Before I jump too far into this post, I have to make clear that I am in no way carrying water for Teach For America. In fact, I’ve been critical in the past of the general TFA reluctance to air publicly the dirty laundry of public education that its corps members see on a daily basis.
I also have to state, emphatically, that I am not a fan of the San Francisco 49’ers football team. A dozen years spent living in a state where the most popular public figure is named Favre made sure of that.
Stick with me. I’m heading somewhere with this.
There was a great piece in the Wall Street Journal last week on the legacy of former 49’ers coach Bill Walsh. It got me thinking about TFA and the tremendous influence it is having on modern-day education reform efforts – especially as some of the seeds that Wendy Kopp started planting in the 1990’s start to grow into leadership roles in school districts and in government around the country.
As a coach, Walsh didn’t win as many games as other gridiron legends like George Halas, Paul Brown, or Vince Lombardi, but by introducing what came to be called the “west coast offense,” Walsh revolutionized the game of football – convincingly establishing the primacy of the pass over the run as an offensive weapon.
But even more important in terms of Walsh’s sustained impact on the game, as the Journal piece elegantly notes, was the role Walsh played as a teacher, training young coaches to go out and take on other teams with Walsh-style coaching efficiency.
It was as a teacher, though, that Mr. Walsh had his greatest and most lasting influence on football. Unlike Lombardi, who left worshippers but no disciples, Mr. Walsh spawned an entire generation of acolytes. His defensive coordinator George Seifert won two Super Bowls with San Francisco; his offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren won one with Green Bay. Mr. Seifert’s pupil Mike Shanahan, schooled in Mr. Walsh’s methods, won two more with Denver.
Mr. Walsh’s influence on football today is so pervasive that nearly 20 years after his final game, the Super Bowl has practically become an annual showcase for his adherents. This past February, Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy, a former player under Mr. Walsh, squared off against the Chicago Bears’ Lovie Smith, who trained as an assistant to Dennis Green, once a Walsh receiver’s coach.
That Messrs. Dungy and Smith were the first African-American coaches to reach the Super Bowl highlights perhaps Mr. Walsh’s greatest legacy: In 1987, he helped create the Minority Coaching Fellowship Program. “I can tell you this,” says Mr. Dungy, “his life was about much more than just X’s and O’s.”
I don’t know whether Wendy Kopp used to go to Princeton football games back when she was dreaming about TFA as an undergrad, but I do know enough about what she was trying to do to know that ‘having an impact’ drives her and her team.
It is astounding to me how often you can be at an event with people doing work in classrooms and boardrooms and in lobbies of statehouses, etc. and find yourself looking into the eyes of someone who emerged through the ranks of TFA. A lot of attention was given to Washington DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee when she became the first TFA alum to be named to lead one of the nation’s big city school districts, but it is starting to feel like these one-time TFA corps members are everywhere.
Despite the criticism that has dogged the program from the start that corps members are splitsville after two years, they continue to make their presence felt.
Mark this down: It won’t be long before we are routinely pulling the levers for these folks in voting machines.
Talk about a high percentage pass.