Remember the Titans, Leadership
Analysis
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Léa SIMONIN Assignment #1
Sept. 13th
LEADERSHIP
1) WHY DID COACH BOONE DECIDE NOT TO TRAIN HIS TEAM ON HIS
HOME FIELD?
Coach Boone wanted to take his team away from his home field to be
away from all the drama. He didn’t want his team being influenced by the
“external world” and he wanted them to get out of their “comfort zone”. He
didn’t want that personal backgrounds (family, friends, and ethnicity) of his
players interfere on their behavior. Indeed, this racial tension and all the
demonstrations taking place in 1971 in Alexandria, Virginia, could be a
threat to his goal which is to make one team out of two opposite camps.
He divided the buses based on offensive and defensive team in order to
break the two teams, which were a black team and a white team. He placed
a black guy next to a white guy in a way to force them to mix together, to get
to know each other, to learn the culture of each race and to have them live
together so as to have them understand each other better. In a one to one
relationship, the stereotype established by the society can fall and they will
discover a person with whom to share their stories, regardless of race.
This also could be a management technique to deal with a team: you have to
break the balance existing in the former group to give you a chance to
become the leader. As a matter of fact, it is easier to become a leader and
impose yourself in front of 40 individual people losing their landmark than
in front of 2 strongly united groups.
Coach Boone told his team that 50,000 men died during the Battle of
Gettysburg because they were torn apart and destroyed each other. So if
black and white players of his team continue to hate and fight each
other they will suffer the same fate, and lose their match. They need to
overcome racism and hatred in order to overcome the opposing team. So
the cemetery scene could be lesson, and the coach trying to teach with this
example from the past: a house divided against itself will fall, but if they act
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together they can achieve something great. They have to learn from the
mistakes of the past.
2) PROVIDE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES FROM THE FILM THAT DEMONSTRATE
ALL OF THE TEAM’S STAGES OF EVOLUTION (FORMING TO ADJOURNING)
The first stage was forming one team out of two. Coach Boone was
appointed the new head coach of the football team. They had a team
meeting but coach Yoast and his white players came late and interrupted
coach Boone’s initial interaction with the team. Moreover a lot of white
players did not want to play in the team anymore if coach Yoast had to leave
the team. In any case, the football team was not cooperative because the
white players refused to cooperate with the black players. However, Boone
made them understand that he will stay and manage the team, regardless of
how they feel about it. He said: “This is no democracy. It is a dictatorship. I
am the law. If you survive camp, you will be on the team. If you survive...”
Because of his tough rules, the team has been formed and conditions set
out. You accept Boone’s rules or you leave the team...
Still at the beginning, there were a lot of confrontations between black and
white members of the team. Captain Gerry and Captain Julius had tense
relationships: Gerry thought that there was a lack of unity in the team, but
Julius said they were not a team because white players didn’t do their best
to help the black players during the game. However Coach Boone forced the
integration of black players with white players by designating roommates,
and having them to endure the same tough practice. He banned ethnic
discrimination and conflicts during the game and helped bring peace as a
value to reach excellence.
Next, during the meeting between black and white students, they reached a
new level, all players started to accept each of their teammates, regardless
of skin color. Julian and Gerry shared a powerful moment during a team
building chant. Coaches collaborated, each of them sharing a coaching role:
Coach Boone motivated and managed the team with an authoritarian
coaching style and Coach Yoast cared for each of the players and helped
Petey deal with a disappointing game. Moreover, Coach Boone coached
Yoast at home and helped him unify the team.
