Publishers Weekly
These often entertaining reminiscences about the impact that athletic coaches can have on their players are a mixed bag. The very disparate nature of the essays sometimes creates a loss of overall focus, but the wide range of sports covered--baseball, football, basketball, track, tennis, golf and fencing--is a plus. Only four of the 25 pieces are written by women, but they offer interesting contrasts. Novelist Francine Prose describes the 1950s gym teacher from hell, while Christine Brennan fondly remembers her beloved 1970s high school coach who, before Title IX, battled against the lack of funds and equipment for girl's teams. Journalists George Vecsey and Frank Deford present historical recollections of, respectively, baseball's legendary Casey Stengel and Al McGuire, the high-profile basketball coach at Marquette University, but most of the other pieces touch on personal coaching experiences. Of particular interest is CNN correspondent Tour 's evocation of a 1970s tennis club in Dorchester, Mass., started by Mister Smith, who dreamed of turning African-American ghetto kids into professional tennis players. While moving, Jane Leavy's description of being a dying coach for a friend with AIDS feels out of place in a collection that otherwise deals with sports. (Oct. 27) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
An often stellar anthology examining the impact of coaches, with contributors Francine Prose, John Irving and John McPhee, among others. Sportswriter Frank Deford profiles Marquette basketball coach Al Maguire, a man of extraordinary color and velocity who works a grand con of madman/fool to get the most out of his squad. Irving honors the wrestling coach who counseled him to become a student of the sport to compensate for his shortcomings. "Talent is overrated," he told Irving. "[T]hat you're not very talented needn't be the end of it." Charles McGrath, former editor of the New York Times Book Review, writes that Aunt Gert was his best golfing coach. On the green, she kicked his butt with short drives while teaching him that calm and humility go a long way, even if he was too testosterone-laden to listen. (He listens now, and Aunt Gert still hits the ball square.) McPhee offers a cool, elegant portrait of Princeton's Willem van Breda Kolff, who felt "that mere winning is far less important than winning with style." And it is not surprising that Buzz Bissinger was asked to weigh in on the subject, with the recent success of his book-turned-movie Friday Night Lights, though here it is a tribute to his baseball coach, and a backhanded one at that: "I remember him in the way that memory is most useful, through my own psychological needs, which is also to say that much of what I do remember may not even be accurate." Novelist Prose, in a superb, subversive entry about the gym coach she couldn't stand, reminds us that not all coaches are heroes. "Most of my early teachers were helpful," she concludes, "but Miss G. was not." Other contributors-John Edgar Wideman, George Plimpton, RobertLipsyte-share equally memorable stories. A solid, entertaining collection recognizing great coaches, and a Beelzebub or two.
Coach and Athletic Director Magazine
If you [coaches] ever had any reservations about what you do for a living, Andrew Blauner and 25 of the best writers in America have dispelled them. Blauner has assembled an incredible cast, including novelists, sportswriters, broadcasters, and commentators, who look back at their lives and identify coaches who’ve influenced their lives.
The Boston Globe
Instead of boondoggles and bromides, what we have here are essays about real sports and the characters who left lifelong marks in their attempts to make something of these writers.
USA Today
Perfect ... refreshing ... makes a true connection with the reader ... Sweet and often funny vulnerability, revealing the part of the writer that is willing to be coached. The collection has perfect ‘pitch.’ Writers pay tribute to coaches in the purest sense, showing their lasting influences.
Los Angeles Times
Compelling … rich … an all-star squad of scribblers. You don’t have to be an ex-jock with a trophy case to find someone you can relate to here.
Sports Illustrated
What happens when twenty-five wonderful writers meet twenty-five unforgettable coaches? The twenty-five life lessons you are holding in your hands.—Gary Smith
