Greg Jackson: ‘talent is more common than you’d think’
SI.com: What are you looking for in somebody who wants you to teach them? Jackson: Most of it’s attitude. I…
SI.com: What are you looking for in somebody who wants you to teach them?
Jackson: Most of it’s attitude. I look for talent, of course, but talent can be more common than you think. A lot of it’s attitude, work ethic, how coachable they are. What I mean by that is how well they listen, do they take what you say to heart, are they able to handle their success pretty well. There are a lot of factors I look for outside of just being able to throw a good punch. Do they have the ingredients within their personality to be successful and to be a team player?That’s what I’m really looking at.
SI.com: You said that talent is more common than you’d think. Has that really picked up over the last few years?
Jackson: No. There are definitely more talented athletes coming in now, for sure, than there used to be. There’s no doubt there. So in a way it’s changing, in that there are more and more athletes now that you can really make a viable living at it. Serious athletes are coming over. But talent’s always been there in one form or another, and it used to impress me a lot more than it does now. Like I was saying, it’s more about?talent needs to be there, obviously, but it’s the rest of the ingredients, like being coachable, like being humble, like being really just able to handle your success. You know, when you have a hundred people telling you every day that you’re the greatest fighter that ever lived, it’s hard not to start thinking that you’re the greatest fighter that ever lived. Being able to deal with all that success and pressure, those are the factors I really look at these days.