Bill Belichick, Nick Saban, and the Limits of Borrowed Leadership

For two decades, Bill Belichick dominated his NFL competition in a manner unseen before. Six Super Bowl championships, year-after-year contention, and a culture defined by discipline and an uncompromising standard of performance. His success made his methods appear not just effective, but universally transferable, as if the system itself was the secret and could simply be installed elsewhere.

That belief fueled one of the most prominent coaching trees in professional sports. Assistants left New England carrying pieces of the “Patriot Way,” convinced that if they replicated Belichick’s standards, structure, and demeanor, the results would follow. What many discovered instead is that Belichick’s leadership works because it was a personal expression of his intellect, temperament, credibility, and decades of accumulated authority. Removed from that context, the same behaviors failed for others.

That pattern reveals a broader truth about leadership, particularly in athletics: most people are promoted for performance, not for leadership readiness, and the two are not the same thing.

You Weren’t Promoted to Perform. You Were Promoted to Lead.

Most people are promoted not for their leadership skills, but because they excel as individual performers. They might be the assistant coach who always delivers, the coordinator whose team exceeds goals, or the recruiter who signs a top class. Their strong skills and work ethic set them apart, leading to more responsibility. Suddenly, and often without warning, they are put in charge of others.

This is where things start to go wrong. Excelling at your own work and leading others requires very different skills. One focuses on getting things done, being prepared, and staying disciplined. The other is about influencing, aligning, communicating, and developing others. Still, many organizations, including those in sports, act as if being good at one means you’ll be good at the other. That’s not always the case.

This creates a leadership gap common in many places.

Learning While Leading

Most new leaders don’t get a chance to learn how to lead before they’re put in charge. They get a title, a team, and a set of expectations, and then must figure things out as they go. It’s like learning to fly while already in the air.

This is especially clear in sports. A position coach moves up to coordinator, and then to head coach. Suddenly, the job is less about drills and plays and more about managing people, relationships, egos, careers, and building culture. What counts as success changes, but the training for the new role often stays the same.

If coaches aren’t properly developed, they fall back on what they already know. They model the habits of their old coaches, mentors, or famous leaders they’ve seen. There is nothing wrong with modeling (it’s one of the ways we learn). Over time, however, this leads to 'coaching trees' where ways of doing things are handed down without checking if they really suit the person using them.

This is often where leadership transitions fail.

Why Simple Modeling Leadership Rarely Works

There are many cases where coaches tried to copy successful leaders’ methods, only to find that those methods didn’t work in a new setting.

Referring back to Bill Belichick as an example. His approach was very successful in New England because of his intelligence, credibility, experience, and strong control over the team. He led with high standards, a strict style, and a focus on results, which brought long-term success.

But when some of his assistants tried to use the same style in other places, it didn’t work. Matt Patricia is a clear example. In Detroit, he tried to bring the 'Patriot Way' with strict rules, tight control, and emotional distance, but he didn’t first build trust, a shared purpose, or credibility with his team. The methods were the same, but the leadership wasn’t earned. This led to pushback, lack of engagement, and eventually failure.

The point isn’t that Belichick’s methods are wrong. The real lesson is that leadership is personal. Only Bill Belichick can lead like Bill Belichick. When leaders copy tactics without knowing why they work or how they fit their own style, it causes problems.

When the Transition Is Done Well

On the other hand, good workers can become good leaders when they choose to develop the skills a leader needs, or have those skills developed by others. What worked for others might not work for you, and it takes work to identify how you communicate best, what your values are, and what your personal leadership vision is.

Nick Saban is a great example. People often talk about his focus on process and high standards, but what’s often missed is how thoughtful he was about his own growth as a leader. Saban didn’t just copy what he learned early on. He improved his approach over time, changed how he communicates, and learned to link discipline with purpose. His leadership worked because it aligned with who he is and how he sees things.

The same goes for Kirby Smart. Even though he learned from Saban, Georgia isn’t just Alabama with a different look. Smart took the key ideas like clarity, growth, and accountability, and used his own energy, way of relating to people, and competitive spirit. He didn’t try to be Saban. He became his own kind of leader.

That difference is essential.

The Real Gap Is Identity

The main problem for new leaders is a lack of information. It’s not being clear about who they are. Many step into leadership roles without taking the time to figure out how they lead best.

They haven’t answered key questions: What do I believe about people? How do I build trust? What does accountability look like for me? How do I give honest, standards- based feedback? What behaviors will I always support or challenge?

Without this clarity, leaders often depend on authority they haven’t earned. They hide behind rules, toughness, or their job title. They set standards without building relationships and confuse control with authentic leadership. Players notice this right away. People don’t mind high standards; they dislike inconsistency and leaders who aren’t genuine.

Leadership Is Not Automatic

Moving from worker to leader doesn’t happen automatically, and a promotion doesn’t guarantee it. Becoming a leader takes time, self-reflection, feedback, and a real effort to grow. Most of all, it means permitting yourself to lead in a way that’s true to who you are, not because it worked for someone else.

When leaders stop copying others and start leading from their own strengths, they become much more effective. It’s not because they expect less or lower standards, but because people believe in their leadership.

The aim isn’t to make more copies of successful coaches. It’s to help leaders know themselves well enough to lead others with clarity, consistency, and trust. This kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident, and it shouldn’t be left to chance.