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STORRS – Delegation is critical when leading an organization of around 100 student-athletes and almost 40 coaches and support staff.
Jason Candle learned this a long time ago.
That is why he utilizes a leadership council, which he brought with him to UConn. There’s never been a time in his career when it has been more necessary after bringing so many new faces into the football program in such a short window this offseason.
“You can’t be in this position and be naive enough to think that you created a locker room with 115 really alpha males that are elite human beings and do everything right every single day. Even if that was the case, you’d miss some of the really good,” Candle said.
The idea of the leadership council has been around, evolved over the years and adapted to different sports and situations. The way Candle’s works is essentially by identifying the leader in each position group – typically a veteran player who’s been around and knows what it takes to play in college – who will take part in regular meetings and provide feedback to the staff on what’s going on and what may need to change.
“You want to make sure that you have layers to what it looks like. You want to have a good message from the top that goes to a really good coaching staff, then filters down to a really good group of position leaders and guys that can carry the message into the locker room. And then ultimately, if that thing works the way it should, the problems should surface. I mean, great coaches should be great anticipators of issues,” Candle said.
“Little small matches that are burning can’t turn into house fires. So, anytime you get hundreds of people in a room together, there’s gonna be issues, there’s gonna be things that pop up. You want to nip them in the bud as soon as you can and you want to get them handled in an honest way; in an authentic way.”
Candle spent 10 years as the head coach at Toledo and never had a losing season. He left as the program’s all-time winningest coach with a record of 81-44.
“We had great success because of really a good locker room. Guys policed themselves the right way. Yeah, they were great people coming out of high school but man, oh man, they got around another group of good young men and felt like it was good to buy into something that was bigger than themselves,” Candle said. “Sometimes you need peer-to-peer reminders of what that looks like.”
When he made the move to UConn, after Jim Mora departed for Colorado State during Thanksgiving break, 21 of his Toledo players came with him and have helped carry that culture over, mixing it with the few UConn returnees and the dozens of new teammates who played last season elsewhere.
The leadership council – some already identified as former Rockets Avery Dunn (DL), Ryder Treadway (WR), Braedyn Moore (DB) and returning Husky Ty Chan (OL) – represent a mix of players who have shown throughout winter and spring workouts that they understand the way Candle wants to operate and the culture he wants to set.
“They identify themselves, and if they have the respect of their teammates, they’re ultimately going to have our respect, and I think that part of it sorts itself out. So, the longer this goes, the more that starts to show up. But you want to have veteran guys that have been through the fights, they’ve been through the fires, they’ve been through the adversities of what a college football season can provide,” Candle said.
“So you start there, and then from there, you want to have layers to it. You want to have a good freshman that sees, ‘Hey, look, if I can attach myself to these guys, I’m gonna, I’m gonna climb the ladder and be in a good place too.’”
“It’s been a great thing to be a part of,” said Chan, the 6-foot-5, 320-pound offensive lineman who came to UConn last season from Notre Dame. “It’s definitely powerful, our message gets displayed in a better way.”
The council can serve a variety of purposes, from providing feedback on the food in the cafeteria to addressing needs around the locker room. It helps, too, just having a structure of leadership in place so young or less-established players know where to look for advice.
“You actually have to listen to your players when they tell you something. When a good player tells you something and gives you advice on something, wants to make a recommendation on how we can do things better, you should listen,” Candle said. “You want a mixture of guys that have a voice, a mixture of guys that really are comfortable leading just by their work ethic and how they go about their day-to-day routine. And I feel like we’ve got a bunch of guys that have a real sphere of influence.”
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Jason Candle learned this a long time ago.
That is why he utilizes a leadership council, which he brought with him to UConn. There’s never been a time in his career when it has been more necessary after bringing so many new faces into the football program in such a short window this offseason.
“You can’t be in this position and be naive enough to think that you created a locker room with 115 really alpha males that are elite human beings and do everything right every single day. Even if that was the case, you’d miss some of the really good,” Candle said.
The idea of the leadership council has been around, evolved over the years and adapted to different sports and situations. The way Candle’s works is essentially by identifying the leader in each position group – typically a veteran player who’s been around and knows what it takes to play in college – who will take part in regular meetings and provide feedback to the staff on what’s going on and what may need to change.
“You want to make sure that you have layers to what it looks like. You want to have a good message from the top that goes to a really good coaching staff, then filters down to a really good group of position leaders and guys that can carry the message into the locker room. And then ultimately, if that thing works the way it should, the problems should surface. I mean, great coaches should be great anticipators of issues,” Candle said.
“Little small matches that are burning can’t turn into house fires. So, anytime you get hundreds of people in a room together, there’s gonna be issues, there’s gonna be things that pop up. You want to nip them in the bud as soon as you can and you want to get them handled in an honest way; in an authentic way.”
Candle spent 10 years as the head coach at Toledo and never had a losing season. He left as the program’s all-time winningest coach with a record of 81-44.
“We had great success because of really a good locker room. Guys policed themselves the right way. Yeah, they were great people coming out of high school but man, oh man, they got around another group of good young men and felt like it was good to buy into something that was bigger than themselves,” Candle said. “Sometimes you need peer-to-peer reminders of what that looks like.”
When he made the move to UConn, after Jim Mora departed for Colorado State during Thanksgiving break, 21 of his Toledo players came with him and have helped carry that culture over, mixing it with the few UConn returnees and the dozens of new teammates who played last season elsewhere.
The leadership council – some already identified as former Rockets Avery Dunn (DL), Ryder Treadway (WR), Braedyn Moore (DB) and returning Husky Ty Chan (OL) – represent a mix of players who have shown throughout winter and spring workouts that they understand the way Candle wants to operate and the culture he wants to set.
“They identify themselves, and if they have the respect of their teammates, they’re ultimately going to have our respect, and I think that part of it sorts itself out. So, the longer this goes, the more that starts to show up. But you want to have veteran guys that have been through the fights, they’ve been through the fires, they’ve been through the adversities of what a college football season can provide,” Candle said.
“So you start there, and then from there, you want to have layers to it. You want to have a good freshman that sees, ‘Hey, look, if I can attach myself to these guys, I’m gonna, I’m gonna climb the ladder and be in a good place too.’”
“It’s been a great thing to be a part of,” said Chan, the 6-foot-5, 320-pound offensive lineman who came to UConn last season from Notre Dame. “It’s definitely powerful, our message gets displayed in a better way.”
The council can serve a variety of purposes, from providing feedback on the food in the cafeteria to addressing needs around the locker room. It helps, too, just having a structure of leadership in place so young or less-established players know where to look for advice.
“You actually have to listen to your players when they tell you something. When a good player tells you something and gives you advice on something, wants to make a recommendation on how we can do things better, you should listen,” Candle said. “You want a mixture of guys that have a voice, a mixture of guys that really are comfortable leading just by their work ethic and how they go about their day-to-day routine. And I feel like we’ve got a bunch of guys that have a real sphere of influence.”
Continue reading...
