Cam Newton is not a leader. That was never the case.
Talent, the greatest resource in sports, influences performance. It undermines virtually everything else, especially leadership. Talent cuts corners. Ignore the details. It limits humility. It seeks attention and credit.
Talent blindness. She looks like a woman with perfect skin, big breasts, and curvaceous hips. Her talent intoxicates the viewer and her admirers.
Respect is a two-way street. Cam Newton doesn’t respect his place in the sports world.
There’s no one more talented in football than Cam Newton. He had Hall of Fame talent as a quarterback, receiver, tight end, left tackle, defensive end, outside linebacker, inside linebacker, and safety.
Newton will never be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame because he chose to play the only position that requires some leadership ability. The same shortcomings would hinder his success as a football coach. A coach must be a leader. It’s not enough for him to have a passion for the game or an affinity for helping kids.
Coaches must teach. Cam can’t do that.
On Sunday, Newton was coaching a 7-on-7 football team when he got into a scuffle with two coaches from the opposing team and several other people. Based on video footage seen so far, Cam appears to be defending himself from unprovoked attacks.
Social media quickly came to Cam’s defense.
I won’t do that. It’s no surprise that two opposing coaches who previously worked with Newton attacked the former NFL star. Cam has the personality of a diva wide receiver. He loves to badmouth opponents, including his children. Two years ago, a video of Cam going viral with a group of heckling teens went viral. Anyone who saw the video from two years ago shouldn’t be surprised that things have escalated.
If a coach, even a millionaire coach, acts out of his face, it’s no wonder someone attacks Cam in the face. He invites it.
Respect is a two-way street. Cam doesn’t respect his place in the sports world. He never is. He wanted to reinvent the quarterback position and what leadership at that position looked like. He worked until the moment he stopped working. It stopped working long before Newton’s talent waned.
At the age of 34, he left the game too early. He is reinventing himself as a podcaster and his 7-on-7 coach. Podcasting is a perfect fit for Cam’s personality. He knows how to draw attention to himself. He is clueless about being a coach.
Coaches don’t badmouth opponents. Coaches teach with humility and stoicism. They can’t flap their wings.
On Saturday, the day before the brawl, Cam’s 7-on-7 team lost to a top-shelf performance in what event organizer Nehemiah Mitchell described as a heated and trash-talk-filled match. On Sunday, two top-shelf coaches attacked Newton.
Maybe Newton was trying to share a Bible verse when the coaches approached him? Or did Newton find himself mired in an argument with two men who were jealous of his wealth and status?
What we know for sure is that Newton rejects the burden of presenting himself like a traditional leader. He is part of a new trend in coaching, a model centered around the extraordinary personalities of former superstar athletes.
Newton is Deion Sanders Wright. The same people who worship Coach Prime spent much of Sunday defending and praising Cam Newton. Admirers went so far as to accuse the “children” of not respecting Newton properly.
Never mind that the other two football coaches attacked Newton first. It’s easy to blame the children. The real responsibility lies at the feet of adults who act like children but are in leadership positions.
Dion escaped that and turned the scourge of “Prime Prep” into the face of college football. At this rate, it will be another five years before Cam is named Auburn’s head coach.
