In Frank L. Baum’s classic book of twisters, witches, and yellow brick roads, the all-powerful Wizard tells Dorothy and company, “I am Oz the great and terrible. Who are you and why do you seek me?” In this scene, Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, and the Tinman have humbly come to see the Wizard in hopes of gaining wisdom and help.
The Wizard’s response, which he thinks is bringing about respect, actually strikes fear in the hearts of the trio. They leave him trembling and thinking that if they do not complete his tasks in the manner he wants them done, he will smite them down in fury and not help them at all.
Reflecting on my years as a football coach’s wife, I cannot help but draw comparisons between The Wizard in the Emerald City and a specific genre of head coaches in this sport.
We have been fortunate to be a part of some of the most successful high school football programs in our state. With this comes things that every coach dreams about: championships, titles, rings, recognition, players hitting the gridiron on Saturdays, and even in the league. Alongside these accolades, based on my experience, also comes one common denominator…Oz the Great and Terrible.
Don’t get me wrong! I am aware that to be a powerhouse of a program in a competitive state, the HFC cannot be everyone’s buddy and shoulder to cry on. That type of softness is not what I am referring to. I am talking about the Wizards that sit behind their desks and look down on their staff with the mentality that they are the “great and terrible”.
Coaches who degrade and threaten the jobs of their assistants because a few teenage boys didn’t execute on Friday night. Coaches who live in the “Who are you and why do you seek me?” mentality and evoke a degree of fear in their coaching teammates that does not translate to respect.
This mentality is often underscored by the administration and community that cannot, or will not, see past the Ws on the record. The result is an Oz with a staff that, out of fear masquerading as respect, is much less likely to speak up to the all-mighty Wizard. Instead of a group of intelligent, professional men working together for the greater good, the staff is more likely to comply, and even accept that they are not equal to the Oz.
To me, this is one of the most fascinating phenomena in this field. A staff full of professional, respectable, grown men will accept the degradation and blatant disrespect of a HFC simply because he has a lot of wins under his belt.
Here, I find it imperative to bring forth a reminder of how the story concludes. If we recall correctly, in the end, Toto pulls back the curtain on Oz to reveal that the booming voice and larger-than-life persona were actually being created and contrived by a small, basic, non-magical, normal man.
One can infer that, allegorically, this portion of the story fits just as well as the parts that have come before. If you find yourself with a Great and Terrible, I hope that the knowledge of what is behind the curtain gives you the confidence of that tiny dog and the girl with the ruby slippers.