Joe Gibbs: Risking Reputation with NFL Return | Forward Progress

In this week’s motivational podcast, legendary coach Joe Gibbs discusses why he came out of retirement to once again coach in the NFL, the support of Redskins owner Dan Snyder and the one thing he found hadn’t changed about the league.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hey, it's Thursday, which means we're coming at you with a short
feel good story from a past guest.
Hope you enjoyed the clip this week, Joe Gibbs.
In the mid 90s you were quoted as saying I can't see going back
to that structured existence. Flexibility is in and I never

(00:24):
knew life could be so happy in regards to if you'd ever go back
to coach. Again.
What changed? I think a lot changed.
It was 11 years. We were totally focused on the
race team. JD was running the race team.
Everything was going great. He was the president and
everything had gone good there. Coy and coming out of school at

(00:48):
first worked in racing and everything, but then said dad,
I'd like to, you know, say, you know, he said he would like to
go, maybe coach. I think Corey would make a great
coach. So he was thinking about going
back into coaching. That kind of indirectly nudged.
So that kind of nudged me along and then everything was kind of

(01:09):
in place. I had grandkids at that point,
none of them had seen me coach or be around football in the
NFLI. Thought that would be fine for
them. And so I sat down with my wife
in the library and and so I had notes and I said, I need to talk
to you about something. And so I started through all

(01:30):
those issues. You know, JD's running a race.
Everything's going great. She's like this looking at me
and looking at me and going, youknow, is she kind of saying at
the end, I said, what do you think about going back to
coaching? And she goes just like this,
You're going to ruin your good name.
She went just like that. And so the first year we went 6
and 10. I said we're halfway there kind

(01:51):
of right in our name, but she was all in when we when we
talked about it. And I fully expected to stay
there for a full five years. But four years into it, a lot of
things took place. Taylor got leukemia.
I, I went to, we had a birthday party video and I realized I

(02:14):
wasn't even in the video and there were a lot going on family
wise. And so, you know, I went four
years and I said, hey, Dan, I think I need to go back.
When you came into the job, you were the 5th head coach in five
years. How did owner Dan Snyder recruit
you? No, he he didn't.
It was more me. When I made-up my mind, I kind

(02:36):
of sent word through somebody tohim and said, you know, there
may be something I would consider.
And so I met with him and we talked over everything from, you
know, picking players, all how would we go about how would it
be organized and everything. We had two big meetings and I

(02:56):
think it became obvious to me. I said, hey, look, you know, I,
I think Dan is somebody that will, as an owner, support me
and give me everything. And that's exactly what happened
when we were there. How did?
The challenge of coming back compared to what you would have
expected. I think, I think everybody, they
kind of asked me, what do you think's changed in the NFL?

(03:21):
And so I told them everything. I felt like everything's changed
with the exception of one thing,human nature.
People never change. 2000 years ago, the same things that
encouraged us, discouraged us, are going to be the same things
today. And so I felt like dealing with

(03:43):
people, which is the most important aspect, that wasn't
going to change and it didn't. We come into the world what
self-centered. And what you're going to ask
people to do is sacrifice their individual goals for the goals
of the team. And that's hard.
Only certain people can do that.But when you find those people,

(04:05):
you're going to be a winner in team sports.
And so it's a study of human nature.
Get the right guys together and go get it.
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