Article NOT in the AKRON paper

[Dr Z]

source (for easy read)

Business as usual for Akron's Brookhart

Many are buying into what Cherry Creek grad is selling

By Clay Latimer, Rocky Mountain News

April 15, 2005

AKRON, Ohio - For years, J.D. Brookhart has been different.

Instead of listening to Colorado State University football coaches, who told him he was not good enough to play there, he became the Rams' go-to receiver.

Instead of going into the family business - coaching - he became a top national salesman for Xerox.

Instead of enjoying his six-figure income and easy lifestyle, he became a 30-year-old volunteer assistant - or errand boy - for Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan.

And instead of settling in as a steady but unspectacular assistant at the University of Pittsburgh, he carved out a reputation as an offensive guru.

But Brookhart was just getting started.

In his first season as a Division I coach, he led the University of Akron to its best Mid-American Conference record in 13 years, was named the league's 2004 coach of the year and landed a noteworthy recruiting class.

But Brookhart raised just as many eyebrows with his coaching style, which is equal parts boardroom and locker room. In fact, he believes business and football are the same bottom-line game.

"It always comes down to winning, doesn't it?" said the 40-year-old Cherry Creek High School graduate, whose team will conclude spring drills with Saturday's intrasquad game. "The principles are the same."

Applying sales techniques

So are his tactics. For example, Brookhart prepares an unusually detailed questionnaire for recruits and their parents.

"It's exactly the same as a sales job," he said. "Your job all the time as a salesman - and recruiter - is to differentiate yourself from the competition. We tried to do a better job of narrowing in, so we can do a better job of adjusting to how we can suit their needs."

To help his coaching staff understand sales techniques, he brought in software executive John McMahon.

"Basically what I tried to do is give those guys a common terminology when they're talking together about recruits," McMahon said. "In sales, we have different names for different people. The 'ultimate decision maker' - that could be a player's mom or dad or an uncle or something. The 'recommender' - maybe his brother is playing college ball and he's recommending what the kid should do.

"They were listening . . . well, maybe the older guys were (skeptical)."

But Brookhart was all business.

Early in his tenure, his staff was watching video of a potential recruit when Brookhart was called away for a phone call. The video image was frozen in place when he returned.

"Ownership, not dictatorship," Brookhart said, summarizing his philosophy for managing people. "I needed them to have the 'ownership' that if I walk out of the room, things will go on exactly as they should. I don't want them to come in and do what I know."

Staying on task is crucial to Brookhart, which is why he will not put up with idle chatter or misspent time in general.

"We had a guy who spent an hour trying to find the right Army (insignia) to put on our scouting report," said Brookhart, whose team will play Army next season. "We don't need a pretty jet or ship. We need to just write Army on there and get to the real meat of the project. An hour spent finding the right pretty picture - I think you can find a better way to spend 59 minutes."

Building a stadium

But Brookhart's job hardly ends in the locker room.

"We're going to build an on-campus stadium and we're at lunch today with our vice president, planning all our trips to go look at stadiums," Akron athletic director Michael Thomas said. "Not only does J.D. want to go, he wants to fly the plane.

"He fits in on the coaching side, but J.D. also fits in on the business side. He has a lot to add, there's no doubt about it. He's just wired that way."

Sports always have been a daily staple for Jack Brookhart - a former Cherry Creek coach - and his family. Mike Brookhart was a standout athlete at Creek in the 1970s; today, he coaches the Bruins' basketball team. Younger brother J.D. hoped to walk on at CSU after racking up impressive receiving yardage on Creek's first state championship team.

After the Rams turned him down, Brookhart attended Brigham Young for a year, then returned to Fort Collins, hoping for another shot with the Rams.

"All people have to tell me is 'no' - that's my motivation," he said.

A three-year starter, Brookhart finished sixth place on the CSU all-time receptions list (111) and was named an Academic All-American as a senior in 1987. After the Los Angeles Rams cut him in 1988, Brookhart was unsure where to turn; eventually, he contacted Larry Thiel, a family friend and director of the International golf tournament who hired him to sell corporate hospitality events.

"It was a great transition for me," he said. "Afterward, Larry gave me great advice, telling me that if I wanted to get into sales, I needed to get some training."

A natural salesman

Hired by Xerox in 1989, Brookhart was a natural. He won the President Club's Award, which is given to salespersons who rank in the top 15 percent nationally. "I'm starting to make some money and I didn't grow up with a lot of money, so it's pretty cool," he said.

Brookhart worked for two other companies after Xerox, but in 1995, while living at Salt Lake City, he realized he was running on fumes.

"I'm 30, making good money, single, doing anything I wanted to do and not working very much," he said. "But my dad had always talked to me about having a passion and I didn't have anything that came from the heart.

"I looked at my life and said, 'Coaching.' "

Brookhart phoned a family friend, who knew Shanahan, to see if he could arrange a 30-minute meeting with the Broncos coach.

"I didn't think I could pay my dues at that time. I was going to skip a few rungs," he said. "I didn't care about money."

After working hard on his pitch, Brookhart walked into Shanahan's office, determined to prevail.

"He kept coming up with objection after objection after objection," Brookhart said. "He told me 'no' in every which way he could. At the end of 30 minutes, he kind of put his hands up and said, 'All right, you can come to training camp.' "

Brookhart ran errands - picking up soft drinks, filling up cars with gas - in exchange for a seat in coaches' meetings, where he soaked in all the Xs and Os.

"At the end of training camp, Shanahan thanked me and told me to call if he could help in any way," he said.

"I told him I wanted to stay, and he said, 'I told you we didn't have anything.'

"Then he let me stay."

Motivated by fear

During the next two years, Brookhart worked in all phases of the game - offense, defense, special teams, always wary of failure.

"When I was at Pitt, they brought in a psychologist for our players," he said. "They wanted to find out what motivates you: Was it winning or being a limelighter or what? Mine was fear of failure. A lot of times I worked from 6:30 in the morning until midnight."

During seven seasons at Pittsburgh, Brookhart played a major role in the Panthers' revival, first as receivers coach, then as offensive coordinator, developing a long line of marquee wideouts, including All-American Larry Fitzgerald, 2000 Biletnikoff Award winner Antonio Bryant and NFL signees Latef Grim, Darcey Levy and R.J. English.

But he was eager for a promotion, and when Akron called, Brookhart was ready for his big chance.

"He was a very dedicated, hard-working, detail-oriented guy," Shanahan said. "He did a great job for us and has since then. I'm so happy for him. They called me, of course, when he was a candidate at Akron. And I gave him a real high recommendation."

After a 51-0 drubbing at Virginia, though, which dropped the Zips' record to 0-3, Brookhart's first season was in meltdown mode.

"It was the worst. It was brutal. I was really questioning myself," he said. "I didn't know if I could coach."

But Brookhart rallied his players, an impressive accomplishment because Lee Owens, his predecessor, had recruited many of them.

"He knows how to get the team and other people fired up about Akron football," quarterback Charlie Frye said.

Down 21 points against Marshall, Frye threw three touchdowns and Jason Swiger kicked a 43-yard field goal on the final play to lift the team to a 31-28 victory.

On a roll, the Zips won six of their last eight games and entered the final week of the season with a shot at a bowl berth and conference title. Moreover, they drew 29,261 and 17,410 fans in their final two home games at the Rubber Bowl, where minuscule crowds are the norm.

"The community is very excited where we're at right now," Thomas said.

Added Shanahan: "You couldn't do a better job than J.D. has done at Akron."

But success hasn't spoiled Brookhart. Recruiting, fundraising, marketing, long-range planning - he's still all business.

"I like to grow," he said.

latimerc@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2596

[Z-P]

I sure hope he doesn't get famous before he gets good.

Best record in 13 years? :blink:

Just win...............

[Kangaroo Craig]

Interesting that he is motivated by fear of failure. People who are wired that way are usually very successful because they are generally tireless workers who are very passionate about their carreers. It's also interesting to see that he is applying what he has learned in sales towards recruiting. If the first year is any indication of things to follow then this program is on the verge of busting out. What a great coach! I am so happy that he is here.

[Zipsrifle]

GREAT GRAB Dr. Z!

[Dr Z]

GREAT GRAB Dr. Z! 

I can't take full credit.

I was told about it at the game Saturday.