Horse Tracks: Greg Penner taking a page out of Bowlen’s book on effective team ownership

The Denver Broncos’ owner oversaw a season of impressive growth and team health in his second full year at the franchise helm.

In his end-of-season remarks last week, Broncos owner Greg Penner had a very Pat Bowlen-esque comment when he noted he thinks it’s important for him to be around and set expectations, but ultimately it’s supporting the people in the building to do the job on the field.

“My role is to enable them and then hold them accountable,” he said.

It reminded me of Bowlen’s famous quote about leading the Broncos:

“I would much rather operate behind the curtain and let the athletes and coaches be the entertainment,” Bowlen once said. “I think that’s the way that it should be.”

Broncos Country realized last year that the Walton-Penner Group had been a solid choice for ownership and Greg Penner was definitely the right man to lead. But his involvement, interest and excitement in the team’s success, along with his ability to let the coaches do their jobs and the athletes do theirs, is a testament to what a slam dunk the choice has been.

Bowlen was as good of an owner as you could get in professional sports, and his love for football, desire to compete and his keen understanding of what fans wanted and deserved made him a beloved owner.

“One thing that’s important to me is that we put a team on the field that can contend,” Bowlen said. “I like to think that [the Broncos] are going to win the Super Bowl every year. I get a thrill out of that, and I know how much that means to Colorado and to Denver.”

In his time, the Broncos averaged more than 10 wins a season, tying for the second-best overall winning percentage of all NFL teams (.596, 354-240-1) and posting a league-high 199 regular-season home wins.

Penner seems to have a similar mindset about competing — and giving fans what they deserve.

“The results of this last Sunday were not what we were hoping for or expecting, but I think the experience that the young team got will be critical for the future,” Penner said. “I will say that while we are incredibly pleased with the progress and number of accomplishments this year, we don’t at all feel like we are satisfied with where we are.

Adding that the offseason will be a critical one for building to that expected outcome of constant winning, Penner had a message for fans:

“The last thing that I will just say is to Broncos Country: Our fans are fantastic. They had a long stretch of where we tried their patience, and we feel like we are starting to deliver for them,” he said. “Our main message to them is we have our sights set really high and we are going to be doing everything we can to continue to build a great team and compete for championships.”

Everything about how this season played out has proved Penner’s elite commitment to the franchise. From choosing the right coach, to trusting that coach to get the right quarterback, to supporting that quarterback throughout the season and beyond.

“I was incredibly impressed with Bo both on and off the field. It never seemed like any moment was too big for him. We had some big moments this year. He battled throughout games and never saw him give up or let up, even when things were not going our way. He’s got all the physical traits that you need to be a great quarterback. Mentally, he is sharp. The players respond to him. His teammates love him. In terms of the offseason, he’s an incredibly hard worker and loves studying tape, being in the gym and that will serve him well this offseason as he builds for the future. I know he will be better next year.”

And the owner believes Nix is everything that’s right about the new culture being established in Denver now.

“I think Bo talking about no prima donnas is a great testament to the culture that Sean is building here, which is we want to be a winning culture. We have to have really high expectations, and everybody has to be in it together,” Penner added. “I don’t think prima donnas would do really well right now here in this culture.”

Last year at this time, as the Broncos had clearly improved but still finished on a relatively low note, the end-of-season comments provided hope for a vision we all wanted to buy into but couldn’t completely trust.

A few months later — with Russell Wilson gone and Payton’s QB-of-choice drafted — there was a lot of reason to hope but not much reason to expect such a turnaround. We had seen offseason hype before after all.

But hype kept building and despite a rough two-game start to the season, the Bo Nix-led Broncos refused to go quietly. The season ended with a playoff berth and the promise of better things to come.

“So we’re going to continue to build this way,” Penner said. “We want guys that are incredibly competitive and want to work and want to succeed.”

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