Founders' Choice: The Jürgen Klopp Post

Liverpool shows me how the Dallas Cowboys can next emerge from the wilderness.

Today’s piece is the next in our “Founders Choice” series. This one has been requested from a few different founding subscribers who asked if I could write about Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp at some point. If you don’t know who that is, you will if you read this. In short, he retired from managing Liverpool last month and it was a very big deal to me (and I suppose those who wanted me to write this). I hope you enjoy.

Every organization needs their Jürgen Klopp. The problem is there might be only one.

Let me attempt to explain.

I have spent the last nine years thinking about two different teams every single day. One is the Dallas Cowboys and the other is Liverpool Football Club.

Sure, there are other teams that get thought about, but not every single day. Just those two.

And, as I think about those two daily, it has occurred to me over and over again that the Dallas Cowboys need their Jürgen Klopp now worse than ever.

So, who is he?

For those who don’t know, Jürgen Klopp is a leader of men who had the audacity to see a giant that had forgotten how to win and to then think he was the one who could fix it.

Then, he did.

In Liverpool’s case, they were down bad after last winning their league in 1990. He was hired over 25 seasons later and his very first press conference he addressed what had happened and how it all needs to change and it starts with everyone:

“You have to change from a doubter to a believer. We have to start together new and then we will see what will happen this year.”

He wasn’t talking just to his team. He also wasn’t talking just to his organization. He was literally talking to anyone who loved that club and wanted to see a return to glory at some point before we all died of old age. Most specifically those who are inside the stadium. He thought the first thing he should address when he arrived at Anfield in 2015 was the massive cloud of doubt over a once mighty giant of a club.

“I ask that you believe in this team and believe that together we can achieve great things.

“The team will go out and battle for you and look to represent you, the club and the city in how we approach our work: this is my commitment.”

And that is how it started. It made me think of a time that I barely remember when there were coaches in our sports who didn’t just worry about getting their next contract or saving their own skin, but rather, had a bigger vision of how they could create something better than what they found by simply understanding how broad their focus should be.

In other words, being a coach has been diminished by our society, in my opinion. The last many Cowboys coaches, and really coaches of just about every pro team everywhere, feel replaceable and temporary. Why change too much furniture since we will just have to change it back when this next guy gets fired in a few years?

Whether it is Jason Garrett, Mike McCarthy, or Wade Phillips, there is never a feeling that these guys are comfortable enough to be talking directly to the fanbase. They are quickly portrayed as being in too deep of water to feel at home and appear immediately defensive and almost on trial when they are questioned. They honestly seem hired just to eventually be fired. They may win, but they will never truly connect with those who care about this team. How can they? They follow legends like Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson.

Those are superheroes. They would never stand a chance, especially when the owner and his family never let you actually be in charge and the public knows this better than anyone. You are simply the next guy, and you will be followed by the next guy after that.

But, that is what made Klopp so unique.