The Players Tribune has really done a fantastic job of giving a voice and platform to celebrities, famous athletes, and coaches to share their unique stories. A great example of that came back in February, when Jim Harbaugh submitted a piece titled Who's Got it Better Than Us?
Today, Western Michigan head coach PJ Fleck, one of the hottest name for premier open jobs around college football, published a piece he wrote entitled Keep Rowing. In the piece, Fleck talks about the ten words he said to his team at halftime of a game last year that helped changed the trajectory of the entire program.
Granted, there's a ton more to Western Michigan's turnaround from a 1-11 program in Fleck's first season to their undefeated regular season finish this year as they head to the MAC title game on Friday, but looking back, Fleck credits ten words with starting the turnaround.
It was after a slow start against a 1-4 midway through the season last year, down 31-14 at the break. Instead of delivering the speech that he had thought about and prepared for all week, he came in and said ten words to his guys, and then turned around and walked out of the locker room.
Those ten words? "When are you going to be tired of being average?"
The Broncos stormed back to win that game, and rattled off five straight wins after that, with that moment surely serving as a foundation of their success this season.
Head over to The Players Tribune to read more from Fleck, including how he discovered an unheralded recruit that recently became the all-time leading receiver in major college football, and how he responds to questions like "How are you enjoying the ride this season?" And "What is the secret to success?"