Another Success Story

29 Monday Jun 2015

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We try to celebrate the victories of those who take the long road to success in football in this space. I can’t think of anyone who fits that description more than Rand Getlin, the former Yahoo! Sports writer who announced today that he’ll be joining the NFL Network. Let me tell you Rand’s story of success, at least from my point of view.

My association with Rand started in the early days of ITL, probably around 2005 or 2006. At the time, Rand had gotten to know Josh Luchs, an L.A.-based agent at the Gersh Agency who had a sizeable NFL agent practice. Josh went on to write an article you might have read — if you haven’t read it, stop right now and do so —  followed by a book you might have read, but that’s a story for another day. Rand cut his teeth with Josh after Luchs had ‘gone straight,’ but in short order, Josh got out of the business, leaving Rand a bit stranded.

I think it was after Josh had left the agent world that Rand became an ITL subscriber, somewhere around 2007 or ’08. At the time, Rand was not content to just attend the prestigious USC law school, but also serve as half of a libertarian think tank, the Prometheus Institute (here’s a story about his work there). Like most people who get a taste of the football business, Rand wasn’t ready to give up, so he took his passion for the game and the players in it and started a service aimed at educating schools about the agent process. Long story short, the goal was to protect young men playing the game from being the next ones featured on ‘Broke.’ Despite a couple years of fighting tooth and nail to interest schools, he got no traction. Sadly, he learned that schools’ football interests don’t always intersect with players’ interests once they’re done. We kept in touch through his struggles, but lost touch when he finally shelved it.

The next time I heard from Rand, he had earned his way into a role with Yahoo! Sports. How he landed that, despite no formal ‘big journalism’ experience, is a story best-told by Rand, but bottom line, he quickly evolved into a prize-winning writer, penning some of the most intriguing stories in the football business over the last 3-5 years (here’s one of them). After a well-earned reputation as a highly connected news-breaker, he’s taken the next big step in his career, and I’m sure you’ll soon see him with a prominent on-air role.

There are three things I love about Rand’s story, besides the fact it’s awesome to see a good friend make the big-time. One, Rand is entrepreneurial. He wasn’t content to try only traditional jobs in the business. He tried identifying markets to attack, putting his own spin on things until he broke through. Second, he doesn’t quit. He hit road blocks in the agent world, then in his own college education venture, but never quite trying. That’s incredibly important. Third, he’s a regular guy who gives credit to people who helped him along the way. He’s been a guest at our annual combine seminar (he knocked it out of the park, by the way), and he’s always been a true friend of ITL. I can’t say that about everyone I’ve worked with.

If you’ve never heard of Rand, follow him on Twitter (especially if you like cars as much as you like football). But more importantly, take inspiration from Rand’s story. He started with no connections and built a career on his smarts and hard work. You can do it, too.

WST: Small-School Obstacles

25 Thursday Jun 2015

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Last week, we got a lot of good feedback from our War Story Wednesday conversation with former NFL defensive back and ex-Saints area scout James Jefferson. Today (thought it’s Thursday), I wanted to continue the discussion with James (here’s the entire interview) and get a few insights on small-school players.

As a former player at Division II Texas A&M-Kingsville (it was Texas A & I when James attended in the mid-80s), James has a keen understanding about what small-school players face. In fact, James went first to the CFL (with Winnipeg from ’86-’88) before launching his NFL career with the Seahawks in 1988.

James provides his thoughts on small-schoolers below, and I’ve added my own comments and thoughts after each passage. Enjoy.

  • “Jerry Angelo, who (served as GM of the Bears from 2001-‘11), when he was with (the New York Giants from 1982-1986 as a regional scout), he told me, don’t go (to the CFL). He sat right out here in this parking lot (after James’ pro day in the spring of 1986) and he tried to talk me out of going to Canada. He (told me he) would have the general manager here (the) next week because of some numbers he received in my scouting report (entering James’ senior season at Texas A&M-Kingsville). He showed me they had me running 4.6 (on the preseason scouting report), and I had run faster than that in high school.”

The two companies that provide a ‘primer’ for draftable players, BLESTO and National Football Scouting, have a big job. Often, especially when it comes to smaller schools at out-of-the-way places, 40 times are estimated by scouts or provided by coaches. This means one of the fundamental metrics for player evaluation is a best guess. This is one reason small-school players (and even big-school players, at times) get overlooked.

  • “(Angelo) really liked me as a player, and back, then you could kind of hide guys and do things, and I had switched from playing running back for three years to defensive back, and that was my first time. Nobody had really ever got to see me, and I didn’t even start the first two games my senior year at corner, so that was a little different.”

Late position changes are another big reason small-school (and, again, even bigger-school players) get overlooked. There’s a learning curve involved when a player moves to a new position, but when he comes from an athletic position to a high-impact position (running back to cornerback, tight end to offensive tackle), you often find a player who makes a late rush up the draft charts.

  • “We were fortunate (with the Saints in the early ‘00s) because Jim Haslett was the head coach there and (he had been) a D2 guy at Indiana (Pa.).”

For varying reasons, some teams value small-school players more than others. Teams with coaches and/or scouts that took circuitous routes to the league (small school, other leagues, etc.) are a prime example. The Colts, under GM Ryan Grigson, are one team that tends to look ‘outside the box’ to find talent. Grigson scouted and coached in the CFL and AFL before reaching the NFL.

  • “When I look at all the D2 guys, they have to dominate. That’s instilled in all the scouts. At a D2 school, they have to dominate. You can’t afford to go out and have a bad game, because they’ll assume you’re not playing against the greatest talent week in and week out. In D1, you may go out and have a bad game because you may have two first-rounders going against each other, two second-rounders going after each other, and somebody’s gotta lose. . . (In D2), you were supposed to dominate that guy, and if this guy catches six or seven passes on you and beats you for two or three touchdowns, and he’s not on anybody’s radar, you must not be that good. That can happen at a D1 school, and it’s just, ‘well, he had a bad day.’”

In Division II, and in FCS as well, players have far less margin for error. A player has to stick out like a sore thumb. His dominance has to be evident to casual observers. If that’s not the case, he’s probably not a prospect. I know this is hard to take for many agents representing small-schoolers (as well as the players themselves), but it’s no less true.

Getting Through The Gate

23 Tuesday Jun 2015

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June is fun for me because it’s the month I spend interviewing my new agent clients who had first-year success. I get to hear the personal stories of the 10 percent of all new contract advisors who actually got a player on a roster (about two-thirds of them are ITL clients annually).

I always ask the same six questions. Some of the answers are wildly divergent (some people say the exam is so easy, and some say it’s incredibly hard), but there are always recurring themes. One of them regards the reason people get into the business.

The perception is that agents are, by and large, attorneys. That’s true for about 60 percent of new contract advisors annually. However, a more common theme is that people who come to this business usually did it because, at some point, they crossed paths with pro athletes, came to see them as human, received some measure of respect from the athletes, and figured, ‘this doesn’t look so hard, and it would probably be fun, too.’

Maybe they coached athletes in grade school, high school or even college. Maybe they sold a couple athletes houses. Maybe they represented athletes in legal cases. In all of these situations, the would-be agent got to deal with young men in their areas of strength, and the athletes looked at them as authorities in those respective areas. Maybe the players even said, ‘you should be an agent.’ You’d be amazed how often this is part of a new agent’s story.

At any rate, these agent hopefuls didn’t have to leave their comfort zones to work with player clients. This prompted them to get certified. This is when things get hard.

Now these lawyers, or realtors, or coaches, or whatever, have to approach strangers not as the people they’ve always been, but as NFLPA-licensed contract advisors. That presents a whole new set of challenges. These players don’t see them as trustworthy, or knowledgeable, or maybe even worthy of their time. Now they have to succeed in a whole new world. I call this ‘getting through the gate.’ When they were coaching, or representing, or selling to players, they were already ‘through the gate.’ Now they have to figure out another way past the young man’s gatekeepers.

The agents that prove to be successful are able to extend themselves, to find a way to make themselves appealing to players. It doesn’t happen overnight, and even when a player signs, there’s no guarantee he’s going to stick around. These new agents have to be constantly working to improve, and often, there real-world job has little to no application in the agent world. It’s a really tough situation.

Anyway, if you’re one of those people that is taking the agent exam in five weeks, understand this. Know that it’s going to take stepping out of your comfort zone to succeed in this biz, but also know it’s been done before. And if you’d like me to help, I’d love to.

The Power of a Team (cont.)

22 Monday Jun 2015

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Last week, I talked about the importance of having the support of those closest to you personally if you’re going to make it in this business. Today, let’s talk about the next ring: your professional team.

When you’re starting out, it’s hard to find good help. At least, it has been for me. What’s more, depending on the nature of what you’re trying to do, you may or may not have people who are willing to buy into your vision. That’s been part of my problem until recently.

Here are some of the qualities I’ve found in the people who’ve been my best helpers/interns/assistants.

A sense of sacrifice: If you bring someone in as an intern, or a partner, or whatever, and it’s all about the money, it will never work. At least, not at the start. I moved heaven and earth early in the life of ITL to find students that would work for ‘experience.’ I found a couple that expressed early interest, but that quickly faded away. These days, when I meet someone that wants to work with me, I always give them my card, then tell them to call me. I make them make the first move. It always works. I never hear from them. They cut themselves.

Initiative: You have to give your people the chance to see what you do, why you do it and how you do it, then let them go. They have to be able to see a need and attack it without you having to tell them. When I was a plebe at Navy, they made us all memorize a story about a driven soldier who did without having to be told. The story was called ‘Message to Garcia.’ I can’t count the number of times an upperclassman screamed ‘Message to Garcia’ to us when we screwed up due to laziness or other inaction.

A remote location: I’m serious about this. It’s a real benefit as you seek out talented folks to help you. One of the battles I fight in Houston, Texas, is that everyone who is interested in working in sports (and who is skilled and able) gets something with one of the major sports franchises in town. That makes it tougher for me, but I’ve been fortunate to work with Rice University and have also crossed paths with some young folks who are exceptional. If you are in Fargo or Albuquerque, there’s far less competition for the people who want to succeed in football.

Work ethic: OK, this one is pretty obvious, but my three guys right now (Alex, D.J. and Kevin) are pretty whatever-it-takes kinds of guys. I’ve given them several projects this summer and they’ve done what it takes to hit the deadlines. That’s critical.

Loyalty: The best assistant I’ve ever had is my guy Murphy, who is not only a lights-out worker but incredibly loyal. He’s so loyal that he gets violently angry at people that are not exactly friends of ITL. That kind of passion is awesome, and pretty important. Speaking of passion . . . .

Passion: Anyone who’s going to work with you better be as excited about the work as you are. That passion will sustain them during the low points.

I’m certainly no expert on the subject, but this is what I’ve seen in my decade-plus trying to climb the football ladder. File this away someplace as you build your own team.

The Power of a Team

18 Thursday Jun 2015

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No matter whether you’re just figuring out if you want to pursue a place in the football world, or if you’re already somewhere along that path, your success will depend greatly on who’s around you.

At ITL, we don’t have a big team, but we’re building it. Of course, I have a couple key players that you probably have, as well, whether you know it or not.

First of all, there’s my wife. I know it’s seen as a cliche to thank your spouse when you have any kind of success, but Polly has been a very tangible part of things for me. To cite one example, when I returned from the Hula Bowl in January of 2008, down in the dumps and lacking direction, she’s the one that encouraged me to take the biggest risk of my life professionally. That risk was the re-launch of ITL, but without the safety net of making the site fan-friendly, and with a dramatically higher price point. I remember former subscribers who were happy to see me return, but who literally shouted at me over the phone, outraged at the new rate. Back then, maybe it was a little outrageous, but now, I feel it’s justified. I don’t mean to be immodest when I say that no one else does what we do, and no one else provides the level of service that we do.

There’s also my parents. I have the best parents in the world, and I hope you do, too, if you’re gonna make a run at the football biz. The year I ran the Hula Bowl, I did it without a staff, which made most things a logistical nightmare. But there my parents were in Honolulu in January of 2008. Most people who would go to Hawaii for their 40th wedding anniversary wouldn’t stray far from the beach, but I don’t know if my parents ever even made it to the beach. They were too busy picking up surly coaches from the airport, registering players at the hotel, or helping fit our invitees for the various swag that comes with playing in an all-star game. My parents have endless energy and endless support of me, and that’s a blessing that will really come in handy as you move forward in this industry.

I’ve got a lot of friends who have helped out, too. I know plenty of guys in my position might get flak from their peers, who might be completely dismissive of a shot-in-the-dark attempt at a career like mine. But that hasn’t been the case for me. There’s my former partner, Troy Brown, who has always encouraged me. There’s my former boss, Marty Hajovsky, who always covered for me at my ‘real job’ when ITL was just the job I moonlighted with. There’s another friend, Mark Babineck, who was kind of enough to chip in for a one-year subscription in the first year of ITL, even though I doubt he ever even logged on. There’s another friend, Samer Bitar, who’s helped put together our post-draft offerings more than once, and I have several  members of my church family who follow me here, on Twitter, or on Facebook, and have provided support, encouragement, prayers, or whatever else I’ve needed. In fact, I’ve probably missed out on 10-20 names of friends and confidantes who’ve helped me along the way. I couldn’t have done it without these people.

You can’t do this alone. I hope I’ve shown that, and I haven’t even started talking about the inner circle that helps me do the actual heavy lifting, the day-to-day work, of ITL. I’ll discuss them in my next post.

WSW: Gathering Difficult Information

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

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For today’s War Story Wednesday, here’s a segment from an interview I did with former Saints area scout James Jefferson (you can view the entire interview here). In today’s post, I’ll share his thoughts on how an area scout can gather information from a college’s pro liaison, especially when a player may have skeletons in his closet.

I’m going to break it into subheads and categorize it a bit because there’s a lot here.

Experienced scouts have connections: “I was fortunate enough to be around a lot of coaches, and I was fortunate to coach at the college level, I was fortunate enough to play in the NFL, and do all these things, so you start getting to read a lot of people. The sports world is not always straightforward, and that’s football, basketball, baseball, doesn’t make a difference. That’s not saying just football.”

Every school has its own philosophy, and some are more generous with information than others: “It depends on what organization you go to. I’ve been to some places where the coach will tell you everything. Everything. They’ll you in and tell you everything, whether he knows you or not. I’ve been to some places where I had to know a guy to get information. Then I’ve been to places where I know a guy, but I also gotta respect the fact that his head guy does not want anything negative said, period, negative being relative. I don’t know what negative is. A young man is going out, he’s done something to get himself put in jail, why is that negative? That’s reality. It’s not negative.”

One way or another, teams are gonna find the dirt on players: “I’m sure it hit the papers somewhere. Maybe not, but we’re going to find that out anyway eventually. Every team’s got its security guy. The NFL works that way, so (when schools) think that they can honestly blow smoke and we’re falling for it. . . .”

Knowing people has its benefits: “I’ve been to a place where, and I gotta be careful with this . . . I’m not trying to get anybody in trouble, but I’ve been to a place where the case was that they couldn’t say anything, so I went and talked to this guy, and I went by myself. And he told me, ‘look, James, you know where I am and what I can’t do,’ and I said, ‘I gotcha,’ but he says, ‘look, come in here with the group of scouts.’ Most of the scouts try to talk to the guy all at one time, and if you know him, you get him by yourself, and he’ll give you a little bit extra. Well, I knew him, and I didn’t want to put him out like that and get him in trouble, so I go in there with the rest of the guys. But he said, ‘if somebody asks if somebody got in trouble, I’m gonna tell (them) “I don’t know, and you’re going to have to look that up,” but if (my friend) . . . turned to me, and he winked (his) eye, it meant, ‘check it out.’ But that’s because I had that rapport. A lot of other scouts have a different rapport with any of these coaches, and what have you.”

Treat pro liaisons well, and they’ll treat you well: “You have to be careful. You don’t want to get those guys in trouble. (Scouts) don’t work (at those schools). Me doing my job, and this guy loses his job, and he’s got a family, that doesn’t . . . But some of those guys, it’s a ruthless business both ways, and I’m not gonna say some scouts not gonna hang someone out there, but I couldn’t. I could never sleep at night.

Once again, experience and connections matter: “I try to get as much information as possible. Of course, if you know the guy, you’re going to get the information, but if not, you’re going to have to work a lot harder, but that’s where it comes into play. If you know a scout that knows a guy, that becomes a lot more beneficial. But you can’t alienate scouts, either. One day, (they) may be sitting on the other side of the table.”

A Success Story

16 Tuesday Jun 2015

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In this space, I try to recognize people who do things a little differently, and parlay their efforts into success. Today, I want to talk about Michael Quartey, who runs the National Bowl and FCS Bowl, both all-star games in Miami.

First, a few thoughts about Michael’s games. They aren’t storied games like the Senior Bowl or Shrine Game, and each have only a few years worth of history. In addition, they aren’t all-star games in the traditional sense in that expenses aren’t covered, and players must pay a fee to participate. For these two reasons, I’ve always kind of dismissed Mike’s games, as I dismiss all similar games. They just don’t get the kind of scouting coverage that the January games get because, well, they’re more a showcase for less-heralded players.

Still, I’ve come to recognize and respect the work Michael puts into his contests. His story is one of true persistence. The National Bowl and FCS Bowls were not his first charge at football enterprise. He’s also been an agent, and run a series of combines as part of his company, East Preps LLC, and even tried to focus solely on developing offensive linemen, then pairing them with good representation (another idea that has merit, though it’s difficult to pull off). He’s paid the price professionally and personally to achieve. In fact, as I recall, Michael’s wife was due to give birth the week of last December’s games, and somehow, Michael juggled both of these major commitments successfully.

At any rate, it was against this backdrop that I received an email from Michael this morning. It said several of participants in the December 2014 games, 14, in fact, had attended NFL camps this summer. Most of them attended on a tryout basis, and few are still on rosters, but still, that’s pretty impressive. The 100-plus players who attended the games were first identified as legitimate players by Mike and his team, then invited and convinced to cover their own travel, plus pay a small fee (around $600), to participate in the games and the combine that accompanies them. There wasn’t a large bloc of NFL scouts at the games, but still, there were a handful (11 teams represented) plus five CFL teams’ scouts in attendance. That’s not bad, especially when you consider the games had no TV deal, no major media coverage, no string of former players shining on the NFL stage, and not a lot of history.

On the other hand, the games do have Michael. So far, that’s been enough. I’m approached probably every year by someone who wants to start an all-star game. They see it as an easy, reasonably priced route to the glory, fame and buzz of working with the NFL. However, after we talk about the costs and other obstacles, they usually tuck their tails between their legs and figure out another way to spend their time.

I’m not trying to say Michael has the league by the tail, or that tomorrow’s NFL stars are blowing up his email address trying to find a way into the game. What I am saying, however, is that Michael has found a way to gain the excitement, respect, reward and camaraderie associated with helping young men achieve their pro football dreams. That’s way ahead of where a lot of people are, and for that, I congratulate him.

There’s a way to working in this game for everybody. It may not be as a scout, agent, or any of the traditional routes. If you’re aim is to work in this game, keep on trying and seek out alternative routes. It’s working for Michael and it will work for you.

WST: On Marques Colston and the Value of Speed

11 Thursday Jun 2015

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I missed out on War Story Wednesday, so I owe you a decent story. Here’s one from former Saints scout Barrett Wiley, who was with the team in the late 2000s when head coach Sean Payton was new and the team was acquiring parts for its offensive engine under Drew Brees.

Barrett has some interesting things to say about the selection of the Saints’ all-time leader in receptions, Marques Colston, but even more to say about perceptions of playing speed. If you’d like to check out the entire 100 minutes with Barrett, it’s housed on our server at ITL here.

“With Colston, I remember his process (when we were) watching the tape on him and during preparation for the draft, he was a big-bodied guy, an athletic guy who was kind of underdeveloped and raw, and we saw him at . .. the East-West (Shrine) game . . . in San Antonio that year, and he did some things, but it wasn’t what he’s doing now. But you saw that he was a big guy, good hands, but it was just, he’s OK, but just a big guy. We had him as a fourth- or fifth-round talent on our draft board, and we had him in mind for that slot, but other guys jumped him because of a need. It might have been a linebacker or an offensive line man or a defensive lineman.”

For what it’s worth, the Saints took Pro Bowl OG Jahri Evans in the fourth round that year, Patriots 2014 sacks leader DE Rob Ninkovich in the fifth round, wide receiver Mike Hass out of Oregon State in the sixth round, starting Saints offensive tackle Zach Strief later in the sixth, and then Colston four picks before the draft was over. Not a bad draft.

Back to Barrett.

“We didn’t need a wide receiver at that time, but we got down to the seventh round, and he was pretty much the shining star on the board, you have a guy with all the measureables, the physical attributes that you want in a receiver, a project wide receiver, and we couldn’t risk trying to take him as an undrafted free agent, so that’s why he was drafted in the seventh round (252 overall).

“I wanna say he like ran a 4.53-4.55. He wasn’t a blazer, but let’s clear up a misconception. To the average person, to anyone who’s not a professional athlete, if you naturally run a 4.55, or if you naturally run under a 4.6, you’re fast. If I can pull you out of bed, let you warm up, and you can run a 4.55, 4.57, 4.51, you’re a fast human being. If you’re a guy say that can run a 4.31, 4.22, whatever the outlandish times are, those are the guys who are rare. That’s Olympic. They can trade a football for an Olympic baton, and if, someone who’s 6-4 ½, 6-5, and 204-205, that’s moving pretty fast. Randy Moss, he may run a 4.3 or 4.4, but that’s a freak of nature. Whenever you hear guys who are running the 4.4s, those are the guys that are freaks of nature.

“As a combine scout, in the spring, I would time 300 guys. Out of that 300, I would get maybe 25 guys who would run under a 4.6. That tells you right there the percentage of the natural population because, in the springtime, I was evaluating those guys before they went to the speed camps, the personal trainers, all they had was the trainers at their schools. Now, at the bigger schools, the guys would be more advanced physically, but at the smaller schools like Marques Colston’s (Hofstra), or Jackson State, or Arkansas State, a school that had . . .  the program might not be year-round or maybe not as in-depth as a bigger program, if a guy runs a 4.51, I know in the spring when I come back after his senior season, he’ll be a 4.45, maybe a little bit faster once his technique becomes better and he has specific training for this particular drill.

“And then going back to the part about the overall natural speed, you see a guy who runs a 4.5 or lower, might have been five out of 100 in the grand scheme of things. That’s why the misconception about getting caught up in speed, the number on his card at the combine or his pro day doesn’t necessarily mean what he plays to. You can have a guy who runs a 4.6, and if I’m not mistaken, (49ers great) Jerry Rice might have run a 4.65, something like that, but he was never caught from behind and outran cornerbacks. You know, his game speed and his time speed sometimes is two different things. A guy like Colston, he’s a big guy, and you might think he’s slow and lumbering but he has the ability to get up on cornerbacks quickly and get open and catch the ball.”

Why I’m Not Seeing ‘Entourage’

09 Tuesday Jun 2015

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I was on the phone with a longtime friend last week who’s in the business. In the course of the conversation, he asked me if I’d seen the new movie, ‘Entourage.’ I told him I’d seen the show once, and wasn’t really into it. I kinda left it at that, but he persisted, and mentioned that one of the central characters in the story had some scenes that dealt with the sports and entertainment business, and they were pretty authentic.

Well, I’m still not seeing it. Here’s why.

I know this series has always been marketed as a sort of ‘insiders look at the entertainment industry,’ and I know there have been lots of walk-ons and cameos by athletes. I think the movie that’s out right now has a lot of the same thing. And who knows? Maybe a lot of it captures the feel of what it’s like at the billion-dollar level where the real titans play.

However, the episode I saw — and this had to have been 8-10 years ago — only superficially dealt with the business. It was really a lot more about four guys chasing girls, smoking joints together, whatever. Just sorta cruising through life, with a couple guys coat-tailing off their famous friends. Now, maybe there’s a lot more to the show than that, and I’m sure plenty of my readers are screaming at their screens right now, calling me names. But having gotten a sense of the marketing of the show, it seems like a rather fair assessment.

Well, here’s the thing. I guess lots of people aspire to an ‘Entourage’ lifestyle, and hope they can run in that crowd by making the same choices the characters in that series/film make. All I can say is, I haven’t seen it. The people I see that make it to the highest levels in football aren’t anything like that.

Forgive me if I sound like a tired old man, but the people I know in this business who are really succeeding never lived like that. They spent the days when their friends were messing around, blowing their time on mindless pursuits, on building a plan and pursuing it. Chasing goals. Making sacrifices. Fearing they wouldn’t succeed and breaking their backs to make it happen.

I remember when Roger Goodell was first named NFL Commissioner, his story of working his way up through the NFL offices became widely known, and it came out that he had started out as an intern, probably working for little pay or no pay and no promises. Back then, some idiot in the cybersphere wrote that hey, there was a time that the Commissioner of the NFL was probably sitting around, smoking a bowl with a bunch of roommates and trying to look busy when his boss was around, and that guy made it to the top! Another lottery winner who goofed off all the way to the highest seat in football!

Well, no he didn’t. I’ve never met Goodell and know nothing about him, but I can guarantee you he was intense, focused and hard-working on his way up. That’s what got him there. Mediocrity rules in modern society, but it never defined him.

I get emails, Tweets and Facebook friend requests from young people all the time, wanting to show me their work or seeking advice on the way forward. I never get the sense that they’re just laying back, waiting on stuff to happen. If you’re hoping to succeed in football, I hope you’re just like them, and not like any of the characters living misleading lives on some stupid TV show.

Inspiring Words

08 Monday Jun 2015

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People interested in the agent business often ask me if they need to be a lawyer. I always tell them it’s a big bonus, but more importantly, you need to be smart about business and opportunity. That’s gotta be your first priority. I just got off the phone with Dave Schuman of Inspired Athletes, and he illustrates my point exactly.

Dave is the subject of today’s edition of our newsletter for people slated to take the NFL agent exam this summer (it’s free — register here), and he has a great story. Briefly, he played at Connecticut in the 90s, and after graduating, started a company called National Underclassmen Combines, which was aimed at high school athletes that wanted to get recruited for scholarships. After building it into a business on par with the Nike and Under Armour camps, he decided to get certified as an NFLPA contract advisor. His reason was not unlike many people who get into the business — he had been approached by many young men who needed trustworthy counsel and he wanted to provide it.

He didn’t think for a minute that he was unqualified because he didn’t have a license to practice law. In fact, he sees some disadvantages to having a legal background.

“I’m not a lawyer so I was never used to getting cases and having them handed to (me),” he said. Today, many attorneys with large firms “don’t have to go out and get (cases), and as an entrepreneur for so long, I’ve been in so many situations where things didn’t work out and I just had to think, ‘how can I make them work out?’

“I look at it like, where is the opportunity? Where do we fit, and how do we provide the service we want to do? We don’t have to be Drew Rosenhaus or Tom Condon. We can be very successful doing what we’re doing and growing by doing what we do well. We’re trying really hard not to get concerned with what other people do, but what makes us different and what we do well, and (finding) clients that think that’s something they want. You’re going to lose more battles than you win. You’re gonna lose 90 percent (of your battles), and you have to be OK with that.”

You might say, hey, Dave Schuman has access to lots of players I don’t have access to, and a lot of key relationships. That’s true, but here’s an interesting fact: none of the three active NFL clients he has in camps right now are NUC alumni. They all signed after Dave started relationships from scratch. That’s a really impressive year for a first-year contract advisor and his partner, Daniel Smith.

Actually, there are two lessons from Dave’s story. No. 1, you don’t have to be an attorney to be successful. You have to be entrepreneurial, and you must be able to recognize opportunities. No. 2, you have to be willing to fight and create a Plan B quickly if Plan A doesn’t work out.

To read more about Dave’s story, don’t forget to register for our free newsletter.