Urban, the Jaguars, and Resilience, Part II

In the first post Urban Meyer, Trevor Lawrence, the Jaguars, and Resilience, Jaguars Head Coach Urban Meyer’s resilience was examined, but it wasn’t only his resilience. I also examined Jaguars Quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s and the Jaguars as an organization, led and personified by Owner Shad Khan. The backdrop for examining their resilience – the ability to respond triumphantly to adversity – was their winless season to that point (0-4) and if they would succeed in turning the team around. A very significant part of their success as defined by Urban Meyer, is his assertion that the Jaguars organizational culture must be changed as well. As stated, that is a significantly greater goal.

As some in the media and social media clearly wanted Urban Meyer fired for a host of reasons, it’s fair to say that no one anticipated the next shoe to drop. Meyer, the head coach and leader of the team, the culture changer, chose not to fly back to Jacksonville with the team after another tough loss in Cincinnati, and was filmed partying with a woman not his wife. He deeply hurt himself, his family, and the Jaguars organization. After the video was posted on social media for all the world to see, Meyer apologized. Even his apology, and the way he did it, was dissected and debated for days. In the aftermath, as the calls for his firing grew into an inferno, Shad Khan issued a statement that he was not going to fire Meyer, but that he had to earn back his and the Jaguars trust. To say that Urban Meyer handed his critics more ammunition to use against him and the Jaguars organization would be an understatement. They were given something more like a machinegun.

Although Coach Meyer’s personal, moral, and team failure doesn’t appear to be connected to the resilience examined in the first post, I believe it is. In that light the following observations are offered:

Personal conduct and resilience have a direct impact on organizational culture and resilience.  It is often said, such as in the wake of a politician’s personal failure, that personal conduct has no impact on public performance. History, I believe, reveals otherwise. For example, U.S. presidents that had significant personal failings saw their administrations directly deteriorated. President Lincoln, on the other hand, was able to guide the nation through the catastrophe of the Civil War due to the strong personal resilience he gained through a lifetime of adversity.

Resilience is a learned behavior.  Although personality probably has some role in it, a person’s resilience is also a learned behavior in response to adversity. It is learned from parents, grandparents, and other role models as the way to react to tough circumstances. It is no accident that “The Greatest Generation” that survived the Great Depression and World War II responded the way they did. The Great Depression well prepared that generation destined to fight the Second World War.

Personal resilience is greatly strengthened by the group’s resilience. Like observation #2, people can feed off the resilience they see in others around them. In interviews of those Londoners who survived The Blitz – the horrific Nazi Luftwaffe bombing campaign against the civilian population of London – it is reported that although every day Londoners were completely exhausted from digging out collapsed buildings looking for survivors buried alive, they didn’t stop digging simply because everyone they saw around them kept digging.    

Regarding Urban Meyer, Trevor Lawrence, the Jaguars, and Resilience specifically, the linkage of a chosen moral failure to true adversity and resilience may be questioned. The two are linked in the sense that however the adversity arrives, Coach Meyer, Trevor Lawrence, and the Jaguars still have choices to make. There are different kinds of adversity. Urban Meyer apologized and chose not to resign. Trevor Lawrence, when asked by the media about Meyer, clearly supported him by stating ‘He’s still my Head Coach.’ The team didn’t quit on him. And, of course, Owner Shad Khan could’ve easily fired him but didn’t.

Ironically, in the aftermath of all the adversity and controversy they suffered through, Meyer, Lawrence, and the Jaguars won their first game of the season in London on a literally last-second field goal. Perhaps their common adversity and chosen resilience has produced the turnaround for which they have been desperately searching from the beginning?

Urban, the Jaguars, and Resilience, Part I

When Shad Khan, the owner of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, pursued Urban Meyer to be his head coach this past offseason, it instantly became fascinating to watch. From the outside, however, it appeared that Mr. Khan pursued Meyer to be their transformational team leader perhaps more than Meyer was pursuing the Jaguars. Meyer, by his own admission, did a lot of research about the possibility, including closely conferring with former coaches that made the same transition from college to the NFL. Reportedly, with the first pick of the NFL Draft, the prospect of the Jaguars drafting Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence – described as a ‘generational talent’ – was also a very important piece of Meyer’s decision-making process.    

Very early on after his hire, Urban Meyer spoke a lot about the need to ‘change the culture’ of the Jaguars, especially with his insightful observation that ‘culture determines behavior.’ Meyer later revealed that he made it clear that the need to change the Jaguars culture, and Mr. Khan’s agreement to invest significant personnel and money in Jacksonville to do it, was a fundamental requirement for him to become the next head coach of the previously 1 – 15 franchise. Embarking on the change of an organization’s culture is no small task and isn’t done on a short-term basis. It’s far bigger than changing a team. In hiring Meyer, however, the message from Mr. Khan was also crystal clear. He isn’t an NFL owner satisfied with collecting his almost guaranteed money from simply owning the franchise. He wants to win, and he expects Urban Meyer to turn it around.

From the outset of the hiring of Meyer, one of the questions posed by many observers, including the professional media, was ‘Is this a good fit and how long will he last?’ The reasoning was, at least on the surface, that Meyer’s long history as a college coach may work against him in the NFL. Meyer has had a stellar career as a college head coach with football programs at Utah, Florida, and Ohio State, but he also departed from head coaching positions unexpectedly because of stress-related health issues. The stress of coaching jobs, something which he still speaks about (‘I worry about everything’), imply to some observers that he may not be long for the NFL.

Other factors, such as the way he coached his college players versus the way he’ll have to coach NFL professionals, Meyer’s lack of NFL experience, being very unaccustomed to losing games under very intense scrutiny, and the speculation about the head coach vacancy at USC’s historic football program, all serve to build the doubter’s narrative. The most important factor on the field, however, is the performance of his rookie quarterback, Trevor Lawrence. After the Jaguars have fallen to 0 – 4, like his head coach, Trevor Lawrence is extremely unaccustomed to losing football games, causing questions about his outlook and durability with a losing franchise.

In other words, as former Atlanta Falcons head coach Jerry Glanville was once said, ‘You know why they call it the NFL – because it’s not for long!’ So, the question is, what does the hiring and speculated departure of Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer, and the Jaguars as a franchise, have to do with resilience? I think everything.

For transparency’s sake, after examining both the verbal and nonverbal communication in many of the press briefings Coach Meyer has done, both before and after his Jaguars hiring, I’m convinced that he currently has no intention of leaving the team before he believes his job is accomplished. I believe that he truly believes that he’s in it for the long haul.

So, following are some observations about the resilience of Coach Urban Meyer, Trevor Lawrence, and the Jacksonville Jaguars, and what it may indicate for each of them going forward:  

1.       Urban Meyer is very resilient. I believe there’s a lot of evidence that points to it. Although sometimes words are cheap, they can also be gold, which reveal someone’s true beliefs and motivations. For instance, Meyer doesn’t use the word “resilient” much, but a lot of his communication about how he evaluates, selects, and coaches players is actually centered on resilience. In his press briefings he speaks very highly of his team, including Trevor Lawrence. He uses words such as “competitiveness”, “mental toughness”, “hard as nails”, and “I love that guy – everything about him.” Meyer constantly expresses strong loyalty to his team in how he speaks about them to the press. He has their back and he expects that loyalty expressed is loyalty received as well. Lastly, the fact that he returned to the pressure cooker of coaching a 1 – 15 NFL team after his last college job may indicate he’s either completely delusional or very resilient.

2.       Quarterback Trevor Lawrence is very resilient too. Almost as important as #1, there’s a lot of evidence that former #1 pick Trevor Lawrence is also very resilient, in spite of his lack of experience at losing. Urban Meyer speaks about Lawrence consistently in terms of his steadiness, mental toughness, work ethic, and that he believes in him as his quarterback. In watching Lawrence’s verbal and nonverbal communication in a losing environment, including his press briefing after their heartbreaking loss to the Bengals, he is one cool cat. Even when answering questions about where the team failed, his eyes are bright and smiling. It’s clear he really he believes what he says about himself – “I’m made of the right stuff”, “I’m not gonna play timid” – and is determined to not let their record crush him. After leading the NFL ‘interception board’ in their first three losses, it’s no accident that he bounced back with a tremendous game against the Bengals.

3.       The Jaguars resilience as a franchise is not yet clear. It’s not clear in my view because the resilience level of the franchise’s most important member, team owner Shad Khan, isn’t clear. By his resilience I am referring to Khan’s determination to stick with Meyer and see the whole culture change process through. Obviously, he’s the captain of the ship and it ultimately goes where he directs. There are some encouraging signs of resilience, however. Simply his interview and selection of Urban Meyer, who didn’t only want to coach the worst team in the NFL, but to change its culture, speaks volumes. Mr. Khan is certainly a serious person who isn’t going to simply humor Meyer with lofty goals and not intend to buy into them. In fact, Mr. Khan literally bought in. He bought in to the idea of culture change in Jacksonville, with a lot of personnel and infrastructure upgrades, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.    

For me, this will be a fascinating story to follow in the weeks and months to come. I hope that all three contributors – Meyer, Lawrence, and the Jaguars – in what they’re trying to achieve in Jacksonville, have the resilience to see it to its successful completion.

In September 1995...

In September 1995, long before I served on the ATF Peer Response Team, I got a call to respond to an explosion in Essex, Maryland. Very few details were provided as usual, but I assumed it was going to be a long night. After arriving and being assigned to a section of the blast scene to methodically search, I found something on the ground that crystallized the trauma for me personally. It was the singular aspect of the blast scene – where an estranged husband lured his wife and three young children into his car to kill them with stolen high explosives – that acted like a hook which I couldn’t rationalize, forget, or ignore. It wouldn’t be until many years later that I realized that the ‘hook’ was a very common part of what makes an incident traumatic for each person. It’s no different than the hook in the mouth of a fish; something from which the fish has very little or no ability to free themselves.   

It wasn’t my first critical incident, but I decided on the drive home hours later that I wasn’t going to talk about it, or as little as I had to, to protect my own wife and kids. How could I describe that grisly scene to those who never, ever, should see such things without failing to protect them? Days passed and the explosive incident turned into a full forensic investigation into what created the mass homicide.   

Because of the nature of the scene, the decision was made to bring in the ATF Peer Response Team. I was relieved that I was previously scheduled to travel to St. Louis for a conference and I wouldn’t have to talk to the arriving team. A few days later, while at the conference, I was only one agent among hundreds of attendees, and I didn’t think anyone would ever ask about me the bombing. What I didn’t know was that some agents in St. Louis were notified by others in Baltimore about the investigation and that I was a part of it.

A St. Louis group supervisor whom I had never met, approached me at the conference and said something like, ‘Hey, I got a call from some of your people in Baltimore about that bombing. Tough scene. Let’s get some dinner and talk a little about it.’ After the surprise wore off, I replied something very noncommittal, but had no intention of talking to him or anyone else about it. I thought I dodged another bullet until the next day when an agent approached me and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I knew I was somewhat of a captive audience with nowhere to hide, so I agreed to meet him and the GS for a steak dinner that night.  

While the three of us were at dinner, it didn’t take long for the GS to bring up the bombing. We talked a little about my role in the investigation, and I was doing my best to hide my emotions. Then the GS proceeded to describe exactly what I did the night I arrived home from the blast scene. I was stunned. I tried to keep my emotions in check, but I couldn’t. I started to cry over my dinner in front of two agents I didn’t really know. I told them all of it.  

Although it appears unresolved (unhealed) trauma is one factor that may contribute to suicide, it almost certainly isn’t the only cause. In fact, in conversations with psychologists and psychiatrists who specialize in trauma and suicide prevention, it’s clear that there is still a lot of mystery about suicide and its causes. I am not a mental health clinician, but by training and experience I believe there is something powerful for those struggling and those concerned for others with their mental health. It’s conversation with people we trust.

There is something very powerful – God-ordained I believe – that happens when we speak about hard things with those whom we feel safe to express vulnerability. Whenever that is happening, that’s a very good thing. It’s the beginning of the path to greater resilience. On the contrary, when we’re concerned for someone with whom authentic trust has been built and they no longer respond to us, that’s a concern. In fact, if someone invented a ‘Mental Health Concern Meter,’ I believe it would show a direct correlation between the amount of effort a person uses to avoid conversation to the amount of concern others should have for their well-being. My observation is that a commonality of people considering suicide is their use of isolation. If someone we know seems unusually dedicated to isolating themselves, even creating scenarios that seem to justify it, then it is time to enlist more trusted people into the conversation for their sake.

Suicide is not a simple problem, and there a lot of people that have worked hard to resolve it, but one of the best ways is simply people confiding in others they deeply trust. It’s a great display of strength to ask for help when we need it. It is also a display of strength to be a conversation starter for those we love.