Coach Dungy’s criticism of Coach Ryan’s F bombs is silly. Great coaches are genuine, communicate well, set a standard of intensity, and teach their players that there is nothing the team cannot do together. This is exactly what Coach Ryan is doing with his language.

There is more than one way to be a great coach. John Wooden never swore and is considered the greatest college basketball coach of all time. Coach K is not shy to cuss yet is all class always. Bill Belichick is our football genius yet is the most boring speaker in any room. Coach Calhoun curses at not only his players, but the refs, assistant coaches, scorekeepers, reporters, and heck even his own AD. He built UConn from nothing to one of the elite basketball programs in the country. Yet all these coaches have one thing in common: they are genuine. When Coach Ryan drops an F bomb most importantly he is being Coach Ryan.

The Coach Ryan cussing is him as the coach DEMANDING a level of intensity from his team. “Go out there and hit them hard” does not communicate the same intensity required from a professional football player as “Go fu$king knock the fu$k out of those fu$king bastards till they know they are playing the JETS!”

The F bombs also communicate to his players I am one of you. I sat in on a trading lecture with one of the most learned, classiest, most respected trading coaches of the past ten years. This well-educated, proper, ethical superstar finished the first sentence of his talk with an F bomb. The admiring traders filling the room squirmed in their seats as this was so unexpected. But this trading coach was communicating. He was making a connection with the room. This famous coach was saying I am one of you. And the F bomb was his way of doing this.

The Jets lacked confidence before Coach Ryan entered stage right. He talked about winning a Super Bowl when the Jets stunk. Football fans reading his predictions reacted,”Who the hell is this cocky new Jets coach? The Jets stink.” But his language led the team to fear no one and expect greatness. Now the Jets are expected to win the Super Bowl. He created a standard of excellence through his intense language.

Coach Dungy was a great coach. If you are a spiritual person or interested in coaching go find his book, Quiet Strength. You can see why he was so successful. He was genuine. Not cussing fit everything else about his coaching. The light hours to spend more time with his family. The insistence in discipline expressed on the football field by winning the battle of turnovers each game. The precise execution demanded from his offense. An F bomb would have been out of place for him. But none of this would work for Coach Ryan.

Now if someone wants to take a shot at Coach Ryan for indulging too much at Cafe Ryan, well that I cannot defend 🙂

Mike Bellafiore
Author, One Good Trade: Inside the Highly Competitive World of Proprietary Trading (Wiley Trading)