Coach Nick Saban has a philosophy that he call's "The Process". He lives it, he imparts it to his athlete's, they buy into it and then you see it work to near perfection.
The Process has a heavy emphasis on hard work and preparation. Not in winning championships, but being champions. Focus on the present. Don't think in the past or in the future.
Coach Saban first initiated this philosophy at Michigan State University with the help of Psychiatry Professor Lionel Rosen. I've personally often heard the old adage, how do you eat an elephant? The answer, one bite at a time. This is "The Process". For football that means taking an average 7 second play and totally dominating the man across from you. The idea, if you go into a game thinking I'm going to dominate the entire game, you're thinking wrong. Don't think ahead. Think in the present. Do everything you are prepared and trained to do and do it to perfection. Execute.Rest. Repeat this for 60 minutes of a football game. Do not look at the scoreboard, do not think ahead to the next play, do not think about the mistake you made previously. Think about the here and now. Be present in the present.
After implementing The Process at Michigan State, Coach Saban took a 4-4 team to Columbus, Ohio and beat an undefeated Ohio State team 28-24. The process worked.
One of the key elements of Saban's process, is clearly defined expectations for his players not only on the field, but also academically and personally (including a dress code), which are monitored year-round.
Academically this has been proven as evidenced by the Alabama football program being among seven recipients of the 2017 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Academic Achievement Award. The GSR (Graduation Success Rate) is based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes and was developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes. The 2010 Crimson Tide Freshman Football Class had a 100% GSR. (source: Roll Tide.com)
Back to Football, Saban states, “It’s not the end result. Don’t think about winning the SEC Championship. Don’t think about the national championship. Think about what you needed to do in this drill, on this play, in this moment.That’s the process: Let’s think about what we can do today, the task at hand.”
In some of Coach Saban's philosophy he states, “We don’t have one individual on our team that can make our team great, but we can have one individual who could destroy the team chemistry by making bad decisions and destroy all the things we’re talking about."
Coach Saban so drills "The Process" into his players heads, he get's every player to believe and to buy into this thought process. It's quite clear, the players who do not, are not needed anymore. The team pretty much takes over from there, they really don't want a team-mate who has a different philosophy from their own. They must all be like-minded.
So the next time you are thinking of winning. Remember "The Process".
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