Review by Booklist Review
Davis wrote the New York Times best-seller Wooden: A Coach's Life (2014), and, as a longtime Sports Illustrated writer and studio host of CBS television's college basketball coverage, he has interacted with hundreds of coaches. Here he profiles nine of the best working today. They all have unique approaches to their profession, but the results are championship caliber. His subjects are Urban Meyer, Jim Harbaugh, and Dabo Swinney from football; Doc Rivers and Brad Stevens from professional basketball; Tom Izzo, Mike Krzyzewski, and Jim Boeheim from men's college basketball; and Geno Auriemma from women's college basketball. Particularly noteworthy is the chapter on Stevens, who improbably took underdog Butler University to the Final Four of the NCAA college tournament two years in a row and now coaches the Boston Celtics. Each of these profiles is a great example of long-form sports journalism, much like Davis did during his 22 years at Sports Illustrated. Fascinating reading.--Lukowsky, Wes Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Throughout his long career as a sportswriter with strong ties to Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports, Davis primarily has covered college basketball. Of the nine coaches profiled here, six head basketball, three lead football. Moreover, six are college coaches (Urban Meyer, Tom Izzo, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Gino Auriemma, and Dabo Swinney), one a pro coach (Doc Rivers), and two (Jim Harbaugh and Brad Stevens) have done both. Harbaugh and Stevens are also the only ones without a championship ring. The theme of this book is that great coaches are able to create a team out of individuals. Davis views the coaches' work through a PEAK profile of essential characteristics: persistence, empathy, authenticity, and knowledge. Each chapter includes interviews with the selected coach, along with relatives, mentors, assistants, and former players as Davis relates the subject's life, career, and method. Although the coaches' styles vary from Harbaugh's in-your-face intensity to Boeheim's aloof practicality to Swinney's loquacious empathy, the nine essays fit together with what Davis views as the common keys to successful coaching. VERDICT Thoroughly researched and skillfully written, this book will draw an audience from fans of college sports mostly.-John Maxymuk, Rutgers Univ. Lib., Camden, NJ © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A spirited survey of some of the techniques of winning coaches in building winning teams.A successful coach, writes CBS analyst Davis (Wooden: A Coach's Life, 2013, etc.), takes a collection of individuals and turns them into a single entity: an "us." By the author's account, the formula it takes to do so is "the PEAK profile," that being an acronym for persistence, empathy, authenticity, and knowledge. It would rob Davis of some thunder to get too deep into the formula, but suffice it to say that it has plenty of merit. Even if some of his case studies seem not always to embody every aspect of it, it's clear that "the real secret is that there are no secrets" but instead endless work and application. One of those subjects, renowned Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer, chooses to travel a tumultuous path, "fueled by his ADD inability to leave well enough alone," authentic to the core but perhaps a little shy at times of empathetic matters. By the same token, Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski might "have been diagnosed with attention deficit order" as a kid, but he settled down when pressed into service as a player for the tyrannical Bobby Knight, he of chair-throwing fame, and has led his players by example. Jim Harbaugh combines depth of knowledge with a commitment to do good in the world, a "willingnessan eagerness, evento apply his talents beyond the football field" into the realm of service to the poor. And so forth. Davis sometimes falls into jock-talk ("though he is no longer able to run alongside his players until he pukes, he still embraces every opportunity to feed his competitive jones"), and his narrative is more diffuse than its textbook-ish opening might suggest. However, he provides plenty of useful information for aspiring coaches and committed fans.Want to score big? Read a book, as many of Davis' coaches do. This one makes a good start. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
