By Stuart Singer, author of The Algebra Miracle
Joe Madden is a man of contradictions. For several Octobers his name and face were featured prominently in all forms of media and yet he quickly regained his relative anonymity in a matter of days. His unknown status is particularly remarkable when one considers that his claim to fame is as an authentic miracle worker on one of the country’s most visible stages. But most importantly for the purpose of this story, although Mr. Madden has not worked a day in his life in education, he has a wealth of insights for overcoming adversity that the academic world would be wise to study.
Who is Joe Madden?
Joe Madden has been the manager of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays for the past six years. A profile of his time in that capacity was featured on the April edition of HBO’s “Real Sports”. Joe Madden was not a great baseball player. In fact, he was not even a fair one. He never advanced beyond the lowest minors and accumulated a career total of three homeruns in four years. After his playing days were mercifully over, he bounced around the sport in a variety of low-profile positions until six years ago when one of the least successful teams in MLB decided he would be an inexpensive choice to fill their managerial spot.
When baseball and education intersect
It does not take a great deal of imagination to recognize that being the leader of the Tampa Bay Rays can be a remarkable parallel to working with under-resourced, at-risk schools. By virtually every measure the Rays are at a competitive disadvantage. The team’s 2012 payroll of $64 million is 25th among the 30 teams in MLB. Remarkably that is an improvement over 2011 when it was $41 million and ranked 29th. In fact every year for the past decade the team has been at or near the bottom in this category. Making the problem worse is the fact that they compete in the same five-team division as the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. This year those teams have spent $197 million and $175 million respectively for their squads. How many public schools in this country are faced with equally daunting competitive imbalances?
Making matters worse for Madden and his Rays is that there is scant hope for financial improvement. For the past three years the Yankees have averaged 41,000, 45,000 and 46,000 fans at every home game. In Boston the number has been a consistent 37,000 each season. Meanwhile in Florida, Rays’ games are something less than must see. Last year on average 18,000 people watched them play in what many consider the worst stadium in baseball. In a similar manner how many disadvantaged schools feel their issues have little hope of ever being adequately resolved?
These adverse financial conditions have brought great instability to the Rays. The team has to regularly let highly talented players move to other richer teams through free agency. As a result of this constant turnover, each year the Rays’ roster has to be reconstructed and valuable experience is lost. How many highly-challenged schools have to overcome the problem of equally volatile staffs?
Using creativity to overcome adversity
The story of the Tampa Bay Rays and Joe Madden has a surprising plot twist. Since his arrival the team has done one thing exceptionally well—it always wins. In the past four seasons they have been to the playoffs three times and the World Series once. This stunning level of success is the result of a confluence of events that can serve as guidelines in many endeavors.
The combination of a team with nothing to lose and a first-time manager, described by Real Sports as “A man who viewed his team as a laboratory experiment and loved to challenge conventional wisdom with some creative ideas of his own,” did what was seemingly impossible—break nearly every traditional rule of baseball strategy and became one of the league’s most successful franchises.
After being hired Madden quickly understood that in order to win, his team could not play the game in the same manner as the other squads. Simply going by the book would only continue to produce the failure of the previous decade. Instead he designed unique, unorthodox defensive shifts that would stymie the strengths of more talented opponents. On occasion Tampa became baseball heretics. They have played with four outfielders in certain situations and once intentionally walked a batter with the bases loaded. Madden explains his success in very simple terms. “It’s about freedom, the freedom to play the game differently. To win when you are supposed to lose and to push back against what’s expected.” He has an equally succinct philosophy for maintaining a high morale for his players. “Integrity has no rules. I don’t want to stand there and force you to act a certain way. I really don’t believe I am going to get the best out of you as a baseball player if I do. I have only one rule for my position players—run hard to first base. That’s it.” Madden later added that if a person runs hard to first, that intensity “will permeate his entire game”. He summarizes his approach to personnel as “I am trying to understand my players and motivate their thinking better to get them to perform their best”.
The message for education
Just as the thoughts of Vince Lombardi offered sage advice for education, the approaches taken by Joe Madden can be equally beneficial. A “one size fits all” philosophy for all schools is too often impractical and usually counterproductive. Different schools require different strategies and while that can be a source of discomfort for some traditionalists who prefer the status quo when it results in student success it should be pursued with great vigor. All educators, administrators and teachers should be “given the freedom to play the game differently.” When academic achievement follows, everyone is a winner.
Just like Joe Madden’s Tampa Bay Rays.