Chasing the Bear : how Bear Bryant and Nick Saban made Alabama the greatest college football program of all time

Chasing the Bear How Bear Bryant and Nick Saban made Alabama the greatest college football program of all time

Lars Anderson

Book - 2019

"A dual biography of two coaching legends--Bear Bryant and Nick Saban--who built the Alabama Crimson Tide into a true football dynasty. Both Bear Bryant and Nick Saban are undeniable kings of college football, two coaches at Alabama who have each won more national championships-six apiece-than anyone else in the history of the game. Chasing the Bear examines how they did it, revealing along the way their similarities in style, background, football philosophy, and recruiting methods, while providing readers a rare inside look at two of the greatest leaders in the history of sports. Bear Bryant and Nick Saban never met, but they have more in common than either of them realize. Both grew up in small towns-Bryant in Moro Bottom, Arkansas, ...a dot on the map, and Saban from Monongah, West Virginia, population five hundred. As a child, Saban pumped gas at his father's service station, washing and waxing cars and doing anything he could to help the business. Bryant's father suffered from multiple physical ailments, which forced Bryant to work to keep the family farm going. Both men knew the value of hard work from the time they were young boys, and both understood that there were no shortcuts to success. But both dreamed of escaping their hometowns, and both used football as the means to do so. Separated by two generations, Bear Bryant and Nick Saban are mythic figures linked by a school, a town, and a barroom debate centering on one question: Which is the greatest college coach of all time?"--Publisher's website.

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Subjects
Bryant, Paul W.
Saban, Nick.
Alabama Crimson Tide (Football team) > History.
University of Alabama > Football > History.
Football coaches > Biography.
Football > Alabama > History.
Biographies.
Genres
Biographies
Published
New York : Grand Central Publishing 2019.
Language
English
Main Author
Lars Anderson (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
viii, 291 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-277) and index.
ISBN
9781538716489
  • Bryant and Saban: on the same team at last
  • Mamma called
  • The secret mission
  • The Bear builds
  • The rising of Saban's tide
  • Be brave
  • "This is the beginning"
  • The founding football document
  • The genesis of the process
  • A secret plan
  • The play that changed Nick Saban
  • The search for answers
  • The gut check
  • Tying the Bear
  • The Bear in winter
  • Chasing the Bear.
Review by Booklist Review

The legendary Bear Bryant won six national championships as head football coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide. Mediocrity had started to creep into the program, however, after Bryant retired in 1982 until Nick Saban was named head coach in 2007; since then, Saban has equaled Bryant's six championships, in less than half the time. Anderson, a longtime Sports Illustrated contributor, details the careers of Bryant and Saban, emphasizing the similarities between the two. Both came from modest backgrounds, and football became a path to a better life. The similarities extend to coaching and recruiting styles. Bryant focused his recruiting efforts on a player's parents and high-school coaches, and Saban does the same, with both emphasizing education alongside football. Alabama gets many of the nation's best players, and Anderson makes clear that Saban, like Bryant before him, manages that feat through through a combination of honesty, trust, and charm on the recruiting trail. For college fans looking for insight beyond the field, this investigation of a great program's success will make a fine start to 2019's college-football literature.--Wes Lukowsky Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Sportswriter Anderson (The Storm and the Tide) draws on his decades of experience writing about the Alabama Crimson Tide football team in this fascinating dual biography of two legendary college football coaches. Anderson tells the story of how Bear Bryant and Nick Saban created college football's most successful dynasty, but rather than provide a season-by-season account, he illuminates the uncanny similarities in character between the two men who created the titan of Alabama football. In chapters that alternate between Bryant arriving at Alabama in 1958 and Saban in 2007, Anderson shows how the two men­­­--both from small-town, working-class families--felt drawn to the University Alabama and how their work ethics bore similarities, such as Bryant making football "a year-round activity" with a "torturous off-season" and Saban's legendary emphasis on discipline (Anderson recalls Saban's first comments to his new Alabama team were for them to sit up straight in their chairs). Anderson discusses their similar drive as coaches to uncover "what they were going to do tomorrow to get better." This is a must-read for devotees of college football, Crimson Tide fans or not. (Oct.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

In 1982, Paul "Bear" Bryant (1913--83) retired having won the most games in college football history. He still holds the record for the most national championships in the modern era with six, all won at Alabama. At age 68, current Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban is chasing the Bear's tracks, tying Bryant with six championships, five in Tuscaloosa. This joint biography from Anderson (journalism, Univ. of Alabama; The Storm and the Tide) takes a fresh look at their lives and careers, with alternating chapters describing the coaches at comparable points in their careers and stressing the similarities of these two very different men. Bryant is portrayed as a powerful man who commanded complete respect from his players but also exuded a warm, human touch. By contrast, Saban is pictured as a leader who also demands respect but who is brusquer and more businesslike in his personal interactions. What they share in Anderson's view is dedication to their coaching methods and a flexible approach to the game itself. VERDICT A captivating comparison of two legendary figures in college football that will draw interest from all football fans.

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