He is regarded by peers, and among media members, as one of the best senior executives in the National Football League. So, what is the nugget of advice Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Rich McKay reveals to the aspiring sports administrator?
"There is no career path," said McKay, who last year extended his contract for six years and was celebrating a Bucs victory in the Super Bowl 11 months later.
It is an unsettling bit of reality from the man who helped mold Tampa Bay's franchise into an organization that, operationally, is the envy of the league. His message: Opportunities can appear, often suddenly, from many directions, and the way to seize them is to be grounded in education and practical experience.
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"Don't think there's any one way to do it," McKay said. "[To] people who write to me, I say, first get your education, but don't get your education based upon the fact you want to be a general manager of a professional franchise, because there's a good chance it's not going to happen.
"Accordingly, prepare yourself for things you like, and learn in areas that interest you. And then, if it evolves into that — great. But don't think that it's something you can predict."
McKay's late father, John, was a legendary football coach. In 1974, when Rich was just 15, his dad led USC to a national title with a team that included Rich's older brother, star receiver J.K. McKay.
Expectations were elevated, to say the least, around the McKay household. A few years later, Rich McKay himself was playing college football, suiting up at Princeton.
"Football ... got me the opportunity to go to Princeton," said McKay. "I don't get in if it's just on [academic] merit."
By then, John McKay was the first head coach of the expansion Buccaneers. Rich McKay credits his father with doing him a huge favor — all but demanding that Rich and J.K. steer clear of the coaching profession, an all-consuming job that John did not wish on anyone, especially his own sons.
Rich McKay later joined some of his freshly graduated law school friends and formed a Tampa law firm, which was hired by Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse.
When McKay was hired by the Buccaneers in 1992, he found himself doing exactly what he wanted to be doing, though he had veered far off course from what he perceived as his career path.
"I was going to be an assistant U.S. attorney" after clerking for a federal judge in Tampa, McKay said.
McKay embraced his unexpected chance and even survived a change of Bucs ownership in 1995 to become GM. There he combined the discipline of law with his lifelong connection to the game.
McKay's mantra is to be committed to winning, guided by a master plan and tuned to the team's evolution in order to adapt the plan when the time comes.
"All that it means to me is that you're committed to making decisions based on winning, not based on ticket sales, not based on what the article in the paper may be on Sunday," McKay said. "It does not mean that you have to spend the most money.
"[Last season] I guess we were 15th or 16th in [payroll] spending and we won the Super Bowl."
Jed Hughes (jhughes@spencerstuart.com) is managing director of Spencer Stuart Sports Leadership Practices.
