In 1968, a 3M research scientist named Spencer Silver was working on developing a new adhesive for the aerospace industry.

"It was part of my job as a researcher to develop new adhesives, and at that time we wanted to develop bigger, stronger, tougher adhesives,” said Silver. “This was none of those.” Silver’s adhesive seemed relatively useless until another 3M scientist named Art Fry had a eureka moment:

Every Wednesday night while practicing with his church choir, he would use little scraps of paper to mark the hymns they were going to sing in the upcoming service. By Sunday, he’d find that they’d all fallen out of the hymnal. He needed a bookmark that would stick to the paper without damaging the pages.

Art Fry remembered Silver’s “not very sticky” adhesive and thought it would be the perfect solution to his hymnal bookmark problem. Before long, the Post-it Note would become a productivity staple in almost every office. Silver said, like many ground-breaking innovations, theirs was a product nobody thought they needed until they did.

The invention of the Post-it Note is one of Bill Walsh’s favorite stories because it illustrates a deeply held belief:

“Be obsessive in finding the upside in the downside.”

Bill’s invention of the “West Coast Offense” happened by accident. In 1969, when Walsh was the Offensive Coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, Head Coach and Owner Paul Brown drafted an impressive young Quarterback named Greg Cook with the 5th Draft Pick.

In many ways, Greg Cook was seen as the Platonic Ideal for the Quarterback position. He was 6-4 and 220lbs with an exceptionally strong arm. He was immediately installed as the Starter and the Bengals began dominating their competition.

In the 3rd game of the season, the undefeated Bengals played the Kansas City Chiefs. Greg Cook scrambled to his left and attempted to duck under the tackle of Chiefs Linebacker Greg Lynch. Cook landed awkwardly and felt a searing pop in his shoulder. He would later learn that he tore his rotator cuff and partially detached his bicep muscle.

Bill Walsh and Paul Brown - Cincinnati Bengals

The injury was devastating and Cook would never return to form. This led to the installation of a relatively unknown Quarterback named Virgil Carter into the lineup. He was a 6th Round Draft Pick out of Brigham Young and was most well known for leading a team that used to run the Single Wing to a Conference Championship in 1965 using a precision passing attack.

Compared to Greg Cook, Virgil Carter left much to be desired. If Cook boasted one of the strongest arms in Professional Football, Carter had one of the weakest. Bill Walsh would need to make changes to his Offensive System if the Bengals had any hope with Virgil Carter under center.

The Bengals lacked a strong running game and a deep, vertical passing game. But what they had in Virgil Carter was an intelligent, accurate passer. Walsh instituted a form of Ball-Control Offense through the air. The Bengals focused on short, precision passes designed to maintain possession and create long drives. The “West Coast Offense” would end up becoming the foundational system for most NFL Play Callers.

Bill Walsh famously said:

“While waiting to get what you want—a “quarterback with a strong arm”—make the most of what you got.”

Coaches and leaders often learn the most when they are faced with difficulties. Virgil Carter had a “limited” skillset, but there was a path to maximize the talent he possessed. As time passed, Bill Walsh continued to refine his system. He would make improvements working with Ken Anderson in Cincinnati, Guy Benjamin and Steve Dils at Stanford before creating sustained success working with Joe Montana and Steve Young in San Francisco.

What started as the desperate response to a devastating injury in 1969 would become the Offensive System that dominated Pro Football for a decade in the 1980’s. Don’t waste your mistakes. Don’t waste your mishaps. Don’t waste your bad luck. There is an opportunity hidden in every ordeal.

Charles Darwin wrote of Natural Selection as the “survival of the fittest.” The organisms with the best genetic traits survived and passed those traits down to the next generation. Over time, the “good” genes thrived and the “bad” genes died. Football has experienced a similar evolution of ideas. The good ideas are passed down and tweaked as coaches seek success and survival.

If you study the game of football you know that some of the most significant innovations came by accident. The examples are too numerous to list, but here are a few:

1. Bill Yeoman - The Split Back Veer

In 1964, the University of Houston was preparing to play a ranked Penn State team. The Cougars were in the midst of a dismal 2-6-1 season under 3rd year Head Coach Bill Yeoman. During practice, Yeoman was trying to run a simple “Dive” play vs. the 8-Man Front employed by Penn State. Even the Scout Team was dismantling the Houston Offense. In frustration, Bill Yeoman yelled to his Offensive Tackle, “Since you can’t block the guy, just get out of the way!”

Much to Yeoman’s surprise, the unblocked Defender continually ran himself out of the play. The next morning, he reviewed the practice film and realized the “Veer” play could be schematic gold!

Penn State would win the game, but Houston racked up 399 yards in an impressive offensive performance.

The Split Back Veer

The Houston “Split Back Veer” would revolutionize Offensive Football and Bill Yeoman’s team would lead the entire country in Total Offense for 3 consecutive seasons in the 1960’s. Yeoman’s influence is almost incalculable to modern football. His system was famously used by Bob Ladouceur at De La Salle HS in California for 399 wins. One of his former players, Art Briles, ran the “Veer & Shoot” Offense that took over College Football in the 2010’s. Decades of dominance came from a small mistake in practice.

2. Rich Rodriguez - The Zone Read

In 1991 Rich Rodriguez was the Head Coach at Division II Glenville State in West Virginia. As the story goes, “An inadvertent epiphany came during a practice when quarterback Jed Drenning bobbled a handoff, gathered himself and made a split-second decision to run after seeing the defensive end pinch inside.”

Under normal circumstances, the remedy for a botched play would be to have the Quarterback follow the RB through the hole in hopes of salvaging a few of the lost yards. When Drenning took off outside, a whole new Offensive System was born. The innovation turned lowly Glenville State into a D2 juggernaut and would ultimately land Rich Rodriguez the head coaching job at West Virginia.

The practice mishap had become a unstoppable force.

At West Virginia, Rich Rod had a dynamic Quarterback named Pat White and speedy Running Back named Steve Slaton. That duo, along with sledgehammer Fullback Owen Schmidt, would comprise on of the most formidable backfields in College Football History.

The lesson is simple, but profound:

Be obsessive about finding the upside in the downside.
While waiting to get what you want...make the most of what you got.

Keep going.