Tom Gilmore.

Back-to-back PL champs 2016 and 2017.... but need to get back to relevance in the national FCS scene.
ngineer
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Re: Tom Gilmore.

Post by ngineer » Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:08 pm

sader1970 wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:36 pm
He needs to control his emotions and learn how to win close games. There were several references to his fiery personality during his press conference. This was a comment about him "intimidating staff" when he walked in. If you look at his face it clearly made him uncomfortable. People might love his fiery personality but it worked against him at Holy Cross.
[/quote]

As I have posted often on Crossports, my first encounter with Tom that we both remember vividly was at a local Holy Cross alumni club meeting which I hosted - the first he attended - perhaps within a couple of weeks of him being hired as our head coach.

We had heard about his fiery personality so after the AD and he spoke and time for Q&A, I said: "You come here with a reputation for being 'intense,' would that be an accurate description?" He looked at me and he was caught just momentarily off-guard that someone (who he could break in half) would have the temerity to ask him that. But then he said, "I would rather think of it as being 'focused'." Often we would be at other alumni events in which he would laugh and say, "Tom (me), do you remember the first time we met and the first question you asked me?" and then regale the other alums about our encounter.

We were "friends" (more like close acquaintances, never went out for a beer with him) over the rest of his time at Holy Cross and we were always honest with each other - good and bad.We had a trust. He has always been gracious and polite and warm with me and my wife (who loves him for his honesty . . . . and maybe his good looks too).

I know that I never played for him, being many years older, but I have spoken to some of his former players, after they were "safely" away from him. Without fail, they all said that he turned them from boys to men and they respected him. Tom told me that his job was more than just a football coach but saw his role as preparing his players for their lives after college where they would find as hard as football was, life afterwards was harder. Not everyone can either take that or see that. Maybe I just encountered those who could. He comes from Irish immigrants and had to work for everything he got. Perhaps he is a throwback to another era?

He had justifiably been seen (I've known a number of coaches at Holy Cross) as the hardest working guy on campus - coaches or anyone including faculty and staff. He is a workaholic (his poor wife!) and hates to lose. I have no doubt that he is tough on his assistants and hard to work for because he is as demanding of them as he is on himself and many can't take that pressure.

So, you understand where I am coming from, I've analyzed why I like Tom and wish him success at Lehigh, except when you guys play the Crusaders. I wasn't a coach but a manager/leader/executive for many years. I often heard from my former subordinates (again, after they were "safely" away from me and no fear of retribution) that I was a "tough, demanding boss" who they often said was the best they ever had because I drove them to accomplish things they thought was beyond their capabilities. They also said, "You were demanding but never asked anyone to do anything that you wouldn't do yourself and you listened to us and would change your mind if we had a convincing argument."

That's what Tom Gilmore is like. He definitely is not for everyone. Yep, he's emotional but as he said in the press conference, he thinks he has matured. The Tom Gilmore I know will go out of his way to prove that this was the best decision that Lehigh could have ever made.

I admit my bias but I think you got a good one.
[/quote]

Excellent post. You hit the nail on the head in characterizing Tom. He is a 'throwback' and some today don't like that mentality, but think he is one who can also adapt. Your quote, highlighted above, is an excellent description of a leader. The attitude of 'hating to lose more, than wanting to win" is a common characteristic. I think our culture needs to toughen up a bit, demand excellence of each other and hold each other accountable. At a school like Lehigh, pursuit of excellence must be a given. We won't always achieve it, but when we lose, we need to lose like champions. I think we've lost some intensity over the past couple years, and I look forward to its return.


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van
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Re: Tom Gilmore.

Post by van » Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:14 pm

thank you for that post, being demanding on assistants maybe not a bad thing, just hope we have the $$$ to hire assistants that can rise to the challenge
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Re: Tom Gilmore.

Post by StablerBum » Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:25 pm

ngineer wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:08 pm Excellent post. You hit the nail on the head in characterizing Tom. He is a 'throwback' and some today don't like that mentality, but think he is one who can also adapt. Your quote, highlighted above, is an excellent description of a leader. The attitude of 'hating to lose more, than wanting to win" is a common characteristic. I think our culture needs to toughen up a bit, demand excellence of each other and hold each other accountable. At a school like Lehigh, pursuit of excellence must be a given. We won't always achieve it, but when we lose, we need to lose like champions. I think we've lost some intensity over the past couple years, and I look forward to its return.
I don't get this near term reactionary approach to a hire. Because the offense has been good historically, we need a defense first coach? Because Andy was a little low energy the last few years we need a fiery guy? I don't understand planning for the future by reacting to the past. Why not just get a good football coach regardless of offense vs defense and how intense they are? Don't overcompensate for things that happened in past seasons. Gilmore may end up being great,but it won't be because he is intense it will be because he is a good football coach.

As far as "losing like champions," I don't really know what that means. But Gilmore did a fair amount of losing his last few years in Worcester, regardless of it was like a champion or just regular losing. If striving and demanding excellence still yields losses, isn't that a sign of issues elsewhere in the skillset?
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Re: Tom Gilmore.

Post by StablerBum » Thu Jan 10, 2019 2:01 pm

Apologies, last post came out snarkier than I intended. Just hope the candidate field wasn't arbitrarily reduced to certain personality types rather than performance.
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sader1970
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Re: Tom Gilmore.

Post by sader1970 » Thu Jan 10, 2019 4:20 pm

van wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:14 pm thank you for that post, being demanding on assistants maybe not a bad thing, just hope we have the $$$ to hire assistants that can rise to the challenge
One of the rumors was that TG was short-changed on $$$ to hire good/great assistants. Really don't know for a fact that that is true but knowing a little about Holy Cross' philosophy I think it is more likely true than not. A very strong rumor is that new coach Chesney voluntarily foregoed some of his offered salary to hire better assistants. Among others, we had Liam Coen in the fold as offensive coordinator but lost him almost immediately to the NFL (why would any coach make that decision? :lol: ). The play calling of his replacement has been one of constant discussion.

An ongoing "complaint" among the Crusader faithful is that our coaches get little cooperation from the Admissions office. I know from speaking with TG that there were recruits we lost to other PL schools. Not sure if you have that same problem but suspect that's true at every school and varies only by degree.
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Re: Tom Gilmore.

Post by RichH » Thu Jan 10, 2019 6:26 pm

sader1970 wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 4:20 pm
van wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 1:14 pm thank you for that post, being demanding on assistants maybe not a bad thing, just hope we have the $$$ to hire assistants that can rise to the challenge
One of the rumors was that TG was short-changed on $$$ to hire good/great assistants. Really don't know for a fact that that is true but knowing a little about Holy Cross' philosophy I think it is more likely true than not. A very strong rumor is that new coach Chesney voluntarily foregoed some of his offered salary to hire better assistants. Among others, we had Liam Coen in the fold as offensive coordinator but lost him almost immediately to the NFL (why would any coach make that decision? :lol: ). The play calling of his replacement has been one of constant discussion.

An ongoing "complaint" among the Crusader faithful is that our coaches get little cooperation from the Admissions office. I know from speaking with TG that there were recruits we lost to other PL schools. Not sure if you have that same problem but suspect that's true at every school and varies only by degree.
Admissions will not be a battle for TG. We have had a few who did not get admitted in the last few years.one wound up at Columbia and the other at Brown. Must remember tho that those coaches may have had low band slots available whiie we didnt. With rare exceptions, asst salaries are low throughout the Pl. Last year we went without an ST likely to afford another coach.
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RichH
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Re: Tom Gilmore.

Post by RichH » Thu Jan 10, 2019 6:31 pm

TG radio interview.
Mostly recycled comments from his intro interview. He did say that there would be changes in the staff over the next week. Meetings so far concentrated on recruiting. He did have one on one conversations with all the coaches.
As to OOC schedules, he basically repeated Joe's stated policy of emphasizing regional rivalries with FBS and FCS teams.
Lehigh74
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Re: Tom Gilmore.

Post by Lehigh74 » Thu Jan 10, 2019 9:30 pm

Rich, do you know if the interview is available online?
Sundayamqb
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Re: Tom Gilmore.

Post by Sundayamqb » Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:20 am

Nice post, Sader1970 ...
sader1970 wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:36 pm
He needs to control his emotions and learn how to win close games. There were several references to his fiery personality during his press conference. This was a comment about him "intimidating staff" when he walked in. If you look at his face it clearly made him uncomfortable. People might love his fiery personality but it worked against him at Holy Cross.
[/quote]

As I have posted often on Crossports, my first encounter with Tom that we both remember vividly was at a local Holy Cross alumni club meeting which I hosted - the first he attended - perhaps within a couple of weeks of him being hired as our head coach.

We had heard about his fiery personality so after the AD and he spoke and time for Q&A, I said: "You come here with a reputation for being 'intense,' would that be an accurate description?" He looked at me and he was caught just momentarily off-guard that someone (who he could break in half) would have the temerity to ask him that. But then he said, "I would rather think of it as being 'focused'." Often we would be at other alumni events in which he would laugh and say, "Tom (me), do you remember the first time we met and the first question you asked me?" and then regale the other alums about our encounter.

We were "friends" (more like close acquaintances, never went out for a beer with him) over the rest of his time at Holy Cross and we were always honest with each other - good and bad.We had a trust. He has always been gracious and polite and warm with me and my wife (who loves him for his honesty . . . . and maybe his good looks too).

I know that I never played for him, being many years older, but I have spoken to some of his former players, after they were "safely" away from him. Without fail, they all said that he turned them from boys to men and they respected him. Tom told me that his job was more than just a football coach but saw his role as preparing his players for their lives after college where they would find as hard as football was, life afterwards was harder. Not everyone can either take that or see that. Maybe I just encountered those who could. He comes from Irish immigrants and had to work for everything he got. Perhaps he is a throwback to another era?

He had justifiably been seen (I've known a number of coaches at Holy Cross) as the hardest working guy on campus - coaches or anyone including faculty and staff. He is a workaholic (his poor wife!) and hates to lose. I have no doubt that he is tough on his assistants and hard to work for because he is as demanding of them as he is on himself and many can't take that pressure.

So, you understand where I am coming from, I've analyzed why I like Tom and wish him success at Lehigh, except when you guys play the Crusaders. I wasn't a coach but a manager/leader/executive for many years. I often heard from my former subordinates (again, after they were "safely" away from me and no fear of retribution) that I was a "tough, demanding boss" who they often said was the best they ever had because I drove them to accomplish things they thought was beyond their capabilities. They also said, "You were demanding but never asked anyone to do anything that you wouldn't do yourself and you listened to us and would change your mind if we had a convincing argument."

That's what Tom Gilmore is like. He definitely is not for everyone. Yep, he's emotional but as he said in the press conference, he thinks he has matured. The Tom Gilmore I know will go out of his way to prove that this was the best decision that Lehigh could have ever made.

I admit my bias but I think you got a good one.
[/quote]
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RichH
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Re: Tom Gilmore.

Post by RichH » Fri Jan 11, 2019 10:47 am

Lehigh74 wrote: Thu Jan 10, 2019 9:30 pm Rich, do you know if the interview is available online?
It is or will be soon. fox LV does archive. I will ask Tom later today.
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