Tom Herman: The 3 Cs of Trust

Welcome back to the Great Coaches: Leadership and Life newsletter!

This week we released a great interview with American Football coach Tom Herman, the current Head Coach of the Florida Atlantic Owls. From the 3 Cs of trust to how a team can overcome talent deficiencies, Tom shared some fantastic leadership insights with us - keep reading to get a peek behind the scenes.

As we make our way into October and the final quarter of the year, we’d also like to say thank you to all of our readers and listeners for your support, comments, and feedback so far. We still have plenty of new, quality content to share with you in 2024, so make sure you stick around (and subscribe to this newsletter, if you haven’t already)!

Building Trust and Connection With Tom Herman

Great Coach Tom Herman’s coaching career began in 1998, shortly after he graduated from California Lutheran University.

Having played as a wide receiver during his studies, Tom was able to apply his personal experiences to his new role as a Receivers Coach at Texas Lutheran, where he stayed for around a year before taking on a Graduate Assistant position at the University of Texas at Austin under the mentorship of Greg Davis.

Following some time as the Offensive Coordinator for Texas State, Tom then moved on to Rice, where he helped to set up their program. With each position, Tom’s coaching ability continued to improve, and in 2011 he found himself selected by Urban Meyer to act as his Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach for the Buckeyes.

From there, Tom has worked with a number of great teams, taking on Head Coach roles at Houston (2014), Texas (2016) and most recently the Florida Atlantic Owls, who he has been with since 2022.

Despite the success that he has seen throughout his coaching career, Tom continues to approach his role with humility; as he explains during our interview, he has long-since come to realise that a great play design with really bad players will never be as successful as a simple play design with really good players.

During our interview we also touched on a number of really great leadership topics, including a discussion on whether or not a Head Coach ought to change themselves internally to fit the needs and requirements of their role. Tom also brought up his approach to overcoming a deficiency of talent within a team, placing his focus on the improvement of connection - if you’re not quite sure how connection can make up for talent, then you’ll definitely want to listen to the full episode to hear his explanation.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a great little thinking point that Tom shared with us - his idea that for someone to trust you as a leader, you need to have the 3 Cs: character, competency, and connection. Would you agree?

Listen Now: Apple | Spotify

Where Do You Start?

When we share leadership insights and advice here at the Great Coaches, we often tailor it towards existing leaders - people who have already established themselves as a leader within a team or organisation. However, there are quite a few of you reading this who may not be at that stage just yet.

Approaching your first coaching or leadership role can be daunting, and it can be difficult to take all of the ideas in your head and turn them into a functioning leadership style. If you (or someone you mentor) will soon be taking that first step into leadership, then this advice from our interview with American Football coach Shane Beamer may help.

For those of you who are established leaders, I’d love to know - what advice would you give to someone at the beginning of their journey (or even to your past self)?

If you enjoyed this clip, then you should take a trip over to our website where you’ll find a wealth of insights taken from interviews with over 200 of the sporting world’s greatest coaches.

In Case You Missed It…

The Captain Class

This book may be a few years old now, but it’s still a fantastic read.

Written by Sam Walker, the former global sports editor of The Wall Street Journal, “The Captain Class: The Hidden Force That Creates the World's Greatest Teams” takes a look at sixteen of the greatest teams from across the world of sports and examines the one thing that unites them all: their captain.

A great book that challenges your perception of what a great leader ought to be.

Elevate Your Leadership

We believe there is no algorithm for leadership, but there are ways to elevate your own leadership style.

Elevated Leadership’s tried-and-tested methods are inquiry-led and will challenge you to promote introspection, heightened awareness, and lasting growth.

Get in touch today at [email protected] if you would like to know more.

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