2nd Chances
+ Derrick Rose, Daniel Coyle, & Mike Vrabel
“The people who complain about the way the ball bounces are the same ones who fumbled it.” — Lou Holtz
Hey Coaches,
Here you go!
✍️ Articles
The Secret to Mike Vrabel’s Success: Albert Breer touches on how Mike Vrabel’s leadership, culture-building, and intentional relationships drove the Patriots’ stunning turnaround to a Super Bowl. Note: it starts slow, but is great.
“Instead of a traditional fine system, the Patriots have adopted a cash-based system—money that goes to what they call the “treatment bank.” Players know that if they walk into a meeting late, rather than incurring hefty monetary penalties withdrawn from their paychecks, they’ll incur more minor fines that come in cash. That cash is then handed over to lunch ladies, equipment guys or intern trainers as bonuses.”
Mike Vrabel Is Redefining NFL Coaching: Another great read on Vrabel before tonight’s game.
"At the Patriots’ opening offseason workout, Vrabel startled the players when one of the the first things he asked them to do was the 'victory formation,' the kneel-down play to run out the clock when a game is won."
🎙️ Podcast
EconTalk: How to Flourish (with Daniel Coyle): Ignore the title being ‘economic-related’ - I’ve listened to a few episodes Coyle has done about his new book (Flourish: The Art of Building Meaning, Joy, and Fulfillment) and this was my favorite. Stick around for the ending on how he helps the Cleveland Indians implement these ideas with their organization. [2/2/26 — 75 minutes] Apple | Spotify | YouTube
“Flourishing is not a machine. It’s not something you optimize, maximize, or predict. It’s an idea from the natural world—about how living systems develop, growing from the inside out rather than being controlled from the top down.”
“We don’t build relationships by treating people as tasks to be completed. We build them by stopping, surrendering control, and entering moments of receptive stillness.”
“You don’t do growth to people. You create the conditions where growth can happen.”
💭 Miscellaneous
Derrick Rose on being present (Source):
“It’s about really living in that presence of not a predictable future and not a familiar past,” Rose told The Athletic. “I was done living in that time. I want to live exactly in the middle (ground), because I feel like when you live in a familiar past, that’s when people go into the talk of, ‘Man, I used to be …’
“The predictable future, that’s cool, but at the same time, you limit yourself. I never want to be limited.”
Second Chances (source):
33% of Super Bowl winning head coaches had achieved their championship after failing to win a title with their first team. Here’s all sports:
👏🔥👏