March Madness is upon us. What a great time of year given my love of the game of basketball. That is until I had to witness a game played in what is called the œFirst Four. These are the teams seeded sixty thru sixty-eight. The four winners fill out the field of sixty-four.

The game I am referring to was played between The CAL Bears and the University of South Florida Bulls. Sounds like we are on Wall Street talking about the stock market. Sorry, I digress.

USF is a member of the prestigious Big East Conference and CAL is a member of the newly expanded PAC 12. Thats the PAC 10 plus The University of Colorado and the University of Utah. In fact, the conference championship was won by newcomer, the University of Colorado. Only CAL and Colorado were selected to play in the playoffs.

What has happened? Where are UCLA, Stanford, Arizona, Washington, et al.? What has happened to a conference that regularly put at least four teams in the playoffs who had a strong opportunity to advance. The Conference recruits nationally and has California as a primary source of talent. Only Texas and Florida may be as fertile.

Back to the CAL vs. USF game. USF is a solid team but CAL was inept. They could barely force themselves to run up and down the court. CAL coach, Mike Montgomery, had œresignation plastered on his face. This is a fine basketball coach. What gives here?

I think we must consider that we are seeing the result of complacency. It is most often what happens in stability. The PAC 12 formerly the PAC 10 had that stability. The members could and did compete in any sport with anyone in the country. It is probably still true with some sports but were talking basketball here.

I do not think there is a single action to take that would resolve this situation. Some will immediately advocate firing the coaches. And, that might happen in some cases. It is more likely going to be a unified marketing effort. Oh, you disagree?

Look around you. Everything is being marketed, everywhere. Each university and the collective efforts of the conferences efforts need to be fine-tuned in their ability to tell their story.

The State of California is an example of complacency. It is no longer œthe place to live. At least that is the perception by many. Due to media coverage and time zones, the high school athlete is inundated with exposure to the East Coast.

These are just circumstances that are handy to justify the current state of affairs. The West has done a poor job of telling the West Coast story. Just as the institutions have done a poor job of marketing the values of staying in school rather than jumping to the pros. Thank you, Andrew Luck, for being the poster-child for finishing what you started.

Don’t forget to get your copy of Coach Todds latest book, œThe Art of Losing on line at lulu.com. A must read for any leader.