College & University

Leading with the Heart: Coach K's Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life

In some respects, a top-level college coach is a lot like a manager in any business. He has to turn a group of talented individuals into a smoothly running team, and he has to produce results that please the fans of his team--the shareholders of the athletic program. Thus, in Leading with the Heart, Krzyzewski reviews the lessons he's learned as basketball coach at Duke University, and tries to universalize them so they translate to any leadership position. For example, he writes, "Adjustments are not unusual, they are usual. So a leader's ability to think on his feet ... to do things without instruction ... is of paramount importance." Makes sense, as does this admonition: "When teaching, always remember this simple phrase: 'You hear, you forget. You see, you remember. You do, you understand.'"

The book has four sections--"Preseason," "Regular Season," "Postseason," and "All-Season"--and each of those has four chapters. Each chapter begins with three quotes ("Too many rules get in the way of leadership" leads off chapter 1), and ends with bulleted tips summing up the chapter's message. Between the quotes and the bullet points are anecdotes about Duke basketball games and (occasionally) Krzyzewski's life outside basketball. What you come away with is an understanding of why Krzyzewski is a great basketball coach, why former Duke assistants such as Tommy Amaker and Quin Snyder are probably going to become great basketball coaches, and how anyone who's currently a coach can become a better coach. It would be great if other types of managers in other types of businesses could incorporate these lessons in compassionate, focused, highly flexible leadership, but it seems unlikely. Most managers in business rise through the ranks not because of their ability to lead or inspire but because of their knowledge and competence (if not their connections). On the other hand, it would be nice if each of us, just once, could work for someone like Coach K, someone who could push the right buttons and lead us to our own version of the Final Four. Not likely, but a pretty sweet fantasy. --Lou Schuler

In some respects, a top-level college coach is a lot like a manager in any business. He has to turn a group of talented individuals into a smoothly running team, and he has to produce results that please the fans of his team--the shareholders of the athletic program. Thus, in Leading with the Heart, Krzyzewski reviews the lessons he's learned as basketball coach at Duke University, and tries to universalize them so they translate to any leadership position. For example, he writes, "Adjustments are not unusual, they are usual. So a leader's ability to think on his feet ... to do things without instruction ... is of paramount importance." Makes sense, as does this admonition: "When teaching, always remember this simple phrase: 'You hear, you forget. You see, you remember. You do, you understand.'"The book has four sections--"Preseason," "Regular Season," "Postseason," and "All-Season"--and each of those has four chapters. Each chapter begins with three quotes ("Too many rules get in the way of leadership" leads off chapter 1), and ends with bulleted tips summing up the chapter's message. Between the quotes and the bullet points are anecdotes about Duke basketball games and (occasionally) Krzyzewski's life outside basketball. What you come away with is an understanding of why Krzyzewski is a great basketball coach, why former Duke assistants such as Tommy Amaker and Quin Snyder are probably going to become great basketball coaches, and how anyone who's currently a coach can become a better coach. It would be great if other types of managers in other types of businesses could incorporate these lessons in compassionate, focused, highly flexible leadership, but it seems unlikely. Most managers in business rise through the ranks not because of their ability to lead or inspire but because of their knowledge and competence (if not their connections). On the other hand, it would be nice if each of us, just once, could work for someone like Coach K, someone who could push the right buttons and lead us to our own version of the Final Four. Not likely, but a pretty sweet fantasy. --Lou Schuler

My Losing Season

PAT CONROY—AMERICA’S MOST BELOVED STORYTELLER—IS BACK!

“I was born to be a point guard, but not a very good one. . . .There was a time in my life when I walked through the world known to myself and others as an athlete. It was part of my own definition of who I was and certainly the part I most respected. When I was a young man, I was well-built and agile and ready for the rough and tumble of games, and athletics provided the single outlet for a repressed and preternaturally shy boy to express himself in public....I lost myself in the beauty of sport and made my family proud while passing through the silent eye of the storm that was my childhood.”

So begins Pat Conroy’s journey back to 1967 and his startling realization “that this season had been seminal and easily the most consequential of my life.” The place is the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, that now famous military college, and in memory Conroy gathers around him his team to relive their few triumphs and humiliating defeats. In a narrative that moves seamlessly between the action of the season and flashbacks into his childhood, we see the author’s love of basketball and how crucial the role of athlete is to all these young men who are struggling to find their own identity and their place in the world.

In fast-paced exhilarating games, readers will laugh in delight and cry in disappointment. But as the story continues, we gradually see the self-professed “mediocre” athlete merge into the point guard whose spirit drives the team. He rallies them to play their best while closing off the shouts of “Don’t shoot, Conroy” that come from the coach on the sidelines. For Coach Mel Thompson is to Conroy the undermining presence that his father had been throughout his childhood. And in these pages finally, heartbreakingly, we learn the truth about the Great Santini.

In My Losing Season Pat Conroy has written an American classic about young men and the bonds they form, about losing and the lessons it imparts, about finding one’s voice and one’s self in the midst of defeat. And in his trademark language, we see the young Conroy walk from his life as an athlete to the writer the world knows him to be.


From the Hardcover edition.

They Call Me Coach

The legendary coach talks about his life, his players, and his winning philosophies in this bestselling autobiography

John Wooden's dedication and inspiration made him America's "winningest" coach. His beliefs in hard work and preparedness brought the UCLA Bruins an unparalleled 10 NCAA basketball championships. Now in this bestselling autobiography--with a Foreword by Hall-of-Famer Bill Walton--the college basketball legend reflects on his record-breaking career, his life behind the scenes, and how his top players went on to shape and change the NBA.

From the everyday basics to important life lessons ("It's not how tall you are, but how tall you play"), Wooden shares his worldly wisdom on and off the court to offer a personal history of an unforgettable time in college basketball, answering the most-asked questions about his life, his career, and the players who made his teams unbeatable.

"They Call Me Coach is grass-roots Americana, a story bigger than basketball. One of those rare sports books that is must reading for everyone."
--Chicago Tribune

"What Knute Rockne was to football, Connie Mack to baseball, and Wilbur and Orville Wright to flying, John Wooden is to basketball. This book captures the full flavor of the man, the philosophies that work in life, and the philosophies that work on the court. I commend it to people who want to succeed at either--or both."
--Los Angeles Times

Slam Dunked: The NCAA's Shameful Reaction to Athletic Integration in the Deep South

In 1957, a fiery, red-haired basketball coach named Beryl Shipley arrived at what was then known as Southwestern Louisiana Institute (later Southwestern Louisiana and now the University of Louisiana - Lafayette). The university had peacefully integrated in 1954 when 114 African-American students were quietly enrolled, but athletics were off limits to minority students for many more years. Shipley wasted little time in turning the basketball program into a powerhouse, winning a slew of Gulf States Conference and later Southland Conference championships. Shipley's Bulldogs -- later known as the Ragin' Cajuns -- proved to be one of the most exciting teams in the country, making the leap from NAIA to NCAA Division I without missing a beat. In 1972, Cajuns' guard Dwight "Bo" Lamar led the nation in scoring. Despite consistently putting out quality basketball teams and endearing himself to the community, Shipley had to contend with an unlikely opponent -- Louisiana segregationists who were hell-bent on curbing athletic integration in Shipley's program. "Slam Dunked" reveals for the first time the questionable procedures and allegations of the NCAA. Newly discovered documents, dating back three decades show the NCAA's actions abetting those of the racially motivated Louisiana State Board of Education and other segregationists who were determined to punish those responsible for integrating athletics in the state. In 1965, Shipley's crew qualified for the NAIA National Collegiate Championship tournament. Because the Louisiana State Board of Education did not permit all-white teams to play integrated teams, Shipley sought and received assurances by the university athletic director that the team would be allowed to compete in the tournament. However, under pressure from the state board, the president ordered the team to cancel its tournament trip. A last-minute student protest at the president's home forced him to buckle, allowing the team to participate in the prestigious, integrated tournamnet. In 1966 a new university president gave Shipley his blessing to recruit African-American players, USL became the first public college in the Deep South to field an integrated athletic team. The state board immediately ruled that scholarship money for black players was unavailable. Shipley organized a community effort to raise scholarship money specifically for the black players, which violated NCAA rules. Within days, the state athletic commissioner alerted the NCAA to recruiting violations, resulting in the program being placed on probation in 1968. In spite of the constant harassment, the Cajuns became the cinderella team of college basketball, breaking into the top ten rankings and recording wins over such powerhouses as Houston University, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Long Beach State, Texas-El Paso and Marshall. In 1972, the NCAA again introduced recruiting allegations against Shipley's program. With neither the university nor Southland Conference officials willing to defend against the charges, the Ragin' Cajuns were given the so-colled "death penalty" in 1973, not being allowed to field a basketball team for two years.

Raise the Roof

It seems fitting that the most successful college basketball coach since John Wooden is named Summit, because that's exactly where she's taken the women's program at the University of Tennessee. In Raise the Roof, she recounts the Lady Vols' astonishing 1997-98 campaign. The team went 39-0, won its third straight NCAA crown and sixth overall under her direction, and, most importantly to Summitt, "played as if they had no internal or physical boundaries." If the team's unprecedented success is the engine that runs Summitt's story, the fuel that powers it goes a good deal deeper than what happened on the court.

"With this team," she admits, "I was different." From two-time All-American forward Chamique Holdsclaw to the four freshmen from broken homes on whose talents the future rested, Summitt realized early that she had to approach them differently than she had any collection of Lady Vols before, and she did; she cared about them differently, yelled at them differently, and reveled with them differently, ultimately tapping into her own emotions in ways she never had before. She, and they, sought to set new standards for themselves, and for their sport. The record shows they did; Summitt details how and why. "Throughout the season," she writes, "I had the curious sensation of something rising." In the end, she rises to the occasion by identifying and preserving that "something." --Jeff Silverman

"It wasn't a team.  It was a tent revival."

So says Pat Summitt, the legendary coach whose Tennessee Lady Vols entered the 1997-98 season aiming for an almost unprecedented "three-peat" of NCAA championships.  Raise the Roof takes you right inside the locker room of her amazing team, whose inspired mixture of gifted freshmen and seasoned stars produced a standard of play that would change the game of women's basketball forever.

The 1997-98 season started innocently enough.  One Saturday in August, four young freshmen--Semeka Randall, Tamika Catchings, Ace Clement and Teresa Geter--arrived on the Tennessee campus to begin their college careers.  Welcoming them were a number of players from the previous year, including Chamique Holdsclaw and Kellie Jolly.  But that night, in a sign of things to come, a simple pickup game turned into an amazing display of basketball brilliance--freshmen against established players, and with barely a shot missed by either side.  Suddenly Pat Summitt glimpsed the future: fast, aggressive and hugely talented.  This might be the team she'd worked her whole career to coach.

As the season got under way, other dramas unfolded.  After one emotional team meeting, Summitt realized that many on the team were playing for something more than just the glory of the game: all four freshmen, for example, came from single-parent homes, and the tough circumstances of the majority of the other players seemed to add an extra edge to their desire to win it all.  Further, Chamique Holdsclaw, widely regarded as the greatest female player ever, was being dogged by questions about turning pro--and she seemed reluctant to rule it out.  Meanwhile, another member of the team began to notice the unwelcome attentions of a fan, who soon turned out to be a full-fledged stalker.

All this was behind the scenes; out on the court, the win column was swelling with every game: 8-0, 15-0, 21-0.  As 1997 turned into 1998, Pat Summitt began privately to admit that this team had changed her: these kids were so lovable, funny and eager to please that she simply had to let them into her heart.  Along the way, the Lady Vols were redefining what women were capable of, trading in old definitions of femininity for new ones--in short, they were keeping score.  And by the time they entered the NCAA Final Four tournament in Kansas City, Summitt found herself believing the impossible: despite all the distractions, the 1997-98 Lady Vols could go undefeated, and, in doing so, raise the roof off the sport of women's basketball.

Packed with the excitement of a season on the brink of perfection and filled with the comedy and tragedy of one year in the life of a basketball team, Raise the Roof will have readers cheering from the bench for a team of all-conquering players and their astonishing coach.


From the Hardcover edition.

College Basketball Prospectus 2008-2009: The Essential Guide to the Men's College Basketball Season

In the winning tradition of the New York Times bestselling Baseball Prospectus, the ultimate guide to college basketball.

From the brand that brought sports fans the New York Times bestselling Baseball Prospectus comes an all-new, one-of-akind, authoritative guide to college basketball. Utilizing the same unique prediction model, College Basketball Prospectus 2008-2009 applies objective knowledge, original hardhitting statistical analysis, and provocative writing to one of AmericaÂ’s most popular sports.

Divided into three sections, the prospectus includes essays on various aspects of the college game and the past season, previews of all thirty-one Division-I conferences, and a statistical abstract with the same cutting-edge mathematical analysis that has yielded a winning record of accurate predictions for the Baseball and Pro Football Prospectus series. For the 60 million Americans who are diehard college basketball fans, College Basketball Prospectus 2008-2009 is a slam dunk.

To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever: A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry

A thoroughly obsessive, intermittently uplifting, and occasionally unbiased account of the Duke-North Carolina basketball rivalry

The Fab Five: Basketball Trash Talk the American Dream

Lady Vols and UConn: The Greatest Rivalry: (Lower Your Buckets For Treasures)

UConn was a fledging women's basketball program that had been to one Final Four as of 1995. Tennessee was the king of the hill having won 7 National Championships and having produced some of the greatest women's players of all time. Pat Summitt was and is the head coach and is widely considered to be one of the top coaches in women's or men's college basketball history. In fact, she turned down the Tennessee head men's coaching job. She agreed to play Geno Auriemma and UConn in 1995 in an epic battle in Storrs, CT. UConn won that game and won the National Championship that year and off and running was the series. It has produced as much if not more drama than Red Sox-Yankees, Cowboys-Giants and Knicks-Celtics. It has been compared to Carolina-Duke on the men's side. It is certainly produced more National Championships than both of those schools.

"What Duke and North Carolina represent in men's college basketball, UConn and Tennessee represent in women's college basketball, the greatest rivalry in the game. Two teams that when pinned against one another in 1995 for the National Championship changed the sport of women's college basketball forever. The cast of characters from the polarized Hall of Fame coaches to the all-American icons have raised the bar, the talent and the media awareness at the national level. Although the characters change from year to year, the national fever of this matchup continues to grow. It is an ongoing saga that defines women's basketball and encapsulates all that is good and possible about athletic competition. Any young player should read this book and understand that without these teams, these coaches, these players, we would be watching women's basketball exclusively in March at the Final Four." Colleen Healey, former UConn women's basketball player."Every sport needs its standard bearers and that is what Tennessee and UConn are in collegiate women's basketball." Chris Gobrecht, Head Women's Basketball Coach, Yale University

The Last Amateurs: Playing for Glory and Honor in Division I College Basketball

If there's any doubt about John Feinstein being one of sport's true believers, The Last Amateurs readily dispels it. After years of smartly dissecting our games at their highest levels in bestsellers like The Majors, A Good Walk Spoiled, and A Season on the Brink, he returns to dissecting our games at their purest level, ground he first staked out quite stirringly in A Civil War, his chronicle of Army-Navy football.

In The Last Amateurs, he mines the 1999-2000 season of Patriot League basketball. Given the high-stakes, high-profile, and often dirty world of college hoops these days, Feinstein comes up with a remarkably refreshing place to visit, a sporting environment short on scandals, prima donnas, and sneaker contracts, but long on a pure passion for the game that complements achievement in the classroom. In the league's seven schools--Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette, Colgate, Holy Cross, Army, and Navy--academics come first, the hardwood second. These are campuses populated by students who happen to be athletes, not athletes stopping off on the way to lucrative careers in professional sports. Indeed, these are young athletes who have their post-college focus on the rest of their lives, not the NBA. Sports, for them, builds character, not bank accounts.

Still, the Patriot League is a Division I conference, with its champion earning an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. It takes the games seriously--often, as Feinstein reveals, heartbreakingly so--even if it doesn't necessarily play to ACC, SEC, Big 10, and Pac-10 standards. Feinstein's interviewing, skillful as ever, brings the players, coaches, and administrators of the colleges in this league to full form, making The Last Amateurs a rarity among sports books--a smart volume about smart people with their heads and priorities pointed in the right direction. Like the conference itself, it's in a league of its own. --Jeff Silverman

If there's any doubt about John Feinstein being one of sport's truebelievers, The Last Amateurs readily dispels it. After years of smartlydissecting our games at their highest levels in bestsellers like TheMajors, A Good Walk Spoiled, and A Season on the Brink, hereturns to dissecting our games at their purest level, ground he firststaked out quite stirringly in A Civil War, his chronicle of Army-Navyfootball. In The Last Amateurs, he mines the 1999-2000 season of Patriot Leaguebasketball. Given the high-stakes, high-profile, and often dirty world ofcollege hoops these days, Feinstein comes up with a remarkably refreshing placeto visit, a sporting environment short on scandals, prima donnas, and sneakercontracts, but long on a pure passion for the game that complements achievementin the classroom. In the league's seven schools--Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette,Colgate, Holy Cross, Army, and Navy--academics come first, the hardwood second.These are campuses populated by students who happen to be athletes, not athletesstopping off on the way to lucrative careers in professional sports. Indeed,these are young athletes who have their post-college focus on the rest of theirlives, not the NBA. Sports, for them, builds character, not bank accounts.Still, the Patriot League is a Division I conference, with its champion earningan automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. It takes the games seriously--often,as Feinstein reveals, heartbreakingly so--even if it doesn't necessarily play toACC, SEC, Big 10, and Pac-10 standards. Feinstein's interviewing, skillful asever, brings the players, coaches, and administrators of the colleges in thisleague to full form, making The Last Amateurs a rarity among sportsbooks--a smart volume about smart people with their heads and priorities pointedin the right direction. Like the conference itself, it's in a league of its own.--Jeff Silverman