Transcript for Frank Reich Interview on the Beyond Speaking Podcast

Please enjoy this transcript of Brian Lord’s Beyond Speaking Podcast Interview with Frank Reich, coach of the Carolina Panthers and former coach of the Indianapolis Colts, known for some of the most incredible comebacks in NFL history, leading to victory despite all odds.

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Podcast Episode · Beyond Speaking · Feb 6, 2025 · 32m 

 

Frank: Hey Brian, I appreciate the great intro, and I do have to remind everybody those were team records. They were not individual records. But Brian, I'm a little disappointed with you because I do hold an individual record, and you didn't tell everybody. I hold the individual record for the most fumbles in a Super Bowl game.

 

Intro: Welcome to the Beyond Speaking Podcast from Premiere Speakers Bureau, featuring in-depth conversations with the world's most in-demand keynote speakers. 

 

Brian: Hi, I'm Brian Lord, president of Premier Speakers Bureau, and your host of the Beyond Speaking podcast. Our guest today is Frank Reich, who is the proud owner of a cool dog who's getting into the shot right now. Very cute, cute puppy who will be part of the interview, I think. Also head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and Carolina Panthers, played as a quarterback in the NFL for 14 years, holder of two comeback records for a very long time, both in the NFL playoffs and in college. So kind of Captain Comeback as well. So Frank, so much for coming on and being part of the Beyond Speaking Podcast.

 

Frank: Well, Brian, it's my pleasure and you know, always enjoy engaging on these topics and so appreciate the time we have together.

 

Brian: Yeah, and what's funny is I still remember you were one of the first like speakers, famous speakers to take me out for lunch before. And it was like I think 2001 maybe, and you took me to a restaurant here in Cool Springs in Franklin that had shark on the menu. It's the first time I'd ever been to a place that had shark on the menu like this guy's like a high roller right here.

 

Frank: That's a good thing.

 

Brian: I know. And it was the coolest thing. And so I still appreciate that. We booked so many events over the years, you know, working with Premiere, I guess twenty-three, twenty-four years now, which is awesome. and you're one of the great speakers that we've had on so many different topics and leadership and teamwork, obviously on comeback. So excited to talk about all that. So thanks for thanks for being on here.

 

Frank: Well, you know, I've enjoyed it over the years. And, you know, sometimes as a professional, whether I was playing or coaching, you know, you can really get so wound up in what you know what you're doing and the demands of the job. But I really have enjoyed these 20 some years of working together and getting out in the community with people and sharing some of these things that I really have spent my whole life diving in on, you know, and how does this apply to really executing in life, on the job, at home. You know, whatever the case may be. So I enjoy this time.

 

Brian: So I'm curious to know, out of the kind of the main topics that you have, like being a pro, integrity, leadership, teamwork, obviously comeback, what are you asked to speak about the most?

 

Frank: I think the two things that I probably speak about the most are or three. I would say there's three. You know, I'd say, you know, one is I'm talking about leadership all the time. You know, as a quarterback, as a head coach for a lot of years, I've just been around so many great leaders. I've really tried to be a student of it. I'm an avid reader, so you know, I've read a lot over the years, although don't ask me too many books because I'm not good at remembering them.

 

But believe trust me, I got a million of them back here that I've read or listened to. So I think leadership is one of the top ones. And then, you know, through the years, Brian, another message that I've developed that I really enjoy giving that I've had a lot of great feedback on is just the idea of being a pro. For instance, in the NFL, when we're evaluating players, you know, as coaches, you're talking all the time about guys. And so one of the greatest compliments that you can give a player is that guy's a real pro. And like in our circles, like it's like understood, like, wow, that that that means that's a strong statement. That guy's a real pro. So over the years I've developed a little message, you know, where I just use the acronym PRO and talk about what it means to be a pro. And it certainly applies to football, but what I have seen is it really applies to every area of our life. So I've really enjoyed that one as well. And then there's always talk with a comeback and teamwork. Those are always integrated kind of in and through every message I delivered.

 

Brian: Mm-hmm. Now I understand that it is kind of interesting, pro. So we'll get to all those, but starting with pro, when you're talking about somebody, because the combine, all that stuff is kind of like an HR director, like human resources, we're finding the right people to put in the right places. When you talk about somebody being a pro, what does that mean?

 

Frank: Well, I talk about the P play with passion, the R is play with respect, and the O is play to make the most of the opportunity. And when I'm delivering this message, and it's so fun to do because right, I just have found through the years that there is something to keep it simple, you know, and you get those three points and you may get an acronym and it's easy to remember. I got people coming back to me years later. I heard you give that pro, you know, that pro message and that that's like a great compliment that you can get. 

 

But just summarizing it very briefly, you know, we talk about play with passion. And I really it's really cool to delineate the difference between playing with passion and playing with emotion. You know, in football, it's a lot of emotion, right? There's emotion, you know, boom, you know, emotion is great. As a coach, as a player, you are on our jobs. We want to be emotional, we want to be passionate about that kind of thing.

 

But what I've learned through the years is that emotion, while it is effective and useful, is inferior to passion. And the way I like to separate these two is I like to say that emotion is tied to circumstances. We're still in the playoffs. The score is still tight. I'm the starter on the team, or I'm not this, I'm the backup. I'm sitting on the bench. We're out of the playoffs and we still got three games to go.

What am I gonna do? How is our team gonna respond? What kind of an example of, you know, where's my motivation gonna be? What kind of pro am I gonna be if I'm just connected to circumstances and the circumstances aren't favorable for me? Okay, so now take emotion connected to circumstances, and then take passion and connect that to purpose. 

 

And that's where you see how deep and how strong purpose is, because then the audience it doesn't matter whether there's millions watching on television, or if you're in the backyard, you know, just you and your brother playing a game, or it's a scrimmage, or it's the end of the year and you are out of the playoffs, or it's the fourth quarter of a sales cycle and you've already reached all your goals. You know, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna coast in? Or or I know it's the fourth quarter of the cycle and it doesn't look like you're gonna reach your goal. It's just humanly impossible to reach those goals. So that's where you gotta dig down on the purpose. And so I'd like to kind of talk through that.

 

Brian: I’m curious to know when you feel like you became a pro.

 

Frank: I think it's an ongoing process, right? I mean, I really do. I think we're always, you know, we're always in process. and I think that for sure, you really don't become a true pro, I think, until you've just gone through some hardships and you've gone through this cycle of circumstances at a high level that have gone for you and gone against you. And so I just think that's important. Then what I'll do, Brian, is I like to, you know, I like to tell stories.

 

Brian: I love a story.

 

Frank: Like for instance, just one quick story on Play with Passion. So like I'll say, okay, as a quarterback, as a quarterback in an NFL huddle when or on a team, when I drop back in the pocket, right, it's not exactly a friendly environment back there. Right. The defensive linemen and the blitzing linebackers are trying to what? Inflict as much bodily harm as they can on the quarterback. At moments, they don't even care what the score is, they just want to hurt the quarterback. But guess what? As a quarterback, you stand back here in the pocket and you're not even looking at those guys. You know they're there, you feel their presence, but you have to do what? You have to keep your eyes down the field.

 

Why is that? Because you have a purpose. There is a play that has been called. You have a role and a job in the game for this play to execute the play. So we don't ignore the circumstances. We understand they're there. We feel they're there. But our deeper drive and execution and consistency comes from the purpose that we have when we step out on the field. So I like to, with each of these points, I'll kind of tell the point, make the comparison, and then drive home an illustration. And one time it's a football story, and then the next time it has something to do with business or family or my kids or whatever the case may be.

 

Brian: No, that's great. I love that too. In terms of being a pro and finding that purpose, who are some of your mentors maybe on and off the field?

 

Frank: Well, I mean, so many I mean, first and foremost in my dad. I mean, my dad was the ultimate, you know, he was a football coach, but just a real principle centered man. I mean, you know, he was a high school football coach, and high school teacher. And he taught drafting and metal shop and wood shop and was just a very simple principle-centered man.

 

So he was really an example to me more than anybody else. And he used to say, you know, whether I was going out, he had this saying, I like to tell this story sometimes too. He used to say, before I'd walk out the door to a football game or basketball, whatever kind of thing I was gonna do, go take a test. You know, he'd say he'd say, Hey, hey Frank, Frankie, keep the pressure on. Keep the pressure on. That was, if I had to say that, that was his code for be a pro. You know, be a pro. Don't let up. Always keep your guard up. Stay focused and be your best no matter what this no matter what. Be your best. Keep the pressure on. And in fact, one year when I was coaching for the then San Diego Chargers, as the offensive coordinator, you know, in the off season, we would go through our off season training program. And as a coordinator, you got to kind of pick a theme for your unit. So as the OC, I was the, you know, running the offense. And so we'd always have a T-shirt. We'd always have a T-shirt for spring training. And one year our T-shirt said, Keep the pressure on. You know, I would tell this story about my dad and then I'd say, Keep the pressure on. So fun memories.

 

Brian: That's awesome. That's great. I think that is one of those things that it carries down with that. I know you've got kids. Are there certain things you tell your kids that or what are some of the phrases you teach your kids and helping them maybe not be a pro, so to speak, but to do their best?

 

Frank: A hundred percent. No, and I will talk to them about being a pro. And all my daughters are all grown now and married and two of them have children. So they've heard all these messages a thousand times. But like another one that I like to say to them, which I'll kind of weave into the pro talk sometimes is that what they've heard a million times is contribution over credit. In other words, we don't worry about who gets the credit. We want to contribute to the team. We wanna contribute to the goal. We wanna contribute to making somebody better. So that was always a big saying, the kind of contribution over credit thing.

 

Brian: That's awesome. All right. Now when it comes to leadership, I know we've kind of covered that. You talked about your pro, when you talk about being a pro. When I talked about being a leader, what are the things that make up a great leader? You know, whether it's, you know, you've been a coach, quarterback, what are some of those things that make up a great leader?

 

Frank: So to me, the key to leadership, I've been given this message. I've been thinking about this, I've been speaking on this, I've been writing on this for literally 30 years. And it really my message really hasn't changed because and and to me, and I'm always looking to try to quote-unquote change it. And I'll nuance it with stories and to the audience, you know, every audience is different. So, you know, you have to adapt there.

 

But this core message around leadership to me is that it starts with credibility, right? The amount of credibility that you have as a leader is going to be directly proportional to the amount of leadership that you have with the group is gonna be directly proportional to the amount of credibility that you have. So leadership is directly proportional to credibility. And then so because that's true, and I've just experienced this. I've seen it time and time again. I've, you know, been studying this stuff for years and I just have this deep conviction that this is true. So since leadership is directly proportional to credibility and the strength of my leadership is going to depend on the strength of my credibility, then as a leader, I have to ask, how do I have how do I develop good credibility? Or is that something you either have or you don't? And of course the answer to that is no, this is something that you develop as a leader.

 

And you keep on developing credibility. And so I don't know, 20, 30 years ago, when I started I wrote this thing, I wrote it on my board, you know, leadership equal credibility. And then I said, okay, what let me just come up with seven C's that kind of make credibility. So if you imagine credibility up here and then seven C's underneath it, and what I'm saying is, hey, these seven C's, these aren't exhausted. There's more C's. You know, like I've done seminars on this with groups. And rather than me giving them the C's, a lot of times I'll say, I'll kind of set it up that leadership equals credibility. And I'm like okay, now you guys give me the C's. And that's a fun way to do it if you're in an informal setting. But there's times where I've gotten 20 C's, you know, and I'm like, what are you gonna do with 20? No. We pick seven. It's not exhaustive, but there it represents the core of what we believe. 

 

Okay. So I'll buzz down through them real quick and then maybe just give a highlight or two. Like we talk about calling. Like calling is one. We talk about the importance of calling. Does somebody believe that you're called to do what you're doing? A head football coach. You know, when a coach gets a job, the team and the town and the city and the fans, they gotta believe, this guy was called to be our coach, or you draft a guy in the first. 

 

Calling is an important feature of that. And then I talk about different aspects of calling. Character, right? And integrity, three things: integrity, humility, and motivation. Talk about competency, right? You can have high character, but if you're a quarterback, you still better be able to throw that football. You know, I mean if you're a coach, you better know your X's and O's. You know, if you're flying a plane, you know, whatever the school teacher, playing an instrument, whatever, you gotta have competency. And so that's knowledge, skill, and experience. You got to have courage, right? Like to have credibility, you gotta be able to, you gotta have courage, you gotta have bravery and poise under pressure. You gotta have another C is compassion. You can have character and competency and courage, but if it's just all about you and you don't feel and are not compassionate with other people, it's your leadership's really gonna suffer from that. So with compassion, we talk about empathy and service. We gotta you gotta be compelling. At some level, you got to inspire people. You got to compel people. Let's go. Let's go. We got to get up and we gotta go. I know it's not going well right now. 

 

So that's how and that can look different. You don't have and what I've experienced is some guys are super charismatic. Other guys do it in a different way. And so we like to talk about that and free people up to be inspiring in their own unique way. And then the last C that we talk about is commitment. You're right. And that's really talking about dedication and sacrifice. So I'll put these seven C's up and I'll say, you know, I'm trying to grow in each I'm 63 years old. There's not a day that goes by that I'm not trying to develop in each of these areas of my life. And so that's a message that I've had a lot of fun with. and so that sets up the first part of the message.

 

Brian: That's awesome. Yeah. That's that's a great taste of, you know, what that is, what that leadership message is. So I appreciate you sharing that. And of course, we can't do this without, you know, the amazing comebacks that you've had. I don't know if you want to talk about one or both, but I guess set up like so so one obviously you've got the one in the playoffs with the Bills. You have the one I didn't realize it was against Bernie Kozar in college, those two massive whatever, four or five touchdown comebacks. I guess when you're hit with that, hey, we're down by thirty, how do you get your team to believe and go forth from that point? 

 

So talking about the comebacks through the years has been amazing. And you know, and being a part of a team that had two great comebacks like that, I mean, it gives me it still to this day just gives me chills thinking about it. And although I always have to laugh, Brian, because I always say a lot of times when I'm speaking somewhere, and obviously nine times out of ten if I'm being introduced, somebody's saying something about to come from beyond victories. And there's just a tendency, and so a couple of things that I've seen over the years is there's a tendency for the person doing the intro to make it sound like it was an individual record, right? And so I always like to bring myself down. 

 

So after I'm introduced, hey, here's a guy who, he's got the record for the greatest comeback, or he had the record for this, and he had the record. Well, it wasn't exactly, you know, there were a lot of people involved in that. And then you know, I also like to remind people, right? Those are not only team records, but I do hold one individual record. And I'm surprised, let's just say, Brian, you were introducing me and you gave and you pumped me up with these comeback things. And I say, hey Brian, I appreciate the great intro. And I do have to remind everybody those were team records. They were not individual records. 

 

But Brian, I'm a little disappointed with you because I do hold an individual record, and you didn't tell everybody. I hold the individual record for the most fumbles in a Super Bowl game. And that's true, and it's tied with Jim Kelly and Roger Stallback, so pretty good company. But no, I like to do that, Brian, because that's where that's where we're all at, right? It's the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. And I like to tell people that those experiences think the greatest comeback in the playoffs in NFL playoff history was on January third. and then that day I set the record for the most fumbles in the Super Bowl was a month later. So in one month’s time, I went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows.

 

Frank: So let's talk about principles that work in both, right? And so there's a lot of things again, depending on who I'm speaking to or the audience and what's, you know, what they're looking for. I could take it a couple different ways, but probably the number one thing that I say. I'll just do a little sidebar and then focus on the number. The number one thing is, you know, just the preparation and a mindset. There's a preparation and a mindset that you always have to have. This belief and confidence and that no matter how bad, you know, that you just aren't gonna quit, that you're gonna just keep going no matter what, right? So we talk about that. But if I had to say and pin it on one thing, it's having a mentality that every play counts, right? It's one play at a time. 

 

It's one play at a time, one first down at a time, one touchdown at a time. So we go in at halftime, you know, we're losing twenty-eight to three to hu then Houston Oilers in the playoffs. And you know, and our coach is giving us the pep talk, but you know as we go out to the start of the second half, you know, I'm getting in the huddle and all I'm saying to the guys is one play at a time. One first down at a time. One touchdown at a time. Who knows what's gonna happen? I don't know if we're gonna win. Let's just make a first down. Let's execute on this next play. Let's make one touchdown. And you just don't know what can happen. You  just don't know. And if we just do that consistently, you just don't know. 

 

So the story that I like to tell, and this goes back to my dad that I said earlier, is and this story I feel like I'm learning every time I hear this. I'm telling the story to myself. And I lived it because my dad, as this simple principle centered man, you know, just taught me very young in life. Like there was this one morning, it was a Saturday morning. I was about nine or 10 years old, getting ready to go out on a Saturday to go play with my buddies. And he says, Hey, Frankie, I got a job for you to do today. And, you know, he and I'm like, well, I have had some plans. No, no, cancel your plans. We got some work to do. 

 

And so in the backyard, there was this huge pile of dirt. Now I was nine or ten. I don't know how big it was. It seemed like it was a mountain. Okay. It might have been one dump load truck, two, three, four, five. I don't know how many. But all I know is he walked me out back and there was a wheelbarrow and a shovel. And he said, I want you to take that wheelbarrow and that shovel and I want you to move that pile of dirt from here, basically about 20 yards to the other side of the yard. And I'm like, well, how come the truck just didn't put it over there, you know? And you know, so but it had been, he told me it had been wet out, he didn't want to tear up the backyard. 

 

But anyway, so there's a lot of different aspects I tell this story, but I'm just gonna kind of center in on the most important point, and that is I'm going through the day and I'm shoveling. And I'm not happy about it, right? I plan on going out and playing with my buddies. So I'm not real happy about this, but I know I gotta do it. And so, you know, I an hour in, I go in, I get a drink, or a little snack, and another hour I go in and get a drink, another snack, and I come out after about two hours and I look at that pile of dirt and I'm like, My goodness, I haven't even made a dent in this thing. 

 

And then I like to say to an audience, have you ever had that feeling where you feel like you have some monumental task, you're working your butt off, trying to get it done. You step away from it and you come back and you're like, my goodness, I don't, I haven't even made a dent in this. We've all had that experience. And that's the experience I had right then in that moment. And so every time I would go in, I would complain to my dad, like, Dad, I need some help. Dad, I'm not gonna get this done. And I'm just gonna cut to the end of the story. There's a couple other nuances in it that I like to tell. 

 

But after lunch, sometime after lunch, maybe two o'clock or so, I came out, you know, two or three o'clock. I came out and I'm like, huh. I actually am making some stinking progress. I think  at the beginning of the day, I thought there's no way. It was eleven o'clock. I thought there was no way now it's three. No, I'm gonna I'm actually gonna do this. Then I almost started taking a little bit of pride in this thing, like I'm gonna conquer this thing. But the real message is throughout the day, every time I would come back in and talk to my dad and complain or say I need help or whatever, he'd give me the same message. Frank, the way you move mountains is one shovel full at a time, one wheelbarrowful at a time. That's the way you move mountains. And do you know, like I've thought about that story and that message almost literally every day of my life.

 

And I think about those two comeback games. In my mind, there's zero doubt that it was part of the mindset that helped me be whatever part, whatever role I had in it, that was the foundation of it. And so I love talking about that with people, with audiences. And then, but here's the kicker, Brian. Here's the kicker. Each of us know that we all face an insurmountable challenge at some time or other. And how are we gonna do it?

 

One shovel full at a time, one wheelbarrowful at a time. But what about as a team? What if every one of us in this room right now put our shovel in the dirt and filled up our wheelbarrow? Do you think we can reach our fourth quarter goals? Or do you think we can overcome this poor first half that we had in sales? Do you think we can if we all commit to just one play at a time, one shovel at a time?

 

That's a powerful principle, right? And then when you group that together with teamwork, one year, just finish this up real quick. When I was the head coach of the Colts, you know, I tell this story to the team a few times. You know, they've heard the story. Let's just put it that way. So one year we are out for spring training and I recreated the story. And I had our team and I had our team out there and you know, had a couple big shovels, you know, had a couple big piles of I think it was sand. I don't think we could get dirt. I think we had big big piles of sand and we made it into a contest and you know, I told the story and then we went out there and we did this and we had a lot of fun with it, but that's been really good through the years.

 

Brian: Mm-hmm. That's awesome. And that that is such a great analogy, like a true story analogy of how do you how do you come back from that? It's you know it's just one one shovel full, one wheelbarrow full, one bucket of sand or whatever it is at a time to to come back from that. So that's amazing. Well, I want to thank you for all this. I know you've answered a lot of questions here and told a lot of stories and we're kind of running out of time here. 

 

But yeah, that is amazing. I guess one of the things I'm curious about from this, just because I know we do get a lot of you know, questions about who is this, whatever, who to you was like your either your hardest hit or or maybe maybe you're the play you're most proud of? Maybe one or both of those would be awesome.

 

Frank: Okay. I'll do quick, but I gotta do both. Okay. So the hardest hit was Quentin Corriott. He was a first round draft pick for the Indianapolis Colts. I was playing for the Buffalo Bills. No, I was playing for the New York Jets. I had already played for the Bills. I was playing for the Jets. We're going down in a fourth quarter of a drive and it's fourth and fifteen. And that we need a it's a must make completion. And he comes blitzing through and I had a hole on the ball and he hits me and knocks me out and I look down and blood everywhere and, you know, kind of knocked me out, but this is before the concussion rules. And I didn't even get in the huddle because I'm laying on the ground and I'm looking over and I just see my teammates going, hey go, because the pass was complete and it was a first down. I feel like it was actually complete to Keyshawn Johnson. Yeah. And so we go up on the line. I'm still semi unconscious and then I'm in shotgun. The center snaps it to me. 

 

I take a three step drop and I throw the ball right to their middle linebacker. And because I was literally unconscious and I didn't know what I was doing. Yeah. And thankfully he dropped it. And then in those next ensuing ten or fifteen seconds, I kind of came back to and was able to finish out. We didn't win the game. We came close, but we didn't win the game. But it’s the most famous play. So similarly, I'll just wind it down to the very end. 

 

We got one play and we're in a similar situation. We need a touchdown to win. We need a touchdown to win. And it is a cold day and it is windy. And so I drop back to pass and it's a blitz. And I scramble to the right and I scramble to the left. And I just heave it as far as I can. And I mean, the thing is, it's just spiraling through the air, you know, into the wind. I mean, I threw it as absolutely far as I could. And down there in the end zone, it clanks off that yellow thing in the end zone and into the hands of my receiver Carrie Hartman for the winning touchdown. 

 

Now, what I didn't tell you, and I like to tell this story every now and when people ask, because this is a hundred percent true story. The yellow thing in the end zone was the school bus. And the ball hit off the top of the school bus, rolled off the back, and Carrie Hartman, who was my next door neighbor slid back behind the bus and caught the pass for the winning touch out at the school bus before school that day. 

And I just like to tell that because that's you know, sports, whether professional there's something about it, right? I know it's not for everybody, but the idea of teamwork, those moments that we can all identify with whether we're some playing something recreational or church league or intramural this or intramural that. That's why it can draw us all together, you know, and we can learn from these principles and tell these stories and have a good time with it.

 

Brian: That's awesome. That's cool. And hey, good job. Hey, that guy, your friend gets his 15 minutes of fame whenever that story is told. That's it. That's great. Well, Frank, thank you so much for coming on and being part of the Beyond Speaking Podcast and sharing your story with businesses and nonprofits all over the country. We really appreciate it. And then for those of you watching and listening, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review and go to premierespeakers.com and look up Frank Reich as well.

 

Frank: Thanks, Brian.

 

Brian: So thanks again, Frank, and thanks everyone for watching and listening. 

 

Outro: Thank you for joining us for the Beyond Speaking Podcast. To learn more about today's guest, visit premierespeakers.com. Make sure to subscribe and leave a review wherever you listen.