How to Build a Thick Institution: Organizational Lessons from a Championship High School Football Program

In the fall of 2017, Oxford High School Head Football Coach, Chris Cutcliffe, & University of Mississippi Professor, Dr. Hunter Taylor, began meeting weekly to collaborate on ways to make Cutcliffe’s football program better. Using improvement science methods, they developed plans that sought to better foster a family culture, develop future leaders, and maximize the program’s on-field potential.

After two years of working together, the 2019 football team captured the 6A state championship and was named the #1 team in the state by Max Preps.

This leadership book is a reflection on their work of redesigning the Oxford football program, and the title comes from the duo’s headlining TED talk that was given in the spring of 2021 at the University of Mississippi’s Ford Center.