I'm a PhD student in a social science. I've mentioned before that I might do some write-ups on organizational culture and there was some interest in that. Sark made some comments during his Hail State presser that perfectly fit with one of the topics I've been thinking about: authority. So, I finally took some time to put some words down. I hope y'all enjoy it.
Player-led teams are great. Old guys telling the new guys how things are done. Leadership councils. Colt McCoy driving around in his truck to pick up teammates for players-only practices in the summer. It's something we yearned for during our decade of wandering the college football desert. In this post I'd like to look at the idea of player-led teams a little bit more critically. Specifically, I want to look at the reason why it's a good thing for a bunch of 18-22 year olds to be leading a team. Because that's not a great idea at face value.
Sark's comments
All social theory starts with a 19th century german guy
Back to Texas Being Back
Let's summarize and bring this back to the present. It's year 4. Texas is the reigning Big 12 champ, undefeated, and ranked #2. Sark showed the players that his leadership is good for their interests. If they follow him, they'll develop and win games. Individual players bought in, then most of the team, and now the team as a collective has voluntarily accepted Sark's authority. They believe in his vision and created social dynamics that enforce it. Individual players feel an obligation that requires them to accept his judgement above their own. Player leadership has coalesced around him.
I said at the beginning of this post that I wanted to critically examine player-led teams and to ask why it is good for 18-22 year olds to lead a team. My answer is that player-led teams are a misnomer (or a myth, for clickbait title purposes). When someone says a team is player-led, what they mean is that the players have accepted the coach's authority and player leadership is aligned in enforcing it. The true benefit of player-led teams is how well they follow their coach.