Education of a Coach, The | 
 enlarge | Author: David Halberstam
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $14.98
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Avg. Customer Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 992827
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.7 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 1401384951
Dewey Decimal Number: 809
EAN: 9781401384951
ASIN: 1401384951
Publication Date: August 8, 2006
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Product Description
Now in paperback, Pulitzer Prize-winner David Halberstam's bestseller takes you inside the football genius of Bill Belichick for an insightful profile in leadership With a new afterword by the authorBill Belichick's thirty-one years in the NFL have been marked by amazing success -- most recently with the New England Patriots. In this groundbreaking new book, David Halberstam explores the nuances of both the game and the man behind it. He uncovers what makes Bill Belichick tick both on and off the field.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 47 more reviews...
 Halberstam's worst April 22, 2008
I've read several of his books (although this was my first sports book of his) and I highly enjoyed them. Maybe it's because the subject is just not a very interesting person, but this book is just terrible. He tells us material that contributes nothing; who cares about about his grandparents and his wife family? He also gushes about the subject and his family. Is everything really so great? It's as if he chose an average person at random and wrote a biography about him. The average person doesn't lead a particularly fascinating life and the resulting biography would be dull. Just because he is a success as a coach doesn't necessarily make him a good candidate for a biography.
Puff Piece March 19, 2008
I hate to pile on a fine author when the time has passed when he can redeem himself but I concur with all the negative reviews with one exception--I don't think the book's lack of appeal can be written off as due to the fact that Belichik is a boring oaf. He is that on the outside, but there's a lot more than that inside and the author just did not dig that out. The problem with the book is that there is minimal "inside" information - a little more detail about Tom Brady's development than maybe you know, and a good explanation of just how feared a player Marshall Faulk was, but that's about it. The title suggests that the subject matter is limited to the sort of background biographical stuff so maybe we should have seen this coming, but this is really little more than an expansion of the bio you might find on the Patriots website.
enlightening insight into a man many love to hate March 4, 2008
The book, admittedly, leaves a lot unsaid but then it is an unfinished story. After all the accusations,both accurtate and inaccurate,the book offers an insight into the man who has accomlished so much. Those who hate the team, hate the coach,love the man, and/or love the team should read this book to gain an understanding of Belichick and the pressures of being a successful head coach in the NFL. It's interesting to read of the people behind the man both in the past and today. Looking at the run the Patriots made in 2007 and the super bowl loss, one has a greater apprecciation of the accomplishments and failures of the man who created a true "team" after reading The Education of a Caoch.
Portrait of Belichick the Coach, not Belichick the Man February 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"The Education of a Coach" is not only about how Bill Belichick came to win three super bowls in four years, but the people that helped shape his career along the way, notably his father Steve. The book talks about Steve's years as a coach and how Bill was involved with football from an early age. The book also talks about Bill's involvement in football in school, his first job in football, his time with the Giants, his disastrous stint with Cleveland, and of course his current stint with the Patriots. The book also touches on his relationships, for better or worse, with football insiders including Bill Parcells, Ernie Adams, and Scott Pioli, among others.
As the title suggests "The Education of a Coach" is more about Bill Belichick the coach than Bill Belichick the person. There are glimpses into what makes him tick - his quest for privacy, why he doesn't do well with the media, why he treats all his players as equals - that make him even more interesting. But much of his personal life - his marriage and later divorce, his children - are barely mentioned. But that fits the way Belichick is, a very private person. And what is at the heart of this book - Belichick's football life - is fascinating. Some readers may be disappointed that there's not more about his family, but once you've read the book you realize that football is Belichick's life.
Because "The Education of a Coach" was written in 2005, there is, of course, no mention of "spygate". It's hard not to think about it while reading the book and it was interesting to read about Belichick's preoccupation with studying football film. It's something he started doing at a young age with his father and is, to me anyway, one of the most interesting aspects of his character.
Love him or hate him, Bill Belichick is one of the most talented and complex coaches in football. "The Education of a Coach" is a good glimpse into what made him one of the best coaches in football today. Well done.
The Focus is on Football and Coaching February 16, 2008
"The Education of a Coach" ranks towards the top of the genre I call "sports profiles," because writer David Halberstam chose to focus on football and coaching, rather than on Bill Belichick's personal life.
This authorized biography contains the usual background that includes Belichick's childhood with special emphasis on his father, Steve, who was also a football coach. It was Steve who allowed his son, Bill, to help him break down game films for the Navy football team when the youngster was still in elementary school.
From this early beginning Halberstam examines the younger Belichick's career and those mentors who influenced his thinking and strategies. While making this run through Belichick's career Halberstam breaks down the coach's strategy for a few big games. As a St. Louis Rams fan I enjoyed the dissection of Belichick's ideas for shutting down Marshall Faulk in the Super Bowl.
The Education of a Coach does not allow the reader to see much of Belichick outside of his persona as a student of football. Though Halberstam writes in some depth about Navy coach, Steve and his family, there are very few sentences relating to the family of the Patriots' coach, leaving the reader to wonder if Coach Bill has any kind of life outside of football. (My guess is that this omission is at the insistence of the Patriots' coach.)
If you enjoy football, you will probably like this book. If you enjoy the personal details that often provide filler for such profiles (such as this player likes to eat waffles and spaghetti every day of training camp and loves the smell of a dead skunk), you will likely be disappointed by Mr. Halberstam's efforts.
"The Education of a Coach" does not put a human face on Bill Belichick, but it does relate some of his philosophies on what it takes to build a winning football team.
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