Summary judgments: Authenticity, Gannon vs. Sirianni, a pitch clock plea, and Temple/Villanova in the new NCAA

Everything that didn’t get written during a week-long summer vacation ...

The single most important characteristic for any head coach is authenticity. I suppose that’s true for leaders in most domains. But it’s particularly crucial in the NFL. The structural realities of 53-man rosters and the interdependence of position groups create an environment that can quickly turn dysfunctional if a coach fails to inspire a sense of shared purpose that permeates the building. So much of a team’s success depends on the collective buy-in of its individual parts. Buy-in requires trust. Trust requires a belief in and acceptance of the integrity of a coach’s mission, tactics, and motivations. It’s hard to believe in someone who does not come across as genuine.

I started thinking about this the other day after watching a piece of video from an Arizona Cardinals team meeting that has been circulating through the NFL’s meme-o-sphere. In it, new head coach Jonathan Gannon stands in front of an auditorium full of players and lays out his expectations.

“Be who you are,” Gannon says. “Just understand, I’m looking for [expletive] killers.”

There’s a very short list of guys who can get away with dropping a line like that without inspiring eye rolls. If you’re looking for killers, you better look and sound like a killer, and not the weird, quiet kind. Dan Campbell can get away with talking about eating kneecaps because he comes across like a guy who has eaten one or two himself. Gannon comes across like a guy who stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

My point here isn’t to rake Gannon over the coals. I’ve been one of his less ardent critics over the past couple of years. He was a solid defensive coordinator who may well turn out to be a solid head coach, particularly if the Cardinals end up drafting Caleb Williams to play quarterback next year. Nick Sirianni’s introductory press conference was a good reminder not to judge a guy based on an early piece of video.

Which brings me to my actual point. Sirianni has raised some eyebrows throughout his tenure with the Eagles. The flower analogy. The rock-paper-scissors competitions. The sideline celebration in Indianapolis. But none of that stuff is an act. It’s who he is. And it’s the No. 1 reason he went from unemployed position coach to Super Bowl head coach in five years.

You don’t have to spend much time around Sirianni to realize that he is coming from a good place. We saw it in late 2021 when he stepped away from calling the plays. We saw it during the Super Bowl national anthem when he suddenly looked like a guy who was cutting a meatloaf’s worth of onions. He has the same quality you’ll find in the Mike Tomlins, John Harbaughs, and Bill Belichicks of the world. They all have wildly different personalities, but each is built on an unmistakable authenticity.

Gannon would be wise to take his own advice. Be who you are.

» READ MORE: Jonathan Gannon fires up the internet — but not his Cardinals players — in viral video

A pitch for a longer postseason pitch clock ...

There’d been some rumblings that Major League Baseball might consider tacking on some time to the pitch clock during the postseason, but reports this week say the commissioner’s office has decided to keep the regular-season rules in place. I’d say they are making a mistake, but I haven’t thought enough about the consequences of changing things up, so I’ll just say this: The rhythm and flow of a playoff baseball game is completely different from the regular season, and it’d be a shame if October loses some of the pitch-by-pitch drama that makes it such an engrossing product. I don’t think anybody has ever complained about a postseason game going too long.

Brother, can you spare a conference?

It’s a good thing Temple finally woke up from its football-stadium fantasy a few years ago. When schools like Oregon State and Washington State are suddenly left to ponder their programs’ futures, what does that say about the Owls’ eventual lot in the future NCAA? The reshuffling that we’ve witnessed over the last six months has been inevitable for years now. And the process has only just begun. At some point within the next decade, all meaningful television revenue will consolidate in the bank accounts of a small handful of schools, forcing the rest of the current Division I-FBS membership to give up on the idea that football can drive significant enrollment and sponsorship numbers. The only question is how many schools are needed to monopolize a weekly television schedule.

» READ MORE: What does college sports realignment chaos mean for Temple?

The relocations of Stanford, Cal, and SMU to the Atlantic Coast Conference creates the potential for the ACC to establish itself as a bastion of quasi-sanity next to the Big Ten, Big 12, and Southeastern Conference, all of which have decided that they are comfortable with a future in which their football teams are professional sports franchises with little actual connection to the (alleged) academic mission of a major university. It’s always made sense for schools like Stanford, Cal, Notre Dame, Duke, University of Virginia, arguably North Carolina, etc., to end up together in a conference that establishes itself as the real student-athletic association. Swap out Clemson and Florida State for Vanderbilt. Bring on Big East basketball schools like Villanova, Georgetown, and Marquette ... you get the picture.

Then again, maybe I’m giving the ACC presidents more benefit of the doubt than they deserve.