a bad back, but he was never able to get himself healthy enough to really challenge the Pistons' or Bulls' emergence. And sometimes, it's not a specific injury, but simply it's the ravages of time that slow our stars down. This coupled with the competitiveness that makes these people great makes for some uncomfortable, sometimes dangerous situations. We watched with sad feeling as a slower, heavier, less awe-inspiring Michael Jordan tried to come back with the Wiz. And even worse, we watched uncomfortably as an overmatched Muhammad Ali tried to turn back the clock against Larry Holmes, only to take a brutal beating while being too proud to quit.
Hanging on too long may be hazardous to your health.Pop culture has create a bit of a cottage industry selling expensive throwback jerseys of iconic players with strange team colors and logos. This is always fascinating to see people wearing these jerseys, and you have to think for a second about what it is that you're actually looking at.
Evidently, Broadway is in Los Angeles (or perhaps it's moved to St. Louis).
Say Hey - one of the game's Giants... sort of.On the flip side, a small handful of stars are able to either leave on top or step aside gracefully. We have the image of John Elway riding off into the sunset as a back-to-back Super Bowl champ after the 1998 season. Perhaps we think about Jim Brown running and receiving for 21 TD, 1872 yards, and winning his 5th MVP in 1965 at the age of 29. Or more recently, Barry Sanders stepping aside at the age of 30, after his 10th Pro Bowl season (out of 10 years played).
Leaving on top. Beats leaving in a heap.Even among coaching icons, we see examples of coaches who hung on a little too long. Chuck Noll, the 4-time Super Bowl winning coach for the Steelers went 44-51 (.463) over his last 6 seasons, after going 149-97 (.606) in the years before that. Bobby Bowden is one current example, going 37-27 (.578) over last 5 seasons (pending this year's bowl game), after going 278-70 (.799) in the years before that. And this year, he was finally forced to resign by the powers that be at Florida St., in a somewhat sad situation.
Dadgum. Winning is harder when we have to play good teams.In hoops, we see Gene Keady going 63-79 (.444) in his last 5 seasons at Purdue, after going 449-191 (.702) in the years before that. Even our own Lou Henson went 86-64 (.573) in his last 5 seasons at Illinois, after going 376-160 (.701) in his time before that (note, Lou also bailed out his alma mater, New Mexico St. after he retired from Illinois, and coached another 8 seasons at a .611 clip). But not everyone leaves on a down note. THE icon in coaching is John Wooden, who coached his last game in 1975, after winning his 10th national championship (which was the 8th out of the previous 9, and 10th in previous 12 years).
Now, Urban Meyer, one of college football's class acts, steps aside at the age of 45, with potentially another 10 years at the top of the game, making $4+ million per year. He finishes going to his 4th BCS Bowl, having won 2 of the last 4 national championships (and also went undefeated in 2004 at Utah), and leaves behind the nation's top incoming recruiting class. He gets to be one of the few who leave the game while their skills are still in tact, with his health and family still in tact, as well. That's the sort of move that the Board Room salutes.
Update: 12/27/09 - It appears that Meyer has been talked into taking a leave of absence, rather than simply resigning. So, this appears to be more akin to Coach K (no chance that I could spell his name w/out looking it up) taking a leave of absence back in the 90's. I think that this is the more practical option, though I do sort of like the idea of just saying, "screw it, I've been to the mountain top, and now I'm going to just hang out and be awesome."
-Chairman
1 comment:
Enjoyed the post. And yeah, when I heard Urban Legend was stepping down at Florida that probably ranked as the #1 most surprising sports story of the year for me. (A close 2nd would be magnitude of Tiger's womanizing... not surprised that he would be unfaithful to his wife, but I was stunned by the size and scope of his infidelities.)
With Barry Sanders I was happy upon learning of his retirement (he always owned the Bears). But a few years later I remember thinking it was kinda weird that he stepped away like that--and many sports analysts criticized him for not having the competitive fire. In hindsight, what Sanders did was probably pretty smart. Not only was he doing what Jim Brown did by stepping down in his prime, he also was protecting his long-term health. There has been much talk recently about the effects of football on the brain, but that aside, the effects of football on your joints is undeniably bad.
Look at Brett Favre this season. Froma statistical standpoint, he's done a good job of shutting up most of his critics. But reports I've heard say the guy can barely walk six days of the week. I think a lot of older NFL players are beyond the point where they obviously need to give up football for health reasons, but the game and the glory is in their blood, so somehow every Sunday they're able to muster enough adrenaline and guts to do what they've trained their entire lives to do.
Ever since Florida beat OSU for the national championship a few years ago, I've had a lot of respect for Urban Meyer. And as his Florida program continued to roll through the years, my respect for him grew. Granted, I was never a cheering fan of Meyer and the Gators, but I did respect them.
The story of Meyer resigning at age 45 does make him seem a little more human to me (actually in a similar manner that the recent Tiger "scandal" makes him seem more human and vulnerable to me).
Can you imagine if you were a HS football recruit last season trying to decide between Penn State and Florida, would you have ever dreamt that Urban Meyer would leave coaching before Joe Paterno?
It's been well known for the past 15+ years that opposing coaches have used JoePa's age against him when recruiting. "Don't go to Penn State. Joe Paterno won't be there all 4 years." And honestly, in the early 2000's I felt it was time for him to retire too.
I don't know how JoePa did it, but he has righted the ship at Penn State. They haven't been as good as they were when Kerry Collins/KiJana Carter/Bobby Engram led them to an undefeated '94 season (a team that likely lost the national championship vote to Nebraska when Colorado's Kordell Stewart threw a 70-yard Hail Mary on the last play to win at Michigan), but over the past 5 years Penn State football has probably been among the 10 most successful college football programs--especially if they collect their 4th bowl win in 5 years.
If you look back at the end of 2004, Penn State had put together 4 of 5 sub-.500 seasons and was coming off back-to-back losing seasons. JoePa was about to turn 78 and even the Penn State faithful were saying it was time for him to go. Yet not only was he able to lead the Nittany Lions to an 11-1 record and BCS bowl win in 2005/06, but he's been able to sustain that success in the following seasons.
For a while there Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno were fairly close in terms of career wins. But Paterno's program always had Bowden's program beat by a wide margin in terms of graduation rates.
When I look at the success that Urban Meyer had at both Utah and Florida, it's kinda sad that he won't have a chance to keep it going for the foreseeable future. But Meyer's departure also makes me see what JoePa has been able to accomplish in terms of longevity in a whole new light.
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