(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a three-part series exploring the
elusive concept of team chemistry in sports: What it is, how it
develops, and the different packages it arrives in.)
If chemistry has such a great bearing on team success, why don't more
teams focus on getting the right mix of players as opposed to chasing
the best ones?
The answer is simple. Chemistry isn't bought, it's grown.
"You can get the right kind of guys and it still doesn't guarantee it
will happen," contends Patriots fullback Marc Edwards. "It's kind of
like being in the zone. You don't know how it works or how to get there.
If you could build it from scratch and bottle it, you'd make millions."
Edwards has a unique perspective on this. He played college football at
Notre Dame, where the aura and tradition were built-in and winning was
expected. Then he was drafted by the 49ers, possibly the closest thing
to a program as there has been in the NFL in the past two decades. From
there, he went to the expansion Cleveland Browns, where he was a
three-year veteran expected to act as an elder statesman. The Browns
were casting about for an identity, trying to find the right chemistry.
When he got to New England last spring, he could see the chemistry and
"the program" developing, even though the team had just completed a 5-11
season.
"When I came in and met everyone, the next thing I knew, we were all
hanging out at Drew [Bledsoe's] house," says Edwards. "They kept
bringing in guys that were similar to me in terms of work ethic. Then we
started working out and going out and learning the system. Training camp
was the biggest time of cohesion and we kept bringing in more guys --
Bryan Cox, Roman Phifer -- dedicated, hard-working guys."
But even Patriots head coach Bill Belichick admits that you just can't
orchestrate it.
"You can create it through the selection of players," Belichick once
told Patriots Football Weekly. "The people are the ingredients. I don't
think you can create chemistry any other way. I can't tell you how to
get along with somebody else, but if you put guys together that have a
lot of common traits -- unselfishness, guys that like football, that are
smart and dependable -- then there's a good chance they'll have a good
feeling for each other."
The Celtics have worked it the same way.
"We have people of character," says Celtics head coach Jim O'Brien.
"There were many, many times over the last five years where we sat in a
room and discussed a player we were interested in and as soon as Rick
[Pitino] found that maybe this person didn't have the character or
personality that would add to chemistry and that could detract, he was
nixed. We want to make sure we have people of high character and that's
where it starts. You start with character and in difficult situations,
character will always win out."
Long before these Celtics and Patriots were fashioning teams with
selfless players who put winning first, Red Auerbach hatched the
blueprint.
"Chemistry breeds success," insists Tom Heinsohn, the former Celtic
player, coach and current TV analyst. "You need to make sure you have
the right type of people, not necessarily the most skilled people. That
was the secret when Red was there. He was always getting guys who'd
played on championship teams -- conference titles [in college], NCAA
teams, NIT champions -- guys who had the idea of being a team player.
"It's the character of the people who either know how to win or can be
taught how to win," he adds. "Winning is not about me, it's about us.
What Auerbach would do was get everyone involved in every aspect of what
we did from training camp to the end of the season. And it worked.
That's why so many guys with Celtic backgrounds wound up coaching. The
philosophy worked."
While it's up to the players to come together and build their own karma,
it's made infinitely easier when the entire organization is of one mind.
"Ninety percent of the reason (the 2001) Patriots were successful is
that they had 45 very talented guys and all going in the same direction
and there was organizational discipline," says former Patriots center
Pete Brock, who works as a radio analyst now.
There are, of course, exceptions. The early '90s Cowboys succeeded
despite power struggles between owner Jerry Jones and coach Jimmy
Johnson. And the '96 Patriots made it to the Super Bowl despite a feud
between owner Bob Kraft and head coach Bill Parcells. But in both those
instances, it was clear to the team who held the rudder for their
on-field fortunes. It was the coach, and that brought solidarity.
By contrast, when Pete Carroll was hired by the Patriots but Bobby Grier
was in charge of personnel and ownership adopted a more hands-on
approach, players sensed the tenuousness of the situation and didn't
have the same focus they'd shown under Parcells. It didn't help that
they weren't as vigilant in picking players with high marks in
selflessness (see, Canty, Chris).
When Belichick took over and the organizational pecking order was
re-established, the team turned a corner, though it took a year to show
up.
"Chemistry comes from a handful of guys," Edwards explains. "You can
have the best leader in the world, but if he's by himself it's hard to
make a difference. You need to get guys who are the same kind of
employees. Who work hard and don't complain and whine and bring a team
down. Then you throw those guys together and see what happens with the
mix."
