By Adam Mendler, CEO of The Veloz Group and the creator and host of Thirty Minute Mentors.

As a graduate of both USC and UCLA, it is hard to walk around Los Angeles without catching flak. Growing up in LA, I rooted for both schools' sports teams, and in the years that have followed, I have had the chance to watch the good and the bad as a student and as an alum. Interestingly enough, the best head coaching hire each school's athletic department has made over the past two-plus decades -- Pete Carroll as the head coach of USC's football program in 2000 and Mick Cronin as the head coach of UCLA's men's basketball program in 2019 -- was poorly received at the time. Neither candidate was the top choice of the schools' fan bases or of the schools themselves, but both coaches won over skeptics by building and leading winning teams quickly. Leaders and entrepreneurs can learn important lessons on the topic of hiring from these two home run hires.