Leadership is a tricky thing to define.
That said, those in football are acutely aware of its absence or presence.
If one had to distill it down to three defining factors, they might be as follows:
- Establishing an environment that breeds success,
- Elevating players above their current production level (turning a “B” into an “A”), and;
- Setting expected and objective performance standards that win football games.
When I first learned that Mark Kilam’s talents were being made available to the rest of the CFL, I had mixed feelings. Firstly, I struggled to envision the Stampeders franchise without him. After 20 years, this is a change that will (and should) feel strange for the fans of the Red and White. I then shifted towards excitement for what lies ahead for “Killer”.
Specials teams meetings were an event during his tenure in Calgary. It always felt as if Coach Kilam knew what the room needed to be engaged that day. Low energy? Enter music and, my favourite verb, “caffeinate.” High from a win? Great play was rewarded; anything below was a coachable moment. What might seem like the smallest of jobs were gamified with a scoreboard for all to compete. Everyone, including the quarterbacks (even Bo), openly talked about wanting to cover kicks or block on return units. Remember when Roy Finch was running back punts? Kamar Jorden, arguably our no. 1 receiver, then took just as much pride in those blocks as he did his own touchdowns. That tells you who KJ was as a teammate and how the coordinator united all three sides of the ball, status or starting roles aside.
Personally, little of my (good) play came easily. In an era that saw me compete against DI and later Global punting talent, I was physically inferior. Stated differently, if punting were an Olympic event based on size and strength, I’d have been nine of nine. This is the last thing any football player wants to accept, punters included. Fortunately for me, this isn’t all there is to punting and my coordinator saw something else in my directional punting. He helped me understand how I could affect the game and how I was best suited to play it.
Without Coach Kilam, my career would have been over in 2011 before it arguably started. Further to my story, many other special teams stalwarts were developed: MacDougall, Cote, Litre, TSP, Paredes, Power, Langlais, Hecht, PL and more might not have been the players they were under different coaching. I don’t think they’d mind me writing that.
Lastly, what goes right, or wrong, happens in the beginning. Players need to know what success looks like in the meeting room, on the practice field, and on game day. Standards were set and enforced, regardless of who you were. Rene hitting a low kickoff or Terry Williams missing his return lane were treated the same as a new practice squad player missing their assignment in walk-through. It did not matter who you were — everyone was coached to the same objective standard their position needed to meet.
While I will forever be a Stampeders fan, I will always be a fan of Coach Kilam’s. How he will look in other CFL colours remains to be seen, but myself and all my former teammates are excited to see his leadership in action — wherever that next stop may be.
The post Opinion: CFL coaching free agent Mark Kilam definition of football leader appeared first on 3DownNation.
