Youth Ministry and the West Coast Offense

"Walsh took an unusual view of quarterbacks: he thought they were only as good as the system they played in."

Michael Lewis, The Blind Side

Bill Walsh changed the game of football when he was an offensive coordinator of the AFL expansion Cincinnati Bengals. His job was to design a successful offense with a weak-armed quarterback named Virgil Carter. Without the ability to throw downfield, Walsh implemented plays that used more of the field horizontally with 3 receivers who ran short routes timed precisely to the steps of the quarterback. These short timed passes, if executed properly, could be completed against any defense. "In 1971, Virgil Carter, who never completed as many as half of his passes, somehow led the entire league in completion percentage (62.2) and bumped his yards per attempt from 5.9 to 7.3." This system was the beginning of what is now known as the West Coast offense.

Bill Walsh went on to be the head coach of the 1980's San Francisco 49ers dynasty. In his time there, he took a quarterback who was too small with a weak arm named Joe Montana and a backup quarterback that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't even want named Steve Young and won Super Bowls as they went on to be Hall of Famers. So what does this have to do with youth ministry?

Oftentimes ministries run into problems when a dynamic, well-liked leader is at the forefront and the ministry is based around that person. Instead, ministries, much like the West Coast offense, should place the emphasis on a sustainable system first, then fill in the right personnel to make things happen, and finally rely on effective execution of a common vision. Many times, this order is reversed in some way, which leads to the early exit of many talented youth workers (see Ryan Leaf).

System

"The virtues [the West Coast offense] exalted above all others were precision, consistency, and predictability. Walsh had created the contraption to compensate for the deficiencies of his quarterback..."

Bill Walsh created a system that worked no matter who was running it. In youth ministry, we are constantly experiencing turnover in volunteers as well as paid youth pastors. So why operate in such a way that the whole system changes whenever the people change, especially when it occurs so frequently? That's the makeup for an incredibly unstable climate.

Plus, when we build systems that are built around individuals (as youth pastors, we tend to build around ourselves) then the pressure seems to burn out the individuals as well as place outrageous expectations on whoever their successor may be. Rather than building a system that requires a fleet footed, rocket-armed quarterback (which are incredibly rare and hard to come by), Walsh built systems that require a quarterback who has "guile, nimbleness, and an ability to throw accurately, as long as he didn't have to throw far."

So instead of building systems that require talents that few have, build systems that require skills that can be learned.

Personnel

"The intangibles were nice, thought Walsh, but they weren't the reason quarterbacks succeeded or failed."

It means that the system is better when incredibly talented people are a part of it, but it's not reliant on them. As we look throughout scripture, God uses very ordinary people that would have never stood a chance in the NFL to do works of biblical proportions. Yet we require our people to be a mix of Billy Graham, Dr. Phil and James Dean (or whoever the kids think is cool these days). So we need systems that set people who love God and love kids up to be successful. We need systems that would make a star out of Virgil Carter, so when Joe Montana comes it's an added bonus.

However, having the pieces to the puzzle and a picture of what it's supposed to look like is just the beginning. Equally important is the third step in the formula.

Execution

"The performance of a quarterback must be manipulated," said Walsh. "To a degree coaching can make a quarterback, and it certainly is the most important factor for his success. The design of the team's offense is the key to a quarterback's performance. One must be tuned to the other."

Even the right people in the right system are set up to fail if they aren't poured into and given freedom to work within the system. This requires a leader; someone who sets out to not only place individuals in a position to be successful, but also orchestrates all individuals to work together as one. No matter how talented someone may be, one person can never be as stable, efficient, effective or successful as a group of people moving together in the same direction.

So the question is this: with the right system and the right personnel, do you have the leader to put them together? The quarterback doesn't make that happen, the head coach does. He designs the system, picks the people who can run it and then he shows them how to do it. Without the vision and direction and the person to lead it, talent turns into Jamarcus Russell.

Here's the thing. This isn't football. We work in a profession where lives are changed and souls are on the line. With stakes this high, do we operate like a backyard game with plays drawn in the dirt, or are we running a West Coast offense that is designed and built for success?

All quotes are taken from the "Death of a Lineman" chapter of The Blind Side by Michael Lewis.