Amazingly good post. So few college coaches understand the toughness aspect and grind that comes from outworking everyone else. You have to be physically more dominating than your opponent. This is the reason for Harbaughs teams successes. They are literally outworking other teams in S&C. The way to do that is to push harder physically than what most coaches think is reasonable. When you're criticized for how hard you're working your players, like Harbaugh had been, you then know you're doing it different. Until then, we'll never compete with OSU. They're good not due to talent, but making that talent push beyond what most think humanly possible and then keep going. That's what makes a champion. Most only think they're reaching that level. Legendary coach and a Olympic champion Dan Gable would visualize his opponents outworking him. He'd have night terrors of this and do middle of the night workouts for years. This was after 8 hr per day workouts. Still to this day he is the only Olympic champion wrestler to not surrender a single point in the olympics. This kind of obsession is understood and talked about by the truly elite in all walks of life. Most of the worlds elite at anything simply obsessed more and took more action than everyone else. Talent meant little. This is how pro bowler and super bowl champion Stephen Neal was able to walk on to the Patriots football team without having played college football. The guy didn't know how to put his shoulder pads on, but he won the battle against the DL before he ever stepped foot on the field. He was so physically dominant from pushing himself further than what anyone else could understand other than a high level collegiate wrestler. This is the work that goes on that nobody sees. This is the effort that nobody praises. The effort that comes from blood, sweat, tears, and pain that others aren't experiencing.
The wrestling/mma comment is spot on. Unfortunately most coaches have never pushed to this limit themselves so training others to do so is impossible. Even those who disagree with these points aren't bad people, they're just ignorant to the experience and therefore they cannot relate.
**And a side note. To get young kids to buy into that kind of grind and torture, you have to have a deep rapport. Your players have to love you to push through that kind of mental and physical displeasure. They have to trust the process and not get discouraged when they don't see immediate results. They have to be willing to bleed and work past pain they never faced as high school athletes. They need a coach that can knock them down harder than they ever imagined possible, but lift them back up further than they were with a cult like atmosphere of love, trust, and brotherhood. This is what makes elite special forces great, And true champions great.
