This Team. This Time.

At halftime of the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship Game, Nick Saban walked into the locker room trailing 13–0, and benched his starting quarterback.

At the time, Jalen Hurts was 26–2 as Alabama's starter. He had personally dragged the Crimson Tide to back-to-back national championship games, but in 30 minutes of football against Georgia he had completed just three of eight passes for 21 yards.

Saban looked at Hurts’ output, looked at a true freshman who had barely played a meaningful snap all season, and made the call.

"I thought Tua would give us a better chance and a spark," Saban said.

Tua Tagovailoa entered the game in the second half and threw three touchdowns. Alabama won 26–23. The decision is now widely described as the greatest halftime adjustment ever made.

But rather than ascribing the decision to Saban’s individual brilliance, we can dissect it further to see the craftsmanship behind the call.

What the team needed

In The Tough Stuff, I wrote this passage:

One of the areas that the great coaches excel is their ability to read teams. Specifically, this team — the one right in front of them right now.

The ability to add or remove stimulus, or conceive of changes that can get them closer to their desired outcome in that moment.

Not: What do I want to happen?

Not: Where did I imagine this team should be by this stage?

Not: What is the right call based on how this team got here?

What does this team need at this time?

Saban looked at an offense that had produced 94 total yards in the first half. He looked at a group of elite skill players, all future NFL stars, who were getting nothing from the game plan as it stood. And he looked at a freshman who had been practicing at full speed all week, whose left-handed delivery the Georgia defense had never prepared for in any meaningful way.

It would have been easier to stay with Hurts. American Football is big on continuity at the quarterback position, and they’re big on earned loyalty. Even for someone of Saban’s stature, if the switch didn’t work he would’ve faced heated criticism for going against those conventions.

But the question still remained: What does this team need at this time?

The answer was Tua.

Sir Alex Ferguson once famously stated, “Some people can make decisions, others cannot. It just doesn’t work if you are congenitally hesitant and allow things to linger in a state of suspension.”

For Saban, there was no hesitation, no lingering. He made the decision.

To outsiders, the decision to swap quarterbacks looked spontaneous. It was anything but. Saban had prepared for this contingency. "We had this in our mind that, if we were struggling offensively, we would give Tua an opportunity," he said post-game.

Saban had prepared so meticulously that he could ‘coach free’, using his awareness to read the subtle cues on offer from his team.

Cody’s Notes

• Of course, reading your team isn’t just a game craft tactic, it’s an every day strategy. If it’s not the right meeting, change the meeting. If it’s not the right training plan, change the training. If it’s not the right time, change the time.

• I’ve seen head coaches waste a lot of energy sticking with things because they don't want to undermine their own authority. They’ve invested too much in something to pivot, or they’re scared of how a player will take being removed from the game. But it is good leadership to change course when you come into new information, and the most consistent source of information is the team.

• Winston Churchill once wrote, “the best generals are those who arrive at the results of planning without being tied to plans.” It urges you to do diligent planning, but not be in love with your plan. Adaptability is the best ability for any leader.

APRIL 23: Join me for my Craft of Effective Communication webinar

In this class, Cody Royle teaches how effective communication changes depending on context, and how to build communication skills that actually change behaviour.

When: 3pm Eastern / 8pm UK
Where: Zoom
Duration: 75 minutes (Presentation + Q&A)
Price: $44 CAD