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A Scout’s Words of Wisdom: Matt Lindsey

20 Wednesday Jul 2016

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Today, ITL’s Mark Skol talks to Matt Lindsey, who until February was the Eagles’ Scouting Coordinator. Matt worked his way up, starting as an intern in Philly after first working for Nick Saban in personnel at Alabama. Though he worked for the top program in college football, then rose pretty quickly up the ranks for the Eagles, he was the victim of a regime change, as so often happens in the NFL.

Here’s the second edition in our series.

  1. What is the one thing NFL draft fans don’t understand about the evaluation process, and about how NFL teams scout players, that they should know? 

“I think the biggest thing is how much time goes into it and the amount of work leading up to the draft. It goes back a year, two years, and sometimes even three years. An area scout is going to go into a school three times. There’s going to be another guy who goes in there twice, and there’s probably going to be another person who goes to a game. There are hundreds of hours dedicated to a single player taken in the draft regardless if it’s first round, fifth round or undrafted. They are putting in the work, not only to figure out who the player is on the field, but also off the field. I think fans see a 6-foot-5 player who is 250 pounds and had 10 sacks and automatically think he should be a first-round pick. Well, maybe he shouldn’t be. Maybe he doesn’t have the instincts, or the strength, or the explosion that we look for. Maybe he’s bad off of the field. I don’t think your average NFL fan has a full scope of understanding what all goes in to projecting a player in the NFL.”

  1. We all know the best advice for a young man hoping to play in the NFL is to play his best football this fall. However, as a former scout, what would you tell a young man’s parents?

“The most important thing they can do for their son is to be supportive. Going into their senior year, there is a lot of pressure on them, and they feel like they need to perform. Whether it comes from their coaches, player or parents, there is a lot of pressure on them. After their senior season, they go into all-star games, combines, pro days, and working out for teams, and it’s a very stressful process for the players. The last thing the parents should do is add stress to that. We see that a lot of times when a family is more of a drain on the player than actually helping the player. The most important thing for the parents is to be supportive, to be the rock for the player and not add stress to what’s already a stressful process for them.”

  1. If a young person asked you how to break into the scouting business, what advice would you have for him? 

“The most important thing is to be involved. Find a way to be involved. Your resume should show you have a passion for football, whether it’s coaching high school football or helping out at the college level or finding a way to work for an arena team or whatever it may be. The door is not always open as far as NFL scouting jobs go, but every single person who works at that level did something before that. If you can get involved in some way, then that’s going to go a long way as far as getting your foot in the door somewhere else. For me, I didn’t play college football. I got my foot in the door in the weight room.  From there, I worked at football operations and recruiting at a big college, and then I met people and got a chance to go to the NFL at an entry-level job. I think you just have to find a way to get involved and stay involved. It speaks to the person’s passion if you see them being involved with it.”

A Scout’s Words of Wisdom: Morocco Brown

19 Tuesday Jul 2016

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We’re just days from NFL scouts descending on training camps, agent hopefuls taking the NFLPA exam, and college players reporting to school to prep for the 2016 schedule. This means that there are several groups focusing on being their best for the ’16 season.

With that in mind, this week, we’re asking former NFL scouts three common questions we get from fans, aspiring scouts and parents of prospects, three major groups that read this blog. Today, we’ll kick things off with former Browns Vice President of Player Personnel Morocco Brown. Roc, as his friends know him, has plenty of words of advice for almost anyone interested in the game behind the game. Here’s a transcript of his conversation with ITL’s Mark Skol.

  1. What is the one thing NFL draft fans don’t understand about the evaluation process, and about how NFL teams scout players, that they should know? 

“How deep teams dig to find out about the player’s personal character and football character. We really want to know who they are. The tape is one thing because it’s so accessible, and you can watch it from anywhere on the planet as long as you have Wi-Fi on your Ipad. That’s going to be there, and there is plenty of time to watch the tape. But going into the school, talking to them, finding out contacts, going to the guy’s high school and talking to people who grew up with them and talking to his family down the stretch . . . people don’t realize how much goes into that to really figure out who is this guy — not only who we will invest money in, but someone who we will let join our organization. A lot of resources are put into that. Psychologically. Background information. Who is this guy? Does he love football? I don’t think they understand the magnitude of what goes into it.”

  1. We all know the best advice for a young man hoping to play in the NFL is to play his best football this fall. However, as a former scout, what would you tell a young man’s parents? 

“During his senior year, I would tell them not to apply any extra pressure on him. Because then, it turns into what you get out of the game (more than) just playing the game. Your thought process turns and it’s not about going out and doing my best and helping my teammates and university win the game; it’s, ‘where am I getting picked here, and did I do this or do that?,’ rather than just playing the game and doing what you’ve done to get to where you are your whole life. When you start thinking about the monetary part of everything, it can be a dangerous slippery slope.”

  1. If a young person asked you how to break into the scouting business, what advice would you have for him? 

“Seek out contacts and follow up with them. If you do that, the main thing to do is to not quit or get discouraged when you are told no. In my case, I only had one team call back out of the 32 I sent my resume, and I wound up being one guy out of seven auditioning for an intern position. If I would have listened to all of those letters that said “no, no, no,” I would have just quit.”

More Straight Talk from Aaron Wilson

15 Friday Jul 2016

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It’s been a busy week, and we’ve fallen a little behind on our series with Texans beat writer Aaron Wilson. However, today, before the week is out, we wanted to wrap up our discussion between ITL’s Mark Skol and the Houston Chronicle’s Wilson.

Today’s segment focuses on real talk for the aspiring football journalist. Like any writer, if we really pressed Aaron on the question of what are the perils of the business, he could probably speak for days (I know that’s true of myself). However, Aaron gives a good overview of the ‘downs’ of the biz here, and that suffices for today.

Take it away, Mark and Aaron.

What are the downs to the business?

“Obviously, there are the things you would expect. The pressure. The stress. Even sometimes (I’m) worried (about) if I’m going to get this story or that story. There are some stories that you hope to get that you work on for years. You have to deal with a lot of sports agents and other people who are close to a player to get a story like that. It’s something you have to make a large investment in with time and resources, and then it’s frustrating if you don’t get that story. You want to be first, but most importantly, you want to be right. I’m not rushed to put out a rumor because reputation is all you have. Some other tough things about the business are (that)  there’s some favoritism shown. There (are) some conflict of interests within the press. There are some things that are unfair, but life is unfair.”

What advice do you have for aspiring journalists?

“Beyond reading a lot, read the New York Times. Read the Wall Street Journal. Read books. I would say that it’s really important to gather the office. Go out and talk to people wherever they congregate, whether it’s a football field or a gym. Get in there and talk to people face to face. Try not to do many phone interviews. If you can do it, meet in person. I think it’s very important to talk to people in person. It’s very impersonal if you talk to people over phone interviews and conference calls. I would be a tough editor on myself and tell people to accept constructive feedback. You want to have mentors. You want to have people who will let you know what they think of yourself. You need people to give you some reads on if a lead works or if transitions work. Think about the details. But at some point, you have to let the story tell itself.”

Why It’s Cool to be Aaron Wilson: Part 2 of Our Interview

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

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Before we go forward, I want to make something clear: Aaron Wilson has little to no ego. He never goes around talking about how cool he is, or how cool his job is, or anything of the sort. However, I asked my assistant, Mark, to specifically ask him a couple of questions related to the fun part of his job, and when he’s thought, ‘wow, this is something I’m really glad I’m doing.’

It might not be necessary, but I just wanted to offer that disclaimer. Here’s Part Two of our interview with Aaron:

When was the moment when you thought to yourself, “I’ve got a cool job?”

“I’ve had that feeling a few times, and some times it will sink in during an owner’s meeting. I remember, this was when Steve Bisciotti bought the rest of the Ravens. I was at the meeting when he was being approved as the majority owner. The owners had to sign off on Steve, and it was just a formality. I was sitting there with Steve in Palm Beach, Fla., and we are just hanging out at the Breakers Hotel and I see (Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones and (Redskins owner) Daniel Snyder walking by, and I am just hanging out with Steve, who is just a regular guy who started a business and made a name for himself. Right then it kinda sunk in, “hey, you are doing something pretty cool.” I can remember another time, since I’m thinking of Steve, who is just a great guy, with my high school teammate from Washington D.C., Kevin Plank, who founded Under Armour. I was hanging out with Kevin and Steve at Ravens training camp practice a few years back at the Naval Academy where they were having a practice for the fans. It was nice sitting there talking to those guys who are two respected and accomplished people. They kept talking with me over articles that I wrote, or they thought was interesting, and they weren’t trying to butter me up. They were just really genuine and cool. It was a good feeling.”

What makes the job fun?

“I like the relationships that you build and getting information. I’m very competitive. I like to get the story out first, but I also like to get it right. Like when you get a long-term relationship with someone, you are going to get good stories with them. I like to think of it as a win-win. You get information from someone and someone gets their story out there. Human-interest stories are always good to work on especially with something compelling. I just wrote about (Texans DT) Devon Still and his daughter who beat cancer, and I had a lot of fun talking with Devon and his family about her. They were very proud of her.”

How the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson Got His Start

08 Friday Jul 2016

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My first experience with the Houston Chronicle’s Aaron Wilson, who covers the Texans and who is one of the finest beat writers in the nation, was years ago. At the time, I think he was blogging for Pro Football Talk, or maybe it was during his stint writing for the National Football Post. Though he was covering the Ravens then, he was always passing along real news and info from his Twitter account.

That was unusual. So many other beat writers were simply pointing their recorders at the star player, copying it down, and then sending it out there, or maybe tweeting the odd political opinion or pop culture reference. Blah blah blah. Aaron never did that. I mean, everything that he was posting was legit news. It kinda pissed me off, because a lot of it crossed over into the kind of stuff I did (NFL scout comings and goings, agent terminations, personnel trends, that kind of stuff). I guess there was a fair amount of jealousy there, but never on Aaron’s end. From the first time we crossed paths at the Senior Bowl, Aaron was not just cordial but friendly, which is frankly pretty rare from an established person in the print media when it comes to someone like me. It was refreshing.

Last week, I asked Aaron if he’d let my crack intern, Mark, interview him about his experiences. What we got was gold, whether you’re simply a football business fan, an aspiring sports journalist, or simply the kind of person that likes to hear about good guys having success. Today, we’ll start with Aaron’s story of how he broke into the business, and next week, we’ll continue with plenty of other good stuff about his experiences.

From here, I’ll turn it over to Mark and Aaron.

“The way I got into the sports journalism business is I started off playing football as a linebacker at Eastern Carolina University. I injured my shoulder and stopped playing after three seasons. I had surgery on my shoulder and thought sports journalism would be a lot of fun and a safer route for me, so I joined the school newspaper.

“I started covering the football team that I played on, so I had a piece of insight on the team and how the team operated. I started getting stories from the people I knew and who trusted me with what was going on with recruiting, transfers, or anything that was going on with the team. At a young age, I got to cover a Division I football team that was going to bowl games and in came a lot of valuable experience. I covered the football team, the basketball team, the baseball team, and that was my start.

“(From there,) I started doing internships. I interned for a news journal in Florida, where I covered some Florida State football, minor-league ice hockey, and of course high school football, which is big in Florida. My first job was with a small paper called Hernando Today, which is owned by the Tampa Tribune, and covered high schools and local sports there. I also covered the Florida Gators and high school sports.

“The first time I got to cover a NFL game was with this small paper called the St. Augustine Record, where I covered the Jacksonville Jaguars. That was when Tom Coughlin was the coach and they had Fred Taylor at running back and Mark Brunell at quarterback. It was a pretty good team. It was a valuable experience for me to learn how to work a locker room. I had some mentors like Pete Prisco, who now works for CBS Sports. At the time, Pete was a local reporter and asked Coughlin all of the tough questions and never backed down. He was a bulldog. Pete definitely set a good example. I was watching him and asking questions.

“I went on to Baltimore, where I worked for the Carroll County Times and the Baltimore Sun. I covered the Ravens when they won the Super Bowl, and just this last year, I moved to Houston. John McClain from the Houston Chronicle recruited me to come down here and I started covering the Texans. I work for one of the largest and best newspapers in the country and I really enjoy that.”

More from Aaron next week.

Three Reasons People Fail the NFLPA Exam

07 Thursday Jul 2016

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This morning, I got an email from a gentleman who’s registered to take the NFLPA exam later this month in Washington, D.C. He told me that at this point, he hadn’t “cracked the book” in preparation for the exam. His question — should he defer to 2017?

It’s a good question. Lack of proper preparation time is one reason plenty of people fail the test. I guess that’s true of any test, really, but especially the NFLPA exam. It’s even more true this year, after the test was made exceptionally harder than in previous years. With the pass rate for last year’s exam below 40 percent, it’s driven plenty of people to our practice exam, the only one on the Web. The 42 questions there are the only ones you’ll find that resemble what would-be contract advisors will see in our nation’s capital in two weeks.

When you register for the NFLPA exam, the players association sends out a copy of the CBA and source documents that make things a little easier. However, studying the entire CBA to pass the exam is a little like studying Encyclopedia Brittanica to pass your American history exam. I mean, the answers are in there, but so is a lot of stuff you don’t need. That’s why you need plenty of time to prepare. It’s also why many people take advantage of the study guide we offer. It’s not free, but reasonably priced, and gives many test-takers the tools they need to succeed. Especially if they don’t find out until a couple weeks before the test date that they’ve been approved. Which happens all the time. Literally.

Here are a couple other reasons people fail the exam.

  • Lack of humility: If there’s ever been a job that attracts people with big egos, it’s the agent world. I guess the legal profession already has plenty of people with  outsized opinions of themselves, but when you stack on the (potential) status that comes from being part of the NFL, the arrogance zooms into the stratosphere. Of course, a lot of that goes away the second the seminar starts and the pure volume of information starts flowing. It can be very humbling. I’ve heard stories of people begging the more prepared guy next to them to help when they realized what they faced.
  • Poor time management: The PA made last year’s test harder not necessarily by making the material harder, but by making the questions longer and more nuanced. The people who took it last year told me there were very few fill-in-the-blank or true/false questions. Instead, there were word problems that required nuance and comprehension. Many people go into the test figuring, ‘it’s open book, so how hard can it be?’ That’s a terrible approach. Last year, dozens of people wound up spending too much time on one answer, then found themselves scrambling to finish when the proctor called time’s up.

Are All Supplemental Draft Prospects Character Risks?

05 Tuesday Jul 2016

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These days, if you’re looking for a pro football fix, you’re pretty much left with the NFL’s Supplemental Draft, which is slated for later this month. Of course, comparing the supplemental draft with the NFL draft is like comparing a toy car with a Ferrari.

Finding supplemental draft success stories isn’t easy. It’s been quite a while since the ‘supp draft’ was turning out players like Miami’s Bernie Kosar and Steve Walsh, Ohio State’s Cris Carter, Alabama’s Bobby Humphrey and Syracuse’s Rob Moore in the late 80s. Since then, there have been solid players here and there but no consistency. In fact, the only one that really stands out in the past decade is Baylor’s Josh Gordon, who, ahem, turned out to have character issues.

It made me wonder if all such players that wind up on the post-draft scrap heap have obvious character warts, since so few ever get drafted and fewer still make a real impact. I reached out to six scouts this morning with just that question. Answers mostly confirmed my thesis, though some were mixed.

  • One scout said that in the “75-90 % range” of cases, it’s either character or an NCAA-related issue such as a player who was waiting on an eligibility ruling that came in late.
  • Another scout said most supp draft prospects are “not necessarily bad people,” though he allowed that sometimes such players are bad apples.
  • One strongly disagreed, calling my thesis way too broad. “I’ve never seen a study but personally I don’t believe that would be a very factual statement,” he said, and indicated that he feels most players in the supp draft are victims of circumstances beyond their control.
  • Another agreed with me, confirming that it’s “usually the case” that the player in question has off-field problems that are significant.
  • The final one I corresponded with said he wouldn’t say 90 percent had character issues, but said probably half did. “Lots of warts with supplemental drafting,” he admitted.

I guess the reason most teams pass on supplemental draft prospects is more because they don’t make the grade on the field than off the field. As always, however, character goes into each evaluation, and might tip the balance. How much is hard to determine.

 

Five Questions with NFL Network’s Aditi Kinkhabwala

01 Friday Jul 2016

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We try to offer plenty of tips, observations and other useful info for people aspiring to work in the business of football in this space, and we usually focus on folks who want to be scouts, agents, financial professionals or marketers. On the other hand, there’s the media track, and we haven’t done a lot with that. Today, however, that ends.

Technically, my inroad into the business came from the media, as I started off as a simple news writer for small papers before jumping to the Houston Chronicle, then to my own service, ITL. At any rate, our purpose is to give you ideas on how to break into the football world, so today, we talk to Aditi Kinkhabwala, who’s a national correspondent for the NFL Network.

Aditi started out with the San Antonio Express-News before moving on to the Bergen (N.J.) Record and the Wall Street Journal before landing with the network. Along the way, we traveled in similar circles and she became a friend. From here, I’ll turn it over to my super-intern, Mark Skol, who conducted this interview, and Aditi.

What is it like for you, day to day?: “On any given day, I can be sent to any team’s facilities. If it is during the week, then I’m covering, ‘what is the news of today or what is a story I feel is worthwhile to share with our readers?’ On game day, it’s different. On game day, I am on the field before the game and directing our viewers to what things to look for, what notable things happened during the week, and what can impact the game we are about to see. I do that right up until kickoff. I cover the game and after the game I secure a one-on-one interview and then I go into the locker room and talk to as many players as I can to get anything we may need as the week goes on. It’s a little bit different than when I was just a writer. You can’t edit yourself as much. When you’re writing, it’s different. For NFL.com, I don’t write as much as when I was a newspaper writer because there is more time spent on air, but I write a lot of columns or features.”

How did you get the job at NFL Network?: “It is almost serendipity. I was covering the New York Giants in their last Super Bowl run during the 2011 season. They were about to play the NFC Championship game in San Francisco. The NFL Network wanted a local ‘expert’ on air for a few minutes to discuss the Giants and this matchup. I went on air for I don’t even think four minutes. They asked me some questions and I guess the way that I answered caught the attention of the head of our newsroom David Eaton. David called me and said, ‘Have you ever thought about being on television?’ Thus began a couple-months-long process. We agreed to meet at the Super Bowl; we met for an hour and a half and began this process. I was very lucky because I loved my job at the Wall Street Journal. I loved my job and I wasn’t necessarily looking to leave and I wasn’t looking to leave newspapers. It was a great opportunity and here I am four years later.”

When did you think, ‘I have a cool job?:’ “I thought that all long. I wouldn’t have done what I do if I didn’t feel that way. I was always going to go to law school since I was 7 years old. My first aspiration was to pitch for the New York Yankees, (and) when I knew that wasn’t going to happen, I wanted to be a lawyer. I was an American Studies major at Cornell, and the sports writing in San Antonio was only supposed to be one year, maybe two years tops, and then I was supposed to go to law school. But somewhere, in the first two weeks working in Texas, I just thought, ‘this is awesome.’ It was because I was being paid to talk to people. It was my job to talk to people and find out their stories. I love to hear about other people and I was getting paid to do it. The craft of writing also appealed to me, the art of storytelling. I don’t know that one job has been cooler than a previous one. I’m not star-struck. Anytime I get to tell a story that is really meaningful, I think it’s really cool.”

What are some of the downs of the business?: “The travel can sometimes get very daunting when you are delayed for long periods of time and you are away from home. I have a young son. He just turned 11 months old. When my pregnancy was proceeding, it became a little bit difficult with the travel and the heat of the summer. Things like that are challenging but it doesn’t have anything to do with the nature of the job.”

What advice do you have for an aspiring journalist?: “Never be afraid to ask questions. Don’t ever think you know the story before you go in to find the story because if you have an open mind, you will often be surprised. Talk to people how you would want to be talked to. Know how you would want to be approached. Don’t be afraid of anyone. Treat people with respect and you will get respect in return.”

Status

30 Thursday Jun 2016

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Earlier today, my wife and I found out that our oldest son, Jake, was a late addition to the all-star swim meet for his region in his best stroke, breast stroke. My first instinct was to run to Facebook and post it (after all, isn’t that where it’s acceptable to brag these days?) but then thought better of it.

Many parents of NFL prospects aren’t so circumspect. It’s not just social media, of course. So many parents of NFL players — and, increasingly, parents of NFL hopefuls —  see their kids as their ticket to status, and they don’t mind using their sons’ agents (and even prospective agents) as a vehicle for that status. Here are a few examples.

  • Yesterday, I was on the phone with an agent who had his first draftee in 2015. Believe me, this young man was a surprise draftee by any measure. At any rate, by the by, the young man’s mother found out that his agent’s wife’s cousins are well-known actresses/singers. “Seems like an NFL player’s mom should be able to get a job with someone like that,” she chided the agent. When the agent politely explained that he couldn’t make that happen, he was the player’s ex-agent within a few months. “What am I supposed to do?” he asked me. “Tell my wife’s cousins that they should give my client’s mother a bunch of money?”
  • A few years ago, an NFL cornerback’s mother kept bugging her son’s agent to fly her cross-country to one of her son’s games. He had trained this player in the expectation that he’d go Top-100, but alas, he’d been drafted much later than that. Still, eager to please the player’s mother, he bought her flight. She promptly called. When he answered, ready to accept her thanks, instead she complained because her seat wasn’t in first class.
  • In 2006, an agent friend recruited an SEC player aggressively on the expectation that the young man would be a combine invitee who’d be drafted in the top three rounds. Though he got a Senior Bowl invitation, he was snubbed by the combine. This didn’t stop the player’s father from asking for a flight plus accommodations in Mobile. My friend swallowed hard and picked up the bill. However, when the player’s father asked for all his meals to be covered that week, my friend told him no. “I don’t think Reggie Bush’s agent tells him no,” the father replied.

These are just the stories I can think of off the top of my head. With recruiting starting to heat up, and players’ parents more entitled than ever, I’m sure I’ll be hearing plenty more similar stories in short order.

How To Block Financial Advisors From Stealing Athletes’ Money

22 Wednesday Jun 2016

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Today, I turn Succeed in Football over to Richard Leader of First Houston Capital. An ITL client for several years, Richard is a seasoned financial professional who not only works with players in the league but also writes a weekly newsletter that I’ve found exceptionally informative; has penned a book discussing basic financial principles in easy-to-understand language (and even got profiled in the Wall Street Journal because of it); and even writes a blog that’s published by the Houston Chronicle. He emailed me this morning out of alarm with the news that broke yesterday, so I asked him to write today’s blog post, addressing the matter.

On Tuesday, news broke of an alleged Ponzi scheme run by a Dallas-based investment firm.

The SEC has charged Ash Narayan, formerly associated with RGT Capital, with transferring money from client accounts without their knowledge or consent using forged or unauthorized signatures.  Victims include Denver Broncos QB Mark Sanchez and San Francisco Giants pitcher Jake Peavy, along with former Astros pitcher Roy Oswalt, with possible losses of more than $30 million.

This hits close to home to me for two reasons: I’m based in Houston, so I share a state with Narayan, and like him, I’m part of the NFLPA’s program that licenses and regulates financial professionals.

Obviously, this is disturbing news for any fiduciary handling money for others.  Nothing is more important than client trust, and this sort of news gives the financial industry a proverbial black eye. The fact is, however, that such a scheme is easily avoided in the first place by taking precautions.

Money managers should employ a well-regarded and well-capitalized custodian (typically a regulated bank or trust company) that provides clear separation between the decision-making investment manager and the client’s money.  Client assets should be held in the client’s name for safekeeping, with the custodian not connected with the investment advisor/manager.

At First Houston Capital, we use Pershing LLC, a unit of BNY Mellon, one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, with net capital of over $1 billion and almost $1 trillion in assets held in custody. Pershing’s financial strength provides the first measure of protection for our clients.

Secondly, Pershing is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).  As a result, securities in ours account are protected up to $500,000 by the federal government.  On top of that, Pershing provides private insurance coverage in excess of SIPC limits from underwriters at Lloyd’s of London. This insurance provides protection for assets held in custody with a loss limit of $1 billion over all of clients’ accounts.

A simple background check of both the investment advisor and the investor’s custodian would help professional athletes and their agents avoid the devastating financial consequences of events like the news Tuesday morning.  There are additional safeguards which can also be considered on the advice of the client’s attorney. The bottom line, however, is that none of this has to happen, and with a few simple steps, it won’t.