Dave Christensen: we need to build a culture of winning [INTERVIEW]

In the last interview, the head coach of Panthers Wrocław – Dave Christensen talked about the sports aspects of his work. This time we asked him about the organizational side of cooperation with the Wrocław club. What is the daily communication between the coaching staff and the club's management and owner? In what direction are Panthers Wrocław developing? And what is the common denominator for the entire organization?

Filip Skalski: Why did you decide to join Panthers Wrocław? Was the functioning of the organization one of the reasons?

Dave Christensen: Yes, the functioning of the organization was the main reason. Number one question in concern, before taking the job, was, I wanted to make sure that we were in line with our goals as an organization and as a head coach. That number one goal was to win a championship. I wasn't interested in coming over to Europe to coach if I wasn't with an organization, whose number one goal was to win a championship. It's my main motivation, always has been, and always will be. And the Panthers were on the same page with me. We're very committed to making sure that we would have all things in place from a support standpoint, and from an ownership standpoint, that would give us a chance to do the things that we need to do to change the culture and build a culture of winning. Everyone here is very involved.

How was your first conversation with the owner of the club – Jacek Tarczyński? What did you discuss? 

We just talked about our vision, what we want to see happen with the organization. Obviously, with the top of the pyramid being winning championship. I also addressed some areas of concern that I had that needed to be addressed and some things that we would need to operate the way I want to operate, and they were very supportive of all those things. It was a very positive first meeting together. The exciting thing was philosophically from a mindset standpoint, the ownership was very in line with where I was coming from, as far as goals of the organization, and the plan moving forward to build a championship organization.

In your opinion, is the owner involved in the functioning of the club? What significance does it have for you?

Well, the owner is very involved from my standpoint. He is updated daily on the functioning of the program. He doesn't take a hands on approach at all, he trusted me, he hired me to be the guy that runs the organization, football wise. He's aware of everything that we're doing, but he's very hands off, he trusts me, which I appreciate.

How does the daily cooperation on the line of coaching staff - management and club owner look like?

We communicate daily by WhatsApp, Zoom or Messenger, we use all the platforms to communicate. I've got guys that are still in Poland that work in the office daily. And then other coaches are not there full time yet, but we communicate daily. All of our work is on a drive that we can each pull up on, at any point in time, and anything that's been changed, is automatically downloaded on it. So we communicate on a daily basis, I would say 80% of the things that we have to complete before the start of the season are done. We're well ahead of where we need to be at this point time to start training camp.

Does the organization and structure of Panthers Wrocław remind you of what you were exposed to in the United States?

What I've done is, I've modeled what we're doing here to be similar to places that I've worked in the past that I've had success with. We're treating this as a professional organization but won’t run our organization like the NFL. We don't have as many numbers of personnel working so our staff is much smaller. Therefore, each guy has got much more responsibility, he's going to make sure that we get all the things in place that we need to be successful. But everything is very similar from a structural standpoint – very similar things that we've done in the past.

Is there anything that Panthers still lacks? In what direction should the organization develop?

I don't think the organization lacks in any area. My standpoint, everything I've asked for, they've done. Like I said, everyone here is extremely committed to the common goal that we will have. Everything is in place right now. We'll continue to change the culture and that takes time. That's spending time with the players on the practice field, teaching them the practice habits that they need at a high level. That will take some time. There's nothing that the organization can do about that, other than us, getting out there and coaching them. But as far as anything else that we need, I think we're in pretty good shape right now. As we prepare to go into training camp, and again, it's very committed ownership. And I've been very pleased with the support that I've gotten since taking over the organization.