Urban Meyer stands at the pinnacle of his profession, having led the Ohio State Buckeyes to the national championship of college football.
But just a few years ago, he had resigned as the head coach of the Florida Gators as a burned out, stressed out man with significant health issues and, it seemed, a man who was not happy with the direction of his life and the impact that his coaching career had on his family.
At the time, Meyer, it seemed, might not ever return to the sidelines as a head football coach. The toll that the job had taken was just too great. So, Meyer left coaching and went to work for ESPN as a knowledgeable commentator.
But a few years later, Meyer took the Ohio State job. And he seemed different. The focus and intensity were still there in his life. But he now had a peace through the ups and downs of a game and a season that he never had before.
What changed?
In 2010 Meyer had a meeting in Akron, Ohio with a friend, Todd Blackledge, who recommended that he read a book, "Lead... For God's Sake," by Todd Gongwer, who was himself a former burned out basketball coach before he learned some secrets about healthy leadership.
After meeting with Blackledge, Meyer read the book on a plane trip to the West Coast to interview Andrew Luck for a piece he was doing on ESPN. The book is a quick read, using the Andy Andrews and Patrick Lencioni story-telling and principle-sharing approach.
Meyer began to apply the principles Gongwer shares to his life. And Meyer was able to get back into the game as a coach in a healthy way.
Meyer says, “It goes back to the why. The whole book is about why you do what you do. You can never forget the why. I forgot the why. The journey that life takes you goes in places that you may not expect. It gets back to the why you do this. You do this because of the players and the purpose. This gives me a sense of purpose that I needed to find.”
Through a story about a successful but selfish high school basketball coach who meets a school janitor with great wisdom, we learn that leaders must lead from a heart of love rather than from a reward/punishment mindset. The coach goes through a personal transformation as he learns to connect with God, who then enables him to connect with his family, his team, and his friends. The author, Gongwer, shares a pleasant surprise at the end of the book which explains how the janitor became so very wise.
Along the way, Gongwer helps his readers take stock of our own lives. As we read the book we are encouraged to ask, "Am I embracing my place, setting my priorities, fulfilling my purpose, and living with passion?" We are encouraged to see their job within their family and within the marketplace as a ministry every bit as important as a pastor's calling.
The simple, heart-felt, Christ-centered, and straightforward message impacted Meyer deeply. He found the author's email address and reached out. Now, he's developed a deep personal relationship with Gongwer and has allowed him to into his inner circle.
At the end of the book, Gongwer reveals that he had a wake up call from a doctor who told him that he just had six months to live. He writes, "Over time I began to realize that I had not been told when I was going to die; rather, for the first time in my life, I have been shown how I was to live... Life is indeed an incredible gift from God. Nevertheless, it is a gift he can snatch away in a heartbeat. It is a gift, undeserved, not a reward. And I found that God's gift of life was best understood as it related to his gift of internal life, made possible through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus. And so, upon accepting his gift of eternal life, I made the choice to use what ever was left of my life on this earth for his purpose, and that is when I found true success."
Urban Meyer's new friend, Todd Gongwer, has made a solid contribution to leadership literature that resulted in helping a burned-out coach connect with Christ, the One who made us all for a reason.
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