The assistant coaches knew that Bo was going to break the men down, so that he could rebuild them to excel at the highest level, and they provided some positive reinforcement in the face of the head coach’s criticism. The players, in turn, responded by being obedient and eagerly following directions(of an authoritarian, no nonsense disciplinarian, tough- love father figure: the head coach during that era). Bo may have been critical on the field, but his assistant coaches also knew that he was gentler with his young players, one-on-one, behind closed doors. They also recognized that Bo(who himself had been warm and fuzzy as an assistant under Woody) somewhat imitated Woody, when he became the man and ran his own program.
It was okay with Bo that the assistant coaches would be the good guys-gentle, personable, friendly, warm-who made football fun with their creative drills. Gary Moeller, for one, had his defensive men doing end-zone drills. They were laughing, having a good time, while Bo’s offense was running their own not- so- fun drills. During one practice session, Fritz Seyferth was discouraged by Bo’s criticism. Then, assistant coach Jerry Hanlon came by to pat him on the back and say, “You are doing this right.”
On one occasion, the offensive team was doing a punting drill. Bo said that he would give $10 to any defensive player who blocked the punt. As it happened, the punt got blocked and offensive tackle Jim Brandstatter shot downfield to make the tackle. Bo became irate and ran downfield after Brandstatter, thinking he had missed his block and created the blocked punt. When he finally caught up to the player, he began berating him. Quickly, Jerry Hanlon ran up, and assured Bo, that Jim had made his block. Do you think that the coach apologized for his mistake? Instead, he grumbled something to the effect of “He needed it.”
Bo knew that the expectation of success creative incentive. Further, he knew that the expectation of failure can affect motivation as well, including the motivation to avoid failure. He knew that leadership, bonding, social pressure, and the desire to please could be nurtured in a group setting. He also knew, in launching that tirade, that the players would bond around Jim Brandstatter and that Jim himself could take the verbal abuse.