by Nathan Whitaker | Mar 16, 2024 | Blog, football, leadership, Resilience
When I graduated from Duke University in 1991, I wasn’t in a particular hurry to get back. To paraphrase Sal Maricano of ESPN, “Happiness was Durham in my rear-view mirror.” I’d gone up there to play baseball and football, but ended up playing...
by Nathan Whitaker | Apr 27, 2023 | Blog, football, leadership, Resilience, teambuilding, teamwork
Be patient. Mean Joe Greene was drafted in 1969 by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the team actually fell from 2 wins to only 1! The next year they drafted Terry Bradshaw and won 5. In 1972 Greene was tired of the slow progress and QUIT after the fourth game (the...
by Nathan Whitaker | Feb 2, 2023 | Blog, football, leadership, Resilience, teambuilding, teamwork
Such an exciting times for members of the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles! Last Sunday both qualified for the Super Bowl, and they are heading to Glendale, Arizona for the game. We went through the same thing twenty years ago when I was in the scouting...
by Nathan Whitaker | Jan 17, 2023 | Blog, football, relationships, Resilience
This week in 2004, I was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bruce Allen had just replaced Rich McKay as General Manager, and I was a “McKay Guy,” weary from two years of internal battles between head coach Jon Gruden and Rich (as well as the rest of us in...
by Nathan Whitaker | Aug 20, 2022 | Blog, football, leadership, relationships, teamwork
I’m sure my Duke Football teammates will think I’m nuts. (I probably am, but I’d argue for other reasons.) A week ago, I found myself on the practice field at the University of North Carolina, where my daughter is starting graduate school. We visited...
by Nathan Whitaker | Feb 16, 2022 | Blog, football, leadership, Resilience, teambuilding, teamwork
Under a clear, blue sky, a man sprints to catch a speeding train. He has fired a machine gun and thrown grenades at his pursuers – Nazis – setting other traps and charges for them as well. Now, he has almost caught up with the German transport train that...
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