Talent Selection

I have always felt that talent selection was the key to success. Talent selection is different than Talent ID. Talent ID is the easy part. The athletic qualities are fairly straight forward to asssess. It is the "other stuff" that is important. The following is from Charlie Weis, the Nortre dame coaching talking about his approach which reflects the Patriot way.
The Patriots won three Super Bowls with a lot of players whom others passed over, who were a certain kind of breed. Weis' eyes lit up over the possibility of bringing that model to college recruiting, trying out the Patriots' Sunday way on Saturdays.
"Everyone says, 'Here's the top 20 players in the country,'" Weis said, "but what guys are going to fit into what you do? What guys are your type of guys? I brought in a guy from Indiana that they weren't recruiting, that is a lot like our [2003 fourth round pick] Dan Klecko.
"So many times people get enamored with what the class is rated. Of course you want the best athletes. But you also want the guys that fit your system, and fit your personality. I'm not the most pleasant person in the whole world. You have to be able to deal with the personality of the head coach, because that's going to be the reflection of the team.
"All scouts want height, weight, speed guys. [Patriots personnel director] Scott [Pioli] goes the extra mile and worries about fits. I think the same is true in recruiting. You want to get the best athletes you possibly can, but can they read and write? Are they high character kids?
"Do they fit your system?"
For more on a similar approach see the bool "Scouts Honor" about the Atlanta Braves system of Talent ID and selection.