If you know one thing about Western Michigan head coach P.J. Fleck, it's his "Row the Boat" mantra he brought with him to Kalamazoo upon his hiring in December 2012.
More than a mantra to plaster on walls, print on business cards and, as you'll see, embroider on windbreakers, "Row the Boat" is the analogy through which Fleck views life. After trailing 28-7 at halftime, Western Michigan rallied to earn a 42-38 road win at Ball State on Saturday, pushing the Broncos to 3-3 on the season after a 1-11 debut in 2013.
This is how Fleck described the win to his team: "You took a ton of adversity, men. The boat took on a ton of water - fast. Holes everywhere. And what you were able to do, guys, is to rally together, keep your oar in the water while the other guy bailed out the boat. And then you took turns. The other one grabbed the oar, rowed, and the other one bailed until we were able to float. And then what you did was, we had other guys working to patch those holes. And you were all able to grab an oar and just take us in and get us back to where we were able to be. That's a hell of a job."
(Spoiler alert: I still have no idea what the HOW is and how it helped Western Michigan beat Ball State.)