Brand matters is simple to understand. It puts your company, your products and services in a messaging world that drives the law of attraction. College Football today is not about winning a season and being on top of the hill. Far from it. Just look at LSU today and see how far they fell working off a National Championship amazing year in 2019 as an example of why they won't scale. The brand was on top of the hill looking down on those who doubted but 2 years later they fire their prized coach and do so in mid-season. This is a great, current example, of why Brand Matters.
Building a brand is programmatic if done properly. It builds slowly not suddenly like a One-Hit Wonder in coach O. It was fun to watch but look at him now sadly. Of course, he is being taken care of financially but these coaches at this level of the game are super ego types and this hurts deeply. There is ONE school out of all the landscape that invested in their Brand. It mattered to them. It provoked a different approach to hiring a leader who was more like a CEO but had that amazing ingredient that creates the law of attraction to the school and thus the brand itself. Coach Nick Saban of Alabama is the stage and example to which the program versus win this year attitude is right there for the asking. He interviewed for a job while not even looking at Alabama. He set his requirements clearly about building an analyst/assistant budget that he held at the highest for his services to agree to come to Alabama. To the schools credit, they were tired of the past and wanted to go in a completely new direction and were willing to invest in the long run and gave Saban his ask.
Saban's brand is the best in the business. He get's the best of the best in high school to come to him but he also knows that the family rooms of American high school families is equally important and he has built his brand to represent all that matters to the entire family let alone the 5 star athlete he is interested in. Long bow moves like this can be painful to watch unfold. They build over time and are based on repeatable process steps that any coach who leaves can be replaced as there are layers on layers of development that come from the analyst group within the program that are gearing up for the next level of their careers.
Alabama loses coaches all the time. They have been nicknamed the rehab program for failed coaches. I find that interesting as its tactically one of the most brilliant of all of Sabans moves. He finds failed coaches (Lane, Steve) and offers them a home within the Tide's staff. They then spend 2 years learning and working within the program. At the same time, the Tide is gaining new experiences as well both on the offensive side as well as defensive side by the very rehab coach they are investing in. Alabama morphs in to something new year after year but ever so slightly. The machine is well oiled and never fears a departure as they already have the replacement inside the building.
The Brand sustains itself and gains deeper roots within the greater college football enthusiast. It shows up in jealousy and awe at times but it's so simple its amazing we haven't seen the next Tide look alike. Thought it was Clemson or tOSU or Oregon but we have seen very little semblance of equal footing to date.
USC sits on the edge of starting a new era. A new head coach if done right will hopefully be able to carve in to building the brand back to where it was under McKay and most recently Carroll. Lightning can strike again and the Trojan Family is eager to see this get started.
Fight On!