To Amy Adams Strunk: I know you only want what is best for the Tennessee Titans. The issue seems to be that you really just don’t know how to get there. But I think I have the answer for you. There is a legendary former sports executive that you could model yourself and your decision-making after in an attempt to turn the franchise around.
No, I don’t think you should name yourself general manager like Jerry Jones in Dallas. That’s accomplished little for three decades now.
And I don’t want you getting any ideas about standing on the sideline with a notepad and a headset like new Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon. Things are going well in Indy this year, but I have it on good authority that you had a big hand in yanking the play-calling duties from Brian Callahan three weeks before you fired him. I don’t need you close enough to be tempted to whisper in Cam Ward’s ear. He’s struggling enough trying to get his footing in your chaotic mess of a franchise.
No, the sports executive I want you to emulate is actually from baseball – someone who toiled for years for MLB’s most successful franchise, the New York Yankees.
The executive I’m asking you to mimic is none other than former assistant to the traveling secretary George Costanza, friend and confidant to Jerry Seinfeld.
‘With all due respect, I find it very hard to see the logic behind some of the moves you have made with this fine organization’
Since I’m not exactly sure how familiar you are with Mr. Costanza because you never spend time talking to the media anymore, I’ll give you the CliffsNotes version of George, what was happening in his life and how one simple piece of advice – the same advice I’m now offering to you – changed his trajectory.
George was at a low point. A short-lived career as a hand model hadn’t really worked out, and he was once fired from a job because of too much, shall we say, fraternization with the cleaning lady. Before his tenure with the Yankees, he considered careers in architecture and marine biology but had the training for neither.
“My life is the complete opposite of what I want it to be,” he confessed to his friends. “Every instinct that I have in every aspect of life, whether it be something to eat or something to wear, it’s all been wrong.”
Jerry, as usual, had the solution to George’s problem: “If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right.”
In virtually no time, George had a new girlfriend, a new upscale Manhattan apartment and a career with the Yankees – all from doing the opposite of what his gut told him to do.
Now, Amy, I know you don’t suffer the same depths of despair as George. There’s a $2 billion stadium being built for you in Nashville as proof of that.
But I think you would agree the Titans have, for the last four years, been the exact opposite of what you want them to be. And what’s worse, there is no clear solution in sight.
I really think this opposite thing could work as far as your decision-making with the Titans. It certainly can’t be any worse than the constant cycle of hiring and firing that has taken place in recent years.
‘If she can’t find me, she can’t break up with me’
So, the next time the Titans fall flat with your family and friends in attendance – and you think it is the proper time to fire the coach – don’t get upset. Resist that urge and try to stay the course a little longer by doing the opposite.
The next time a draft pick you counted on to elevate the franchise struggles and doesn’t produce immediate results, don’t follow your feelings and fire the general manager who selected him. Go against your instinct. Show patience and resolve before curling that itchy trigger finger. Give that front office and player more than just a season or two to prove themselves.
That will mean no meddling in the coming weeks and months. You must ignore the opinions and input of non-football people who might be in your inner circle.
Not ignoring that instinct is how you wound up with Ran Carthon and Brian Callahan, both good men who maybe could have succeeded in better situations than Tennessee. But both were inexperienced in dealing with the day-to-day rigors of running an NFL team and dealing with an owner apt to act on her whims and emotions with swift, harsh action.
Neither Carthon nor Callahan lasted two full calendar years on your watch.
As much as you might be tempted to look over the shoulders of Chad Brinker, president of football operations, and general manager Mike Borgonzi when the next crop of coaching candidates is being interviewed in January, don’t. Let them do their jobs and find the right guy for the job. Then, let the full process play out without the needless interference and spontaneous impulsiveness that have come to mark your tenure as owner.
To borrow more words of wisdom from George: “It’s not complicated.”
You might also take a cue from the real George and “curb your enthusiasm” next time you want to make a rash decision.
Terry McCormick also covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com