Eagles Coach Is Navigating Tough Times With The Help Of A Legendary Coach

Legendary coach John Wooden remains a go-to for successful people in all walks of life.

A display honoring former UCLA Bruins coach John Wooden is seen before a game between UCLA and the Central Arkansas Bears at Pauley Pavilion. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - He will no-sell it as much as possible and the goal is to eliminate the outside noise. However, Nick Sirianni hears the catcalls and he’s feeling the heat under the weight of massive expectations and a pedestrian 3-2 start heading into Sunday's game against the New York Giants.

Whether it’s ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky calling the Eagles "the least prepared team in the NFL," accusations of using his own children as a shield, or a fan in the stands landing barbs about running the football (and there’s far more to that the sanitized Reddit version doubled down via WIP by the instigator), blinders can only take you so far.

On Wednesday, Sirianni delved a little deeper into the “control what you can control” narrative on page 1 of the mythical NFL coaching handbook the Eagles coach reminded me didn’t exist earlier this week.

The Eagles coach cited one of the greatest mentors of all time who is revered in the industry: legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, who passed in 2010.

“The more concerned we become over the things we can’t control, the less we will do with the things we can control,” Wooden said.

One of the best players Wooden ever coached was Bill Walton. The Wizard of Westwood won 10 NCAA titles at UCLA and Walton was the star on back-to-back perfect 30-0 seasons in 1972 and 1973.

The Bruins were 86-4 overall in Walton’s three years and his UCLA teams won their first 73 games, extending the Bruins’ winning streak to a mind-numbing 88 consecutive games (which remains the NCAA men's basketball record).

Like many young people, Walton, who passed earlier this year, was headstrong at the time and would question things. 

As the best player on the nation’s best team, he was particularly perplexed by Wooden’s belief that basketball was like life ”a game of skill, timing, and position, not necessarily strength, size and God-given ability.”

Even more so, Walton, a bit of a hippie who never really grew out of that, was often perturbed by what he felt were arbitrary rules.

“I wanted to know why I had to cut my hair, why I had to shave, why I had to wear the clothes he wanted me to wear. … Why the cheerleaders couldn’t be in my hotel room for the road games,” Walton said. 

Wooden, seeing the promise in one of the most gifted players ever, played the right chess piece at the right time, according to Walton.

“Bill, that’s all fine and good that you think that way, but I’m the coach here. And while we’ve enjoyed having you, we’re going to miss you,” Wooden responded.

When Walton started telling that story later in life Wooden was asked if he was really going to kick the superstar off the best team in college basketball history.

Almost with a wink Wooden said, “Well, Bill should’ve thought so, and that’s all that mattered.”  

Nothing mattered more than the team and it finally resonated with Walton, who lived the rest of his successful life by those “arbitrary rules,” often paying Wooden's wisdom forward by sharing it in the hopes of helping others.

In an era where common sense isn’t as common, I can recite many Wooden-isms off the top of my head because of the job Walton did in passing the baton.

-"It's okay to disagree. Just don't be disagreeable."

-"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.”

-”Success is the peace of mind that comes with knowing that you've done your best."

And Wooden’s famed two sets of threes: "Don't lie, don't cheat, and don't steal and don't whine, don't complain, and don't make excuses."

Rewind to that coach’s handbook and it does exist you just have to know where to look. Under the toughest of circumstances, Sirianni is back to page 1.

“If I'm focused on things I can't control, then I can't do my job,” Sirianni said. “If I want these guys to get better every single day, I better work on getting better every single day. Sometimes that getting better, it's always about admitting your mistakes, whether it's after a game, during the game, whether it's something you did at practice. 

“So that's my only focus and my only goal.”

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