Football coach's leadership lessons include a big truism: never be a liar

Bill Kramer's unwavering commitment to excellence offers lessons for executives and entrepreneurs.

By Mark Gordon
| 11:00 a.m. November 24, 2021
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Stefania Pifferi. Bill Kramer was the head coach at Naples High School for 20 seasons â€” one of the most successful periods ever for the Golden Eagles, with 216 wins and two state championships.

Leadership

Under Head Coach Bill Kramer, the Naples High School football team began each season on a players’ retreat. Long before for the first snap of the first game, Kramer and his coaches picked six players to form a players-only leadership committee. One major task for the appointed high schoolers on the retreat: create a theme for the season. “It’s important to find out who you are and own it,” Kramer would tell his players.

End zone

Bill Kramer is celebrated for his wins and championships as Naples High football coach for two decades.

But one story in his book, “Great Day…Today: A True Story of Faith, Family and Football,” that should be a stark reminder/lesson for any leader took place off the field. The story was about a letter Kramer received from a Naples resident who said he had an encounter with two Naples High football players.

While his mind might have gone to the negative, Kramer says it turned out the citizen wanted to thank the players. They were part of a Naples High Fellowship of Christian Athletes club, and had dropped off a poinsettia and a Merry Christmas card. The letter writer, Kramer says, talked about how his wife had died a year ago and he had struggled to move on. “In fact,” Kramer writes, “on the evening those Naples High athletes knocked on his door, he was planning on ending his life.”

The random visit, and kindness, saved the man’s life, he wrote to the coach in the letter. It reminded Kramer, he says, of an important life lesson: “We just never know what is going on behind the scenes with the people we encounter each day.”