It was just last week that I posted comments about the Denver Broncos director of pro personnel Tom Heckert, 45 and the director of player personnel Matt Russell 40, who, within a month of one another were arrested for DUI.
Unlike, many of these unfortunate incidents, these weren’t football players just out of college and in their early 20s; but grown men – and executives, with important organizational responsibilities. Indeed, they are supposedly leaders of young men.
Heckert was found to have a blood alcohol level (BAC) about twice the legal limit when he was pulled over. Russell had a BAC more than three times the legal limit. In fact, he was so drunk he rear-ended a parked police cruiser. If there is any good luck or good fortune to this story, it is the fact that the cruiser was unoccupied.
Both Heckert and Russell played in the NFL; they were the athletic cream of the crop and they both went into football management. They had power that only a few of us can ever dream of having.
On the other hand Joe Ellis, president of the Denver Broncos organization was not a professional football player; he is a hard-nosed football executive with more than 25 years of NFL executive experience. Though he has been around many hundreds of professional athletes, he is not a “good old boy,” who went out partying and carousing after every team trophy; he was learning the business.
A Tough Business – but so is yours
There were no winks and there were no games after the DUI’s, it was business. The incident with Heckert might have been handled completely in house. There would have been a ripple of publicity stemming from the court appearance, but it might have blown over. When Mr. Russell was arrested soon after, it was just too much.
Oh sure there were the contrite words of apology, but it wasn’t enough for Ellis. As he told reporters at the Associated Press: “You can say we apologized for it — but I think an apology rings hollow when you run into the back of a police car or you’re blowing a blood-alcohol limit that’s three times the legal limit. I don’t think fans, I don’t think the public, I don’t think anybody wants to hear an apology.”
He was right, of course. Then again, he is a business person who is ultimately accountable to the owner for the actions of his team. His attitude was like that of any other responsible business person. That’s what impressed me the most about Mr. Ellis – accountability.
There are all kinds of legal minds available to the NFL and I am sure Mr. Ellis consulted them. However, in the end, and as of this precise date, Mr. Heckert was suspended without pay for a month. Matt Russell was suspended indefinitely and without pay. It does not look good for him right now.
I would only find exception to one of Mr. Ellis’ statements over the past six weeks, and I say this with respect. He is quoted as saying:
“There are a lot of things we do. We offer programs, we offer a lot of help, there’s a ton of stuff the National Football League makes available to all the teams in an effort for them to avoid this kind of thing. In this case, we had two guys that couldn’t do it. And that’s just sad.”
My comment is that I am sure they offer programs and counseling but what they don’t offer is reality. I usually start my seminars by walking out on stage in an orange jumpsuit and hand-cuffs. It isn’t just for show. For every time I put on that outfit, part of me, deep down, feels the terror I felt when I once walked into a courtroom wearing the same outfit flanked by guards for real. I lost so much that day and I spent years since then trying to teach the lessons I learned.
I wish absolutely no ill-will toward Mr. Heckert or Mr. Russell. I desire for them to do well and I hope they gain new knowledge, but I could have helped them a great deal more before they messed up. I would have told them what it is like to have to start over; what it is like to lose reputation and friends and respect.
I could have offered them reality and not game-day slogans.
Hearing you speak Chuck could have made a profound difference in the outcome of these two gentlemen’s decision To act so irresponsibly And now to pay the consequences