Kickoff: The Year Ahead and the Teams We Face
Most people know my undergraduate and graduate collegiate roots extend about 110 miles northeast from Austin to Aggieland. That’s right; I’m one to “them.” And proud of it.
At Texas A&M there is a tradition (no, not that one; not that one either; nope, not that one) where the crowd at the football game right before kickoff collectively builds and builds their yells right up to the point the ball is kicked off the tee to start the game, at which point they shout “GIG ’EM AGGIES!” I happened to be watching my aggies play one of their new SEC opponents this year and couldn’t help relate the similarities of what our industry faces this coming year with the beginning of a football game.
Right now our industry is lined up to receive the kickoff. The ball is set, the kicker has his hand extended in the air, the crowd is going crazy, the guys manning the cannon are poised (I’m trying to be nice here and give a little deference to some other schools who fire cannons off at the start of games), and we are waiting for the official to blow his whistle.
Where the analogy breaks down a bit is who exactly our opponents are. We don’t face a single team, meaning just a single issue. Rather we face many different opposing players who represent a wide array of challenges, but they are intent on tackling us.
The jerseys of the other team read “Dodd-Frank,” “CFPB,” “Federal Regulations,” “SAFE Act,” “County Ordinance Authority,” “Zoning,” “TDHCA Sunset,” and “Anti-MH Communities.” These are just the jerseys we can currently see. We have other challenges headed our way such as a historic turnover in the Texas legislature, and a new federal Congress.
To stick with the football theme for a bit longer, in the year ahead we must have an efficient and balanced offense. At a state level we are focused on a strong ground game. As you will read more in later articles, with so many new members in the Texas legislature it will require constant heads-down, grind-out hustle to meet, understand and develop relationships with so many new faces that will walk the hallways of the Capitol in Austin. Then with many of our currently unknown challenges at a federal regulatory level, we could be facing a year where we put the ball in the air on multiple efforts related to federal regulations, any state level impact of federal regulations, and federal legislative efforts.
How are we going to do all of this? Our offense has to be fast, nimble, able to audible, and I anticipate a lot of no-huddle. We will also be calling on many of our strongest players – TMHA members. Effective advocacy that starts at home on a direct constituency basis can be the most persuasive offensive tool we have. We all must get ready because the ball will soon be coming your direction.