Earlier this week, new Bucs defensive coordinator Jim Bates talked about what he looks for “in a player besides the talent.”

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How much passion does he have to play the game? You can take some great athletes and if they don’t have the passion to play at the highest level it won’t work out. Some of them are great athletes, but if they don’t have a passion to play at the highest level, some of them hit The Peter Principle and can’t play at this level because they can’t adjust and something may be missing.

But once they can play the technique, they have passion, they’re a team player then the guy has a good chance of improving with our coaches and becoming a good football player.

The mental part is also important. If a guy can’t think it will be tough. Some guys get it and some guys are rep guys that need the reps to learn. That is coaching. Our job is to give him the best edge to being successful. The players are looking for help in becoming a better player. That is our job as coaches.

Good excerpt from the book “First In, Last Out” by John Salka, a New York City fire battalion chief.

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Trust comes from consistency. You have to work beforehand to develop it, but even then, what I’ve discovered is that you don’t create trust. Trust comes from your people, not you. When your people see you at the head of the column, being the first one in, facing each danger alongside them, you simply create the conditions that make trust possible. You can’t make trust, you can only make trust possible. That’s because trust is people’s response to you when you act in ways that show them you’ll benefit from following your lead.

Jay Bilas (ESPN College Basketball) made a statement to the players we were working with at one of our summer workouts. That statement has stuck with me, and I use it often with our players to this day. He told the guys, “Don’t just try to get through the workout; try to get from the workout.” This is so true now that the season is getting into the late stages. Not only do the players need to get something out of each skill development session they have, but they must also get something from practice every day as well. The ability of a team or a player to get something from every practice session is what will separate a lot of them from the rest of the pack as the battle for tournament and playoff spots wages on. Human nature says that when fatigue sets in we often will try to just get through this practice or through this skill workout. What successful teams do is understand the need and the importance of each, and that they have to get something from these sessions. The more they get from these sessions the better the chances are for successful results. So as you talk to your team, it’s important to make sure they know that they have a choice each time they walk onto the floor, into the weight room, or even into a film session. They can do what the average teams do and just try to get through the session. Or they can make a championship decision and get something from each session. It takes a little bit higher level of concentration and focus to get something from each session, but it pays much greater rewards in the long run! A simple decision, if you ask me. On a side note, I think this philosophy can apply to coaches and in the corporate setting as well. So often I hear people trying to just get through the day. Yet when I think about the characteristics of successful people, I often find that they seem to get more from their day than others. We all have to make sure that we are not just going to work but that we are getting something from our day — not just getting through our day. Pretty simple…….through or from. Which mindset will make you more productive? Which mindset will make you feel better about your day today?

In The Knack, a book for entrepreneurs, Norm Broadsky and Bo Burlingham respond to the question, “What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur?” The most important quality is resilience. “I’m talking about the ability to bounce back from failure, to turn around a bad situation, to profit from your mistakes. They continue:

That’s because everybody makes mistakes, plenty of them. What’s more, we keep making them as long as we’re in business. Sure, we like to think we’ll eventually get so smart we won’t make mistakes anymore. Forget about it. You’ll never stop making mistakes. Hopefully, the new ones won’t be the same as the old ones, but they’ll be equally painful. They’ll bug you just as much. They’ll make you just as mad. As upset as you get, however, it’s important to bear in mind that failure is still the best teacher around. You’ll do fine as long as you’re open to the lessons it’s trying to teach you.

It has been said that some people change when they see the light while others only change when they feel the heat.

What kind of person are you?