When Coach K Nearly Got Fired: Management Mistakes

In 1984, Mike Krzyzewski thought Duke was going to fire him.

 

The Athletic Director, Tom Butters, called Coach K into his office. As the Wall Street Journal explains:

 

“Butters wanted to see Krzyzewski for exactly the reason that he feared: He wanted to rip up his contract. Except he wasn’t firing him. He was giving the coach an extension.”

 

Tom Butters faced tremendous pressure to fire Coach K from alumni and fans.

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An unpopular decision

 

“It was hard for anyone to imagine his success during Krzyzewski’s early years at Duke, which started rocky and cratered with the most lopsided loss in school history to end 1983. After two years with 10-17 and 11-17 records, Duke started the next season 14-1, until three straight losses to ranked conference teams, including one to rival North Carolina and another by 33 points, plunged Krzyzewski’s team back into the familiar tumult.”

Butter’s response?

He told Coach K that people (fans and the media) simply didn’t know how good a coach he was. The coach signed a 5-year contract on the day another loss dropped his record at Duke to 52-52.

Was it the right call?

 

Coach K produced “1,000 wins, 60 NBA players and five national championships” at Duke.

 

When Bill Belichick Coached the Cleveland Browns

 

Belichick is in his 22^nd season as head coach of the New England Patriots, and is the only head coach in NFL history to win six Super Bowl titles. His current career record is 311-148 (.678), the second-best winning percentage for coaches with at least 150 wins.

 

So it makes perfect sense that the Cleveland Browns fired him.

 

Google: “From 1991 until 1995, Belichick was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. During his tenure in Cleveland, he compiled a 36–44 record, leading the team to the playoffs in 1994, his only winning year with the team.”

 

What happened in Cleveland?

 

Cleveland drafted poorly at times, and Belichick fought with- and eventually cut- quarterback Bernie Kosar, who was well liked in Cleveland. Perhaps the biggest issue was when Cleveland announced a move to Baltimore in 1995, which impacted both the team’s performance and the Cleveland fans.

 

OK, fault on all sides- Belichick, management (for the draft), and Art Modell (who moved the team).

 

Short coaching tenures are the norm for pro sports.

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Pro Sports: Head Coaching Tenures

 

Here are the average tenures for head coaches in the top three sports:

 

NFL Football: 3.2 years

MLB Baseball: 3.7 years

NBA Basketball: 3.7 years

 

The MLB and NBA offer a large amount of guaranteed money to players- less so for the NFL. If you’re an owner and your team is struggling, getting rid of a player can be difficult, if a great deal of the money is locked in.

So, fire the head coach instead.

 

After all, it has to be someone’s fault, right?

I see similarly bizarre decisions in business, particularly when it comes to salespeople. In my 35-plus years since college, I’ve seen a number of friends and business contacts get mismanaged (or screwed, to put it more bluntly). I have a few theories.

 

Shouldn’t the Revenue Driver Earn the Most Money?

 

In sports, there are huge differences in the compensation from one player to another. In business and in sports, compensation is based on what the employer believes the individual can contribute to the organization. How much value is there?

 

Michael Lewis, the author of Moneyball, explains in this podcast that his original idea for the book came when he was watching a baseball game. He wondered if the low-salary players resented the highly paid players.

 

The same goes for business.

 

Sure, the person in the mailroom probably resents the guy or gal in the corner office- I sure did. With one expection.

 

If you’re skilled at bringing in sales, there should be no limit to your compensation. Sky’s the limit.

 

“Wait, that’s not fair!”

 

I think it is, because generating revenue is the most important thing- and salespeople are largely driven by compensation. If a salesperson sells 300% more in a year, triple the compensation.

 

Some companies get this, but many don’t. Why?

 

Jealousy Gets in the Way

 

If you’re really, really good at sales, you may not need to work the same hours that the accountant and the attorney work. You’re dialed in: you know who to contact, what to say, and how to overcome objections. If you can get it done in 30 hours a week and go play golf, so much the better.

 

But people get jealous- including CEOs and others in senior management.

 

So they make life harder for the successful salesperson. Management cuts their territory (great idea- let’s give some of the prospects to someone less skilled). Even worse, management asks top salespeople to train lower performers.

 

They’re in sales because they hate managing people.

 

The Lesson

 

If you manage a business, give people a reasonable amount of time to either succeed or fail- and support them along the way. When you give salespeople incentives and leave them alone to sell, you’ll have far less turnover and higher overall revenue.

 

Food for thought.

 

 

Ken

Image: Acid Pix, Red Basketball Hoop