David Cowles
Jul 27, 2026
“Team is not a collective noun; it’s a verb: to team.”
1500 words, 6 minute read
My grandfather, J. Leo Foley, was Athletic Director and Head Football Coach at The Roxbury Latin School (Boston) for over 40 years. Among other things, he led his team to 4 consecutive undefeated seasons.
He was nicknamed “the Fox”, allegedly because of his unorthodox play designs. He was recruited (unsuccessfully) for a college coaching job by none other than Hall of Fame Head Coach, Robert Zuppke (University of Illinois, 1913 – 1941).
Over the summer, he’d study the high school football rule book as if he were a Rabbinical student pouring over the Torah; in the fall, he’d carry it with him as if he were a radicalized French student waving Mao’s Little Red Book in the late ‘60s.
Famously, he insisted on meeting with the officials before every game. He would go over the plays he expected to run, explaining in advance why they were ‘legal’ under the rules. He identified and exploited ‘loopholes’ many of which have since been ‘corrected’ by judicious rule changes.
Whatever I know about football, I learned from my grandfather. What I don’t know, he didn’t teach me; or rather, he taught me, but it went in one ear and out the other. Imagine if I had known at age 10 that I would be writing this article at, well, let’s just say ‘a considerably more advanced age’; perhaps I wouldn’t have thought that running after the ice cream truck was more important than learning the intricacies of the single wing.
The ethos my grandfather taught produced winning football teams. But it occurred to me much later that this same ethos is a prescription for winning at all facets of life. Of course, I can’t quote the Fox verbatim but here are some of what I take to be his guiding principles.
If you’re a head coach, you may find them helpful; if not, you may find them indispensable! If you’re a football coach, these are lessons you may want to pass on to your charges; if you’re a life coach…
Every team should be Undefeated: It takes just as much energy to lose as to win…so why not win? To paraphrase the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy, “I set before you to winning and losing. Therefore, choose winning!”
Every play (offense) should result in a Touchdown: Every play is designed to score 6 points. Just execute! (Add liquid and stir.)
Do your Job (before Bill Belichick): Successful football is not about players performing above their ability level; it’s about players faithfully executing their assignments.
Don’t just do your Job: A player who repeatedly fails to do his job is not a good player; but neither is a player who only does his job. On every snap, each player has a primary responsibility; but once that responsibility has been met (or not), a good player immediately begins to look for other ways to be productive.
Good players complete two ‘football moves’ on every play, one scripted, one improvised. Great players can complete three.
Everything Flows: (Heraclitus, 5th century BCE): Of course, Heraclitus was referring to the cosmos, not the football field. And yet, there is no better illustration of his principle than what happens between snap and whistle.
A football play is more like an organism than a mechanism. Sure, football begins with designed plays and set formations; that’s a play’s DNA. But like snowflakes, no two plays ever turn out the same. Even if you ran the same play on every snap, no two plays would be identical. Football is an art, not a science!
Teamwork makes the Dream Work (New York Hilton, et al.): Teamwork can amplify the skills of each player leading to a better result than could have been predicted solely from stat sheets. Other players elevate my performance. As a coach, I not only want my players to do their best; I expect them to help my other players do their best as well.
Success has an ethical dimension: If it’s to be, it’s not just up to me. It’s up to you too…but maybe I can help. It’s not about how I look; it’s about how you do.
A collection of individual superstars will win games; but they won’t win every game. When you think of history’s greatest pro dynasties - Ruth’s Yankees, Russell’s Celtics, Jordan’s Bulls, Brady’s Pats, etc. - first and foremost you think ‘team’.
Team is not a collective noun; it’s a verb: to team. When I team, I play better than I could on my own; and as I play better, I empower the players around me to play better too. It’s a Virtuous Cycle!
When in Doubt, Help out: They say two heads are better than one. If so, then 4 arms should be better than 2. Assume that the players around you need your help: they do!
Block: You did your job. You threw a great block. Good work. Job done? Not a chance! There’s always another player to be blocked as the play unfolds.
And Tackle: All tackling should be gang tackling. Gang tackling prevents “second efforts”. It also increases the chances of a possession changing fumble.
Stay onside: Penalties are not nuisances. They are not ‘just’ about field position; in fact, they are not primarily about field position. Penalties are about possession…and possession is key to scoring. Penalties = Turnovers!
A penalty can make the difference between a very makeable 3rd and 2 and a much more challenging 3rd and 7 or 3rd and 12 or even 3rd and 17. A ‘nuisance’ penalty may well result in a change of possession on the very next snap. Penalties randomize the game, giving weaker teams a chance to out-perform…and ‘steal’ the win!
Be the Ball: When you’re lucky enough to have the football in your hands, you need to think of it as part of your body. Would you let a tackler remove your right arm? Then why allow him to remove the ball? You and the ball must become a single organism. Be bionic!
Suggestion: Carry a regulation football around with you during the day and sleep with it at night. Who knows, it might even replace your stuffed animals. Eventually, with any luck, you’ll start to feel incomplete when you’re not carrying a ball.
Visualize: It’s off season. Or you’re stuck in chemistry class. Or you’re in bed and can’t fall asleep. Or your parents have bundled you off to overnight camp for the summer (and they don’t even have a football program there).
Wherever you are now, you’d rather be honing your football skills…but you can’t. Ugly circumstances have gotten in the way! Or have they? The fact is, you can work on your game any time, 24/7/52!
Right now, you can’t practice…or lift weights; but there is something you can do: you can visualize! Depending on the position you play (or want to play), imagine yourself:
Blocking a defender to protect your QB
Creating a hole for your RB
Taking a hand-off and hitting the hole
Making cuts in the open field to avoid defenders
Completing a forward pass; then catching that same pass.
And if defense is your thing:
Tackling a ball carrier in the open field
Breaking a block to sack the QB
Busting up a double team
Covering a receiver; staying with him as he makes his cuts
Knocking down a pass
Intercepting it.
When you visualize, it’s important to do so in slow motion. Slow it down! Relish every detail, every nuance. Fully experience every move your avatar makes. You can create muscle memory…maybe even in your sleep!
Final Thoughts: But what if you don’t play football, have never played football, don’t want to play football? What if, God forbid, you don’t even like football? Did you just waste 6 minutes of your life reading this ‘how to’?
Not necessarily! If football is nothing else, it’s a metaphor for life. The values of determination, responsibility, teamwork, flexibility, and focus apply everywhere, not just on the football field. You can visualize yourself performing in Carnegie Hall or acing a math quiz or accepting a Nobel Prize. Practice ‘structured day dreaming’.
My grandfather was acutely aware that the formula for success on a football field was also a formula for success in life. No matter what we do, we are responsible for being ‘all that we can be’ (US Army), and we are equally responsible for helping others ‘be all that they can be’ as well. Follow this game plan…on and off the field, have an undefeated season, an undefeated life…and give a tip of your hat to the Fox.
David Cowles is the founder and editor-in-chief of Aletheia Today Magazine. He lives with his family in Massachusetts where he studies and writes about philosophy, science, theology, and scripture. He can be reached at david@aletheiatoday.com.
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