LITTLE ROCK — Always well stocked with quotes from players and coaches, Hawgs Illustrated’s Razorback football preview edition includes a Ty Storey nugget begging to be mined.
More than 20 pages deep in the position-by-position breakdown, the junior quarterback piqued interest in Brian Cain when he used “cool” to describe the lessons learned under the mental coach brought in by Chad Morris.
Come to find out, Cain has authored more than 40 books, including “The Mental Game of Football,” has a litany of clients/championship teams in a variety of sports, and worked with Morris at SMU.
Storey told the magazine that Cain “taught us how to approach certain situations and how to think,” adding, “It’s crazy how much he’s helped me.”
Storey went on for eight sentences about the value of a “detailed, but clean schedule,” explaining that his schedule is so precise there is never any doubt about what he is supposed to be doing hour by hour. Storey’s scheduling falls under “Time Management and Organization” on Cain’s list of what he calls 10 pillars essential for peak mental performance.
Other pillars are motivation and commitment, self-control and discipline, and elite mindset. He cited Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins as an example of somebody who maps out his days in 15-minute blocks to achieve ultimate productivity.
Wanting to know more about his work with the Razorbacks, an e-mail citing Storey’s comments was sent to Cain.
“It’s Coach Morris’ mission to help the people in the program to be successful on and off the field for the rest of their lives and we believe that creating a daily routine and schedule that's in alignment with your goals is a critical step in that process…,” Cain said. “It’s just one of MANY critical steps. When you get organized you have clarity and with clarity comes confidence and calmness of mind, two essential skills we want our athletes to have.”
When Cain works with college teams, he addresses the staff, the team and staff as a whole, position groups, and individual athletes.
The gist of his message, he said, “is that if you want more, you have to become more and my experience and research shows that you must become more in these 10 pillars of peak mental performance if you want to win at the highest level.”
Intrigued by his approach, a follow-up e-mail requested specifics of his message to the Razorbacks.
Responding, he said time management and organization involves investing one percent of the day to get better.
“We know that there are 24 hours in a day,” he said. “Sixty minutes in an hour. 24x60 = 1,440 minutes in a day. One percent of your entire day is only 14 minutes and 24 seconds. In the SEC, the difference between worst and first might be made up in each guy intentionally investing one percent of his day to becoming more.”
His preaching is tailored to connect with the everyday world of a young college student.
“Trading 14:24 of Fortnite, Netflix, or social media for soft tissue mobility work, playbook study, meditation or ‘planning tomorrow today organization’ might be the difference,” he said. “It’s the compound effect of moment-to-moment decisions. It’s staggering what … getting ultra organized can do for your productivity.
He ended the communiqué with ‘DOMINATE THE DAY.’
To an outsider, the approach seems fresh and new. That said, Crain’s presentation includes an oldie, but goodie.
“In most games there will only be a handful of plays that determine the outcome of that game,” he said. “As a coach or player, you never know what play will be the one that makes the big difference, so you have to treat them all as if they are going to be that big play. Playing the game of football one play at a time is what the mental game is all about.”
More than 40 years ago, former Arkansas coach Lou Holtz touted the same message.