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| bill o'brien coaching history: We Are Penn State Lou Prato, 2013-09-01 No college football program has ever had to deal with the obstacles, hostility, and challenges encountered by the players and coaches of the 2012 Penn State Nittany Lions, and this book is an account of that unforgettable season in which the team rebounded from a disillusioning 0-2 start to surprise everyone and finish with an 8-4 record, third best in the Big Ten Conference. The turmoil at Penn State began in early November 2011 with the shocking arrest of retired assistant coach Jerry Sandusky for multiple charges of sexual child abuse, and within days legendary head coach Joe Paterno was fired in what would be termed the biggest scandal in college football history. By the end of January, Paterno was dead from lung cancer and a new head coach without any Penn State connections, Bill O’Brien, began putting together his staff while finishing up his job as offensive coordinator of the Super Bowl bound New England Patriots. We Are Penn State tells the story of how this team overcame unprecedented NCAA sanctions, including a four-year bowl ban and the loss of 45 scholarships over the same period, the transfer of several of its star players, and overwhelming predictions that the 2012 season would be a disaster to put together a successful season and restore some dignity to what was once considered one of the elite programs in college football. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Fourth and Long John U. Bacon, 2013-09-03 From New York Times bestselling author and Michigan football expert John Back, an analysis of the state of college football: Why we love the game, what is at risk, and the fight to save it. In search of the sport’s old ideals amid the roaring flood of hypocrisy and greed, bestselling author John U. Bacon embedded himself in four college football programs—Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, and Northwestern—and captured the oldest, biggest, most storied league, the Big Ten, at its tipping point. He sat in as coaches dissected game film, he ate dinner at training tables, and he listened in locker rooms. He talked with tailgating fans and college presidents, and he spent months in the company of the gifted young athletes who play the game. Fourth and Long reveals intimate scenes behind closed doors, from a team’s angry face-off with their athletic director to a defensive lineman acing his master’s exams in theoretical math. It captures the private moment when coach Urban Meyer earned the devotion of Ohio State’s Buckeyes on their way to a perfect season. It shows Michigan’s athletic department endangering the very traditions that distinguish the college game from all others. And it re-creates the euphoria of the Northwestern Wildcats winning their first bowl game in decades. Most unforgettably, Fourth and Long finds what the national media missed in the ugly aftermath of Penn State’s tragic scandal: the unheralded story of players who joined forces with Coach Bill O’Brien to save the university’s treasured program—and with it, a piece of the game’s soul. This is the work of a writer in love with an old game—a game he sees at the precipice. Bacon’s deep knowledge of sports history and his sensitivity to the tribal subcultures of the college game power this elegy to a beloved and endangered American institution. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Parcells Bill Parcells, Nunyo Demasio, 2015-10-20 Bill Parcells may be the most iconic football coach of our time. During his decades-long tenure as an NFL coach, he turned failing franchises into contenders. He led the ailing New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories, turned the New England Patriots into an NFL powerhouse, reinvigorated the New York Jets, brought the Dallas Cowboys back to life, and was most recently enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Taking readers behind the scenes with one of the most influential and fascinating coaches the NFL has ever known, PARCELLS will take a look back at this coach’s long, storied and influential career, offer a nuanced portrayal of the complex man behind the coach, and examine the inner workings of the NFL. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: It's Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness Seth Wickersham, 2021-10-12 NOW WITH A NEW EPILOGUE ON THE 2021 SEASON AND TOM BRADY’S BRIEF RETIREMENT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SPORTS ILLUSTRATED • NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR National Sports Media Association • Book of the Year Kirkus Reviews • Best Nonfiction of the Year “Seth Wickersham has managed to do the impossible: he has pulled off the definitive document of the Belichick/Brady dynasty.” —Bill Simmons, The Ringer The explosive, long-awaited account of the making of the greatest dynasty in football history—from the acclaimed ESPN reporter who has been there from the very beginning. Over two unbelievable decades, the New England Patriots were not only the NFL’s most dominant team, but also—and by far—the most secretive. How did they achieve and sustain greatness—and what were the costs? In It's Better to Be Feared, Seth Wickersham, one of the country’s finest long form and investigative sportswriters, tells the full, behind-the-scenes story of the Patriots, capturing the brilliance, ambition, and vanity that powered and ultimately unraveled them. Based on hundreds of interviews conducted since 2001, Wickersham’s chronicle is packed with revelations, taking us deep into Bill Belichick’s tactical ingenuity and Tom Brady’s unique mentality while also reporting on their divergent paths in 2020, including Brady’s run to the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Raucous, unvarnished, and definitive, It’s Better to Be Feared is an instant classic of American sportswriting in the tradition of Michael Lewis, David Maraniss, and David Halberstam. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: When the Lions Roared Bill Contz, 2017-09-01 The 1982 Penn State national championship team was not only one of Joe Paterno’s best, it was one of the best teams college football has ever seen. In When the Lions Roared, Bill Contz, one of the squad's offensive tackles, details that special season and the experience of playing for a legendary coach. Featuring dozens of interviews with former players, this book provides anecdotes from the epic contests of that season while also proving statistically why this Nittany Lions team stands up against all of the talented teams that came before and after. Also featuring a foreword and reflections by Todd Blackledge, Penn State's 1982 starting quarterback, this is an essential read for Nittany Lions faithful. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: The Education of a Coach David Halberstam, 2012-07-17 Pulitzer Prize-winner David Halberstam's bestseller takes you inside the football genius of Bill Belichick for an insightful profile in leadership. Bill Belichick's thirty-one years in the NFL have been marked by amazing success--most recently with the New England Patriots. In this groundbreaking 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. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: When Football Went to War Todd Anton, Bill Nowlin, Marv Levy, 2013-10-01 More than any other sport, professional football contributed fighting men to the battles of World War II, and the 22 or so players or former players that lost their lives are among the riveting stories told in this tribute to football's war heroes that spans many decades and military conflicts. The National Football League counts three Congressional Medal of Honor recipients among its honors, along with numerous Silver Stars, Distinguished Flying Crosses, and Purple Hearts. When Football Went to War offers a ground-breaking look at football—college and professional football alike—and many of the wartime heroes who came off the field of play to fight for their country. Detailed biographies of those who gave their lives are supplemented by many other stories of wartime heroism, from World War I through to Pat Tillman's tragic death in the Global War on Terrorism. Football has become the most popular sport in America and this heartfelt book honors the many sacrifices of NFL athletes over the years in service of their country. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: 100 Things Nationals Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die Jake Russell, Dusty Baker, 2016-04-01 100 Things Nationals Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die is the ultimate resource guide for true fans of the Washington Nationals. Whether you're a die-hard booster from the days of the Senators or a new supporter of the Bryce Harper-led squad, these are the 100 things all fans need to know and do in their lifetime. It contains every essential piece of Nationals knowledge and trivia, as well as must-do activities, and ranks them all from 1 to 100, providing an entertaining and easy-to-follow checklist as you progress on your way to fan superstardom. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: History of the NFL First 100 Year's You Sure Started Somethin' R.D. Griffith, 2021-12-16 Are you searching for a book about American Football that has it all? R. D. Griffith will take you on a comprehensive drive through the history and highlights of American Football, its salient details, from its inception at the turn of the century to its centralized embodiment now in the modern era, the NFL. He will share with you the challenges the game faced through the Great Depression and two World Wars, including the spicy anecdotes of the people comprising the great game of American Football throughout the years. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: The Extraordinary Life of Bill O'Brien Nikos Ligidakis, 2015-12-04 Far more than a He did this, He saw that book, Bill O'Brien's story is an inspirational saga about adventure, excitement, achievement, the importance of character, and how an ordinary Arizona Irish cowboy overcame obstacles and challenges to achieve success in uniqueand creative ways. It is an entertaining and compelling story written by a master storyteller about one of Arizona's most fascinating characters. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia Espn, 2009 A comprehensive reference provides historical overviews of all 335 Division 1 teams, season-by-season summaries, ESPN/Sagarin rankings of top-selected college basketball programs, and more. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Win Forever Pete Carroll, Yogi Roth, Kristoffer A. Garin, 2011-08-02 I know that I'll be evaluated in Seattle with wins and losses, as that is the nature of my profession for the last thirty-five years. But our record will not be what motivates me. Years ago I was asked, 'Pete, which is better: winning or competing?' My response was instantaneous: 'Competing. . . because it lasts longer.' Pete Carroll is one of the most successful coaches in football today. As the head coach at USC, he brought the Trojans back to national prominence, amassing a 97-19 record over nine seasons. Now he shares the championship-winning philosophy that led USC to seven straight Pac-10 titles. This same mind-set and culture will shape his program as he returns to the NFL to coach the Seattle Seahawks. Carroll developed his unique coaching style by trial and error over his career. He learned that you get better results by teaching instead of screaming, and by helping players grow as people, not just on the field. He learned that an upbeat, energetic atmosphere in the locker room can coexist with an unstoppable competitive drive. He learned why you should stop worrying about your opponents, why you should always act as if the whole world is watching, and many other contrarian insights. Carroll shows us how the Win Forever philosophy really works, both in NCAA Division I competition and in the NFL. He reveals how his recruiting strategies, training routines, and game-day rituals preserve a team's culture year after year, during championship seasons and disappointing seasons alike. Win Forever is about more than winning football games; it's about maximizing your potential in every aspect of your life. Carroll has taught business leaders facing tough challenges. He has helped troubled kids on the streets of Los Angeles through his foundation A Better LA. His words are true in any situation: If you want to win forever, always compete. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Dusty, Deek, and Mr. Do-Right Taylor Bell, 2010-10-01 From small towns like Metamora, Aledo, and Carthage to East St. Louis and Chicago's South Side, Illinois's high school football fields have been the proving ground for such future stars as Dick Butkus, Red Grange, and Otto Graham. In Dusty, Deek, and Mr. Do-Right, longtime fan and sportswriter Taylor Bell shares the stories of the greatest players, toughest coaches, most memorable games, and fiercest rivalries in Illinois history. Drawing on dozens of personal interviews, Bell profiles memorable figures such as Tuscola's record-setting quarterback Dusty Burk, Pittsfield's brutally demanding yet devoted Coach Donald Deek Pollard, and Evanston's Murney Mr. Do-Right Lazier, who coached sternly but without prejudice in the racially charged 1960s and '70s. The book also discusses winning programs at schools such as East St. Louis, Mount Carmel, and Joliet Catholic, as well as longstanding rivalries and memorable games in the state playoff and Prep Bowl. The ultimate book for high school football fans in Illinois, Dusty, Deek, and Mr. Do-Right is infused with Bell's own love for the game and illustrated with sixty photographs of the players and coaches who made lifetime memories under the Friday night lights. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Playing for More Case Keenum, Andrew Perloff, 2018-09-04 Case Keenum has traveled one of the most unique paths in the NFL. Recruited by just one college, undrafted, and released three times, Case has overcome every obstacle to become a successful starting quarterback. In 2017, Keenum captured America’s imagination by leading the Minnesota Vikings to a 13-3 record and an NFC North title. His game-winning touchdown in the final seconds of their divisional playoff game against the Saints, the Minneapolis Miracle, made Case part of NFL history. Keenum shares stories from every stage of his life, starting out as a ball boy for his father’s college team in West Texas, going on to win a state title in high school, and rewriting the NCAA record book at the University of Houston. A devastating knee injury almost derailed his football career, but helped him get closer to the woman who would soon become his wife. Throughout his story, Case will explain how being a Christian helped him navigate the winding path to success. No matter what obstacle has been placed in front of him, Case believes God has a plan for him. That’s why he plays football and that’s why he’s writing this book: To glorify God and to help others who face adversity in their everyday life. “Am I a football player who happens to be a Christian?” Case writes, No, I’m a Christian who happens to be a football player. That’s my calling. That’s my defining characteristic. Once I realized that, everything else fell into place. I became a better football player and, more importantly, a better person.” |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Yale Football Through the Years Rich Marazzi, 2020-06-12 Chronicling Yale football from its 1872 inception to the present, this volume offers a comprehensive coverage of the most important games, including all Yale-Harvard contests, most Yale-Princeton games, record-making performances, great plays and more. Human-interest anecdotes offer a sidebar to the game or era covered, giving color to the storied history of Yale football. The evolution is traced of rules that transformed a game combining soccer and rugby into the football we know today. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: NFL Head Coaches John Maxymuk, 2012-08-07 The 466 men who have held the increasingly demanding and prestigious position of Head Coach in the National Football League and the two leagues that merged into it (the All America Football Conference of the 1940s and the American Football League of the 1960s) form an exclusive club. This book essentially answers three questions about every professional head coach since 1920: Who was he? What were his coaching approach and style, in terms of both leadership and gridiron tactics? How successful was he? Every entry begins with standard background information, followed by each coach's yearly regular season and postseason coaching record, and then his statistical tendencies toward scoring, defense and play calling. The entry then addresses the three questions noted above. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Lair of the Lion Lee Stout, Harry H. West, 2017-07-17 Football is an unmistakable part of the culture of Penn State, though the experience of a Nittany Lions home game—from the crowds and tailgates to the spectacle of the game itself—has changed significantly over the years. This richly illustrated and researched book tells the story of the structure that has evolved along with the university’s celebrated football program: the iconic Beaver Stadium. Historian Lee Stout and engineering professor Harry H. West show how Beaver Stadium came to be, including a look at its predecessors, “Old” Beaver Field, built in 1893 on a site centrally located northeast of Old Main, and “New” Beaver Field, built on the northwest corner of campus in 1909. Stout and West explore the engineering and construction challenges of the stadium and athletic fields and reveal the importance of these facilities to the history of Penn State and its cherished traditions. Packed with archival photos and fascinating stories, Lair of the Lion is a celebration of the ways in which Penn State fans, students, and athletes have experienced home games from the 1880s to the present day, and of the monumental structure that the Lions now call home. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: What It Takes Mark Herzlich, 2015-06-02 In 2011, he became starting linebacker for the New York Giants and triumphed in the Super Bowl—after being told his cancer diagnosis meant he would never play football again.... As a child, Herzlich found true meaning in football, eventually turning his passion into a first-team All-American spot at Boston College. But the budding star was sidelined by persistent, debilitating pain in his left leg. The shocking diagnosis: He had Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. Doctors put his odds of survival as low as ten percent—and no one thought he would be able to run, much less play football, again. Then Herzlich learned of a radical treatment that would give him the best chance to regain his strength and maybe even play football again, but it could cost him his life. Relying on family, friends, faith, and deep wells of determination to help him through treatment, his plan worked. Not only could he run, but he was physically stronger than ever, and mentally ready to battle his way into the NFL. When he was passed over by all thirty-two teams in the draft, he dug deeper and continued his training, winning a spot in the Giants’ training camp and, eventually, on the team. Mark Herzlich fought a battle against cancer, against statistics, and some days against himself. Told with candor and raw emotion, What It Takes is a story for anyone who has ever fought to beat the odds, for anyone who has ever been told that what they are about to attempt is next to impossible. INCLUDES PHOTOS With a foreword by New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin |
| bill o'brien coaching history: The Book of Basketball Bill Simmons, 2010-12-07 #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The wildly opinionated, thoroughly entertaining, and arguably definitive book on the past, present, and future of the NBA—from the founder of The Ringer and host of The Bill Simmons Podcast “Enough provocative arguments to fuel barstool arguments far into the future.”—The Wall Street Journal In The Book of Basketball, Bill Simmons opens—and then closes, once and for all—every major NBA debate, from the age-old question of who actually won the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to the one about which team was truly the best of all time. Then he takes it further by completely reevaluating not only how NBA Hall of Fame inductees should be chosen but how the institution must be reshaped from the ground up, the result being the Pyramid: Simmons’s one-of-a-kind five-level shrine to the ninety-six greatest players in the history of pro basketball. And ultimately he takes fans to the heart of it all, as he uses a conversation with one NBA great to uncover that coveted thing: The Secret of Basketball. Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down (even for Celtic-haters), The Book of Basketball offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game’s finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: The Red Bandanna (Young Readers Adaptation) Tom Rinaldi, 2018-08-14 Winner of the Christopher Award An ILA-CBC Children’s Choices Book A NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Book Welles Crowther did not see himself as hero. He was just an ordinary kid who played sports, volunteered at his local fire department, and eventually headed off to college and then Wall Street to start a career. Throughout it all, he always kept a red bandanna in his pocket, a gift from his father. On September 11, 2001, Welles was working on the 104th floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center when the Twin Towers were attacked. That day, Welles made a fearless choice and in doing so, saved many lives. The survivors didn’t know his name, but one of them remembered a single detail clearly: the man was wearing a red bandanna. Welles Crowther was a hero. Award-winning ESPN reporter Tom Rinaldi brings Welles's inspirational story of selflessness and compassion to life in this accessible young readers’ adaptation of his New York Times bestselling book. This powerful story of making a difference through our actions is perfect for helping the post-9/11 generation understand the meaning of this historic day through the eyes of one young man. “Rinaldi’s young reader edition of his award-winning adult story puts a face on that day (9/11), a hero’s face, and brings to young people someone who stood brave in the toughest of times and who, in the end, was lost doing his best to help others survive.”—VOYA |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Men in White Chris Raymond, 2024-08-13 A thrilling sports story, Men in White is the tale of the young athletes who defied the doomsayers and rescued Penn State’s football program from the horrors of the Jerry Sandusky scandal—told by the players themselves. On November 5, 2011, the news that Jerry Sandusky had been charged with forty counts of child molestation rocked Penn State’s leafy campus, unseating the university president, the athletic director, and head coach Joe Paterno—devastating the football program he had erected and diligently maintained over half a century. Men in White recounts the saga of the student athletes who elected to stay and rebuild the program in the face of crippling NCAA sanctions, blistering heat from the outraged media, and radio silence from the adults in the school’s administration. With the once proud program in free fall and their personal fortunes in peril, these young men refused to back down, toiling for five long seasons to rehabilitate the program and its ideals, culminating in the stirring come-from-behind defeat of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game. Their story echoes that of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, a cast of young men—colossal underdogs—who boldly accepted the challenge of a lifetime, achieving success while shouldering the weight of a bruising political drama. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: National Football League Franchises Frank P. Jozsa, 2016-07-29 The National Football League (NFL) is the most influential, popular, and prosperous professional sports league in America. As such this book focuses on the development and maturity of the organization and its members, but most importantly, how each of them performed in seasons and postseasons and then to what extent they have succeeded as a business enterprise despite competition for market share from other types of entertainment. Each chapter contains two core themes as sections—Team Performances and Franchise Business. The former highlights which and how teams won division and conference titles and championships like Super Bowls while the latter lists and compares financial data including their revenue, gate receipts, and operating income. By linking and comparing the historical performances of NFL teams to financial information about them as business organizations, this book provides a unique contribution to the literature on the sports industry. This book connects franchise popularity and all-time records with recent estimated market value, net worth, and other financial data. In sum, National Football League Franchises explains why particular teams located in large, midsized, or small markets win more games and titles than others. In addition, it provides ways to individually, and by division and/or conference, to compare teams from a financial perspective. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: The Genius of Desperation Doug Farrar, Louis Riddick, 2018-09-25 If necessity has been the mother of invention throughout the history of professional football, it could also be said that desperation is the father. Rare are the football innovations that have occurred without an owner, general manager, coach, or player up against the wall and reaching for a way to succeed anyway. In this meticulously researched, lively book, Bleacher Report lead NFL scout Doug Farrar traces the schematic history of the pro game through these if this/then that moments—paradigm shifts in the game from 1920 through the present. More than just a book about schemes and strategies, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL also tells the stories of the game's most prominent innovators, the adversities they endured, and the ways in which they learned to exceed their own expectations on the path to true greatness. Everyone from George Halas to Greasy Neale, Paul Brown to Sid Gillman, Bill Walsh to Chip Kelly is featured, as well as many more. The Genius of Desperation is a narrative arc through the history of the game as it's never been told before. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Billion-Dollar Ball Gilbert M. Gaul, 2016-09-06 “A penetrating examination of how the elite college football programs have become ‘giant entertainment businesses that happened to do a little education on the side.’”—Mark Kram, The New York Times Two-time Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Gilbert M. Gaul offers a riveting and sometimes shocking look inside the money culture of college football and how it has come to dominate a surprising number of colleges and universities. Over the past decade college football has not only doubled in size, but its elite programs have become a $2.5-billion-a-year entertainment business, with lavishly paid coaches, lucrative television deals, and corporate sponsors eager to slap their logos on everything from scoreboards to footballs and uniforms. Profit margins among the top football schools range from 60% to 75%—results that dwarf those of such high-profile companies as Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft—yet thanks to the support of their football-mad representatives in Congress, teams aren’t required to pay taxes. In most cases, those windfalls are not passed on to the universities themselves, but flow directly back into their athletic departments. College presidents have been unwilling or powerless to stop a system that has spawned a wildly profligate infrastructure of coaches, trainers, marketing gurus, and a growing cadre of bureaucrats whose sole purpose is to ensure that players remain academically eligible to play. From the University of Oregon’s lavish $42 million academic center for athletes to Alabama coach Nick Saban’s $7 million paycheck—ten times what the school pays its president, and 70 times what a full-time professor there earns—Gaul examines in depth the extraordinary financial model that supports college football and the effect it has had not only on other athletic programs but on academic ones as well. What are the consequences when college football coaches are the highest paid public employees in over half the states in an economically troubled country, or when football players at some schools receive ten times the amount of scholarship awards that academically gifted students do? Billion-Dollar Ball considers these and many other issues in a compelling account of how an astonishingly wealthy sports franchise has begun to reframe campus values and distort the fundamental academic mission of our universities. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: The Genius David Harris, 2008-09-02 The Genius is the gripping and definitive account of Bill Walsh’s career and how he built a football dynasty from the rubble of a fallen franchise. David Harris gives a stellar account of the silver-haired sophisticate from humble working-class roots who was hired as head coach and general manager of the San Francisco Forty Niners in January 1979 and became the architect of what is arguably the greatest ten-year run in NFL history. With unmatched access to players, fellow coaches, executives, the reporters who covered the Niners’ heyday, and Walsh himself, Harris recounts how Walsh, through tactical and organizational genius, created a football juggernaut. There were also the demons that pushed and haunted Walsh throughout his career: his clash with his former mentor, Paul Brown, who denied Walsh his first pro head-coaching job with the Cincinnati Bengals; Walsh’s struggle with self-doubt and criticism; the toll his single-minded devotion to football exacted on his family; and his complex relationship with the Forty Niners’ owner, Edward DeBartolo, Jr. Walsh’s pre-Niners coaching odyssey was arduous–a longtime assistant coach, he developed his legendary and now-standard pass-oriented West Coast offense during stops at all levels of the game. Despite never having run a team’s draft before, Walsh, along with his right-hand man John McVay, quickly built the foundation for a dynasty by drafting or trading for a durable core of stars, including Joe Montana, Fred Dean, Hacksaw Reynolds, Dwight Clark, and Ronnie Lott. (Walsh would later restock the team with such players as Jerry Rice, Steve Young, and Charles Haley.) The key to Walsh’s genius perhaps lay in his keen understanding of his athletes’ psyches–he knew what brought out the best in each of them. But the scope of Walsh’s impact on the game extended well beyond the field and locker room. The Forty Niners’ life-skills counseling program, which Walsh spearheaded with the sports sociologist and activist Dr. Harry Edwards, and the internship program Walsh devised to bring minority coaches into the game have since been adopted by the NFL for all league franchises. In the annals of sport, few individuals have had as great an impact on their game–or on its relevance to life outside the lines–as Bill Walsh. With knowledge, skill, passion, and a critical eye, David Harris reveals the brilliant man behind the coaching legend. The vision Bill Walsh brought to all his pioneering efforts was a function of his perception of himself as someone who was far more than a football coach. He cherished his standing and participation in the larger world outside the NFL and nurtured them at every opportunity. “Knowing Bill Walsh was kind of like the blind man describing an elephant,” one of the sportswriters who covered him observed. “We all knew just one little piece of him. But he had all these other areas we knew nothing about. He dealt with lots of people outside of football, outside of our scope entirely. He was able to deal with politicians, people who were intellects in other areas. They were impressed by him.” –from The Genius |
| bill o'brien coaching history: When Pride Still Mattered David Maraniss, 1999 By the time he died of cancer in 1970, after one season in Washington during which he transformed the Redskins into winners, Lombardi had become a mythic character who transcended sport, and his legend has only grown in the decades since. Many now turn to Lombardi in search of characteristics that they fear have been irretrievably lost, the oldfashioned virtues of discipline, obedience, loyalty, character, and teamwork. To others he symbolizes something less romantic: modern society's obsession with winning and superficial success. In When Pride Still Mattered, Maraniss renders Lombardi as flawed and driven yet ultimately misunderstood, a heroic figure who was more complex and authentic than the stereotypical images of him propounded by admirers and critics. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Outside Shot Keith O'Brien, 2013-01-15 Documents the efforts of the coach and four seniors from the once-prestigious Scott County High School basketball team in Kentucky to recover from a slump related to the economy, racial and religious tensions, and other community divides. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Home Team Sean Payton, Ellis Henican, 2010-06-29 The New York Times bestseller that's heaven in hardcover (New Orleans Times-Picayune) for Saints fans. In the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, no symbol of disaster was more potent than New Orleans' Superdome: it became a horrific shelter of last resort where the utterly desperate rode out the storm. Four years later, in that very stadium, the New Orleans Saints won the NFC championship and earned their first-ever trip to the Super Bowl, where they defeated the favored Indianapolis Colts 31-17. This is the inspirational true story of a city recovering from disaster and a team with a history of heartbreak, as seen through the eyes of the coach who would help elevate them both to long- forgotten greatness. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Guts and Genius Bob Glauber, 2018-11-20 How three football legends -- Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, and Bill Parcells -- won eight Super Bowls during the 1980s and changed football forever. Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs and Bill Parcells dominated what may go down as the greatest decade in pro football history, leading their teams to a combined eight championships and developing some of the most gifted players of all time in the process. Walsh, Gibbs and Parcells developed such NFL stars as Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, Jerry Rice, Art Monk and Darrell Green. They resurrected the careers of players like John Riggins, Joe Theismann, Doug Williams, Everson Walls and Hacksaw Reynolds. They did so with a combination of guts and genius, built championship teams in their own likeness, and revolutionized pro football like few others. Their influence is still evident in today's game, with coaches who either worked directly for them or are part of their coaching trees now winning Super Bowls and using strategy the three men devised and perfected. In interviews with more than 150 players, coaches, family members and friends, GUTS AND GENIUS digs into the careers of three men who overcame their own insecurities and doubts to build Hall of Fame legacies that transformed their generation and continue to impact today's NFL. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Analytical Psychology of Football John O'Brien, Nada O'Brien, 2021-08-12 Jungian psychology of football is a new and cutting edge approach being applied by Champions league teams and used in youth football training. Implications for the wider role of football organisations in society as models for the diagnosis and management of trauma and tension in our changing world are highlighted. Analytical Psycholog y of Football: Professional Jungian Football Coaching provides for youth trainers, accessible, scientifically based tools and techniques to develop resilience and sustain motivation in grass roots and elite footballers. The values and psychological make-up of best in class international trainers are revealed, and commented upon by a Champions League manager. Theory is traced from the early history of the game through to the present day, equipping trainers with the guiding psychological concepts which are shaping the future of the sport. Case examples of how the game can support society through periods of change, and in fact, advance civilisation are described. A Jungian appreciation of the transformational power of the football is a step forward for psychologists, and educators who wish to keep up with advancements in their professions, for football students and for trainers wishing to remain competitive. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: The St. Louis Irish William Barnaby Faherty, 2001 A French-founded frontier village that transformed into a booming nineteenth-century industrial mecca dominated by Germans, the city of St. Louis nonetheless resounds from the influence of Irish immigrants. Both the history and the maps of the city are dotted with the enduring legacies of familiar celts--John Mullanphy, John O'Fallon, Cardinal John J. Glennon--but the true marks of the Irish in St. Louis were made by the common immigrants--those who fled their homeland to settle in the Kerry Patch on St. Louis's near north side--and their battle to maintain cultural, ethnographic, and religious roots. Popular local historian William Barnaby Faherty, S.J., offers readers a look into the history and effects of the Irish immigration to St. Louis. The author can now be placed within a rich Irish heritage in the world of publishing: Joseph Charless, editor of the first newspaper west of the Mississippi, the Missouri Gazette; William Marion Reedy, editor of the Mirror and nineteenth-century literary mogul; Joseph McCullagh, editor of the Globe-Democrat in the late nineteenth century; and controversial author Kate (O'Flaherty) Chopin. The Irish in St. Louis is an enticing ethnographic history of one nationality clinging to its roots in a melting- pot American city. Both visitor and native St. Louisian, Irish or not, will relish this history of one of St. Louis's most enduring communities. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: 100 Things Penn State Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die Lou Prato, 2015-10-01 Perfect for Penn State fans who think they already know everything With traditions, records, and Nittany Lions lore, this lively, detailed book explores the personalities, events, and facts every Penn State fan should know. It contains crucial information such as important dates, player nicknames, memorable moments, and outstanding achievements by singular players. From trivia on legendary players—such as John Cappelletti, Kerry Collins, Larry Johnson, LaVar Arrington, and Paul Posluszny—to knowing the best places to catch a game, 100 Things Penn State Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die is the ultimate resource guide for true fans of the Nittany Lions. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Football Scouting Methods Steve Belichick, 2008 Considered the bible of scouting techniques according to the Los Angeles Times, Football Scouting Methods explains the basic scouting strategies and insights of author Steve Belichick. He was widely viewed as the ablest football scout of his time and coached at the U.S. Naval Academy for 33 years; his son is New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, a three-time Super Bowl winner. When Steve Belichick died in November 2005, the New York Times headline cited him as Coach Who Wrote the Book on Scouting, and quoted Houston Texans General Manager Charley Casserly calling Football Scouting Methods the best book on scouting he had ever read. Joe Bellino, Navy's Heisman Trophy winner in 1960, told the Times that Steve Belichick was a genius. On Monday nights, he would give us his scouting reports, and even though we were playing powerhouses, I always felt we were prepared because he found a way for us to win. In recent years Football Scouting Methods has been one of the top ten most sought out-of-print books; used copies have been quite scarce. This reissue edition makes the original 1962 text available once again in exact facsimile. The book covers how to scout opponents, recognize defenses, analyze offenses, discover tip-offs that reveal the opponent's plays, compose a useful report, self-scout, and conduct postgame analysis. Steve Belichick taught many younger men how to scout and how to watch film and how to prepare their teams for the next week's game, David Halberstam noted in the Washington Post, and his best student was his own son Bill Belichick, one of whose greatest skills as a coach to this day remains his ability to analyze other teams, figuring out both their strengths and their vulnerabilities, and shrewdly deciding how to take away from them that which they most want to do. When CBS asked Bill Belichick to name his favorite book, he replied Well, I've got to go with my dad's. Football Scouting Methods. I'd have to go with that. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Relentless Julian Edelman, 2017-10-24 Bill Belichick: Julian is the epitome of competitiveness, toughness, and the great things that are possible when someone is determined to achieve their goals. Tom Brady: It's a privilege for me to play with someone as special as Julian. The Super Bowl champion wide receiver for the New England Patriots shares his inspiring story of an underdog kid who was always doubted to becoming one of the most reliable and inspiring players in the NFL. When the Patriots were down 28-3 in Super Bowl LI, there was at least one player who refused to believe they would lose: Julian Edelman. And he said so. It wasn't only because of his belief in his teammates, led by the master of the comeback, his friend and quarterback Tom Brady-or the coaching staff run by the legendary Bill Belichick. It was also because he had been counted out in most of his life and career, and he had proved them all wrong. Whether it was in Pop Warner football, where his Redwood City, California, team won a national championship; in high school where he went from a 4'10, 95-pound freshman running back to quarterback for an undefeated Woodside High team; or college, where he rewrote records at Kent State as a dual-threat quarterback, Edelman far exceeded everyone's expectations. Everyone's expectations, that is, except his own and those of his father, who took extreme and unorthodox measures to drive Edelman to quiet the doubters with ferocious competitiveness. When he was drafted by the Patriots in the seventh round, the 5'10 college quarterback was asked to field punts and play wide receiver, though he'd never done either. But gradually, under the tutelage of a demanding coaching staff and countless hours of off-season training with Tom Brady, he became one of the NFL's most dynamic punt returners and top receivers who can deliver in the biggest games. Relentless is the story of Edelman's rise, and the continuing dominance of the Patriot dynasty, filled with memories of growing up with a father who was as demanding as any NFL coach, his near-constant fight to keep his intensity and competitiveness in check in high school and college, and his celebrated nine seasons with the Patriots. Julian shares insights into his relationships and rivalries, and his friendships with teammates such as Tom Brady, Wes Welker, Matt Slater, and Randy Moss. Finally, he reveals the story behind the catch and life on the inside of a team for the ages. Inspiring, honest, and unapologetic, Relentless proves that the heart of a champion can never be measured. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: American Sports [4 volumes] Murry R. Nelson, 2013-05-23 America loves sports. This book examines and details the proof of this fascination seen throughout American society—in our literature, film, and music; our clothing and food; and the iconography of the nation. This momentous four-volume work examines and details the cultural aspects of sport and how sport pervasively reflects—and affects—myriad aspects of American society from the early 1900s to the present day. Written in a straightforward, readable manner, the entries cover both historical and contemporary aspects of sport and American culture. Unlike purely historical encyclopedias on sports, the contributions within these volumes cover related subject matter such as poetry, novels, music, films, plays, television shows, art and artists, mythologies, artifacts, and people. While this encyclopedia set is ideal for general readers who need information on the diverse aspects of sport in American culture for research purposes or are merely reading for enjoyment, the detailed nature of the entries will also prove useful as an initial source for scholars of sport and American culture. Each entry provides a number of both print and online resources for further investigation of the topic. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Season of Saturdays Michael Weinreb, 2014-08-19 From an award-winning sports journalist and college football expert: “A beautifully written mix of memoir and reportage that tracks college ball through fourteen key games, giving depth and meaning to all” (Sports Illustrated), now with a new Afterword about the first ever College Football Playoff. Every Saturday in the fall, it happens: On college campuses, in bars, at gatherings of fervent alumni, millions come together to watch a sport that inspires a uniquely American brand of passion and outrage. This is college football. Since the first contest in 1869, the game has grown from a stratified offshoot of rugby to a ubiquitous part of our national identity. Right now, as college conferences fracture and grow, as amateur athlete status is called into question, as a playoff system threatens to replace big-money bowl games, we’re in the midst of the most dramatic transitional period in the history of the sport. Season of Saturdays examines the evolution of college football, including the stories of iconic coaches like Woody Hayes, Joe Paterno, and Knute Rockne; and programs like the USC Trojans, the Michigan Wolverines, and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Michael Weinreb considers the inherent violence of the game, its early seeds of big-business greed, and its impact on institutions of higher learning. He explains why college football endures, often despite itself. Filtered through journalism and research, as well as the author’s own recollections as a fan, Weinreb celebrates some of the greatest games of all time while revealing their larger significance. “Wry, quirky, fascinating...This surely is one of the most enjoyable books of the college football season...Weinreb wrestles in captivating prose with the violence, hypocrisy, and corruption that are endemic to the sport at its most cutthroat level” (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland). |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Agents of Mayhem Bill O'Brien, 2000 Examination of nine cases of mass murder from around the world, including Australia and New Zealand. Attempts to find reasons why a person becomes a mass murderer, and to detect a pattern in the phenomenon of mass murder. Posits that there are shared traits in the nine men examined that are powerful predictors of their behaviour. Includes illustrations and glossary. The New Zealand author was a police officer for over 35 years, has been involved in numerous murder investigations and has studied criminology and criminal law. His previous books are 'Twenty-two Hours of Terror' and 'Shattered Dreams'. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Mind and Matter John Urschel, Louisa Thomas, 2020-05-12 A New York Times bestseller John Urschel, mathematician and former offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, tells the story of a life balanced between two passions For John Urschel, what began as an insatiable appetite for puzzles as a child developed into mastery of the elegant systems and rules of mathematics. By the time he was thirteen, Urschel was auditing a college-level calculus course. But when he joined his high school football team, a new interest began to eclipse the thrill he felt in the classroom. Football challenged Urschel in an entirely different way, and he became addicted to the physical contact of the sport. After he accepted a scholarship to play at Penn State, his love of math was rekindled. As a Nittany Lion, he refused to sacrifice one passion for the other. Against the odds, Urschel found a way to manage his double life as a scholar and an athlete. While he was an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, he simultaneously pursued his PhD in mathematics at MIT. Weaving together two separate narratives, Urschel relives for us the most pivotal moments of his bifurcated life. He explains why, after Penn State was sanctioned for the acts of former coach Jerry Sandusky, he declined offers from prestigious universities and refused to abandon his team. He describes his parents’ different influences and their profound effect on him, and he opens up about the correlation between football and CTE and the risks he took for the game he loves. Equally at home discussing Georg Cantor’s work on infinities and Bill Belichick’s playbook, Urschel reveals how each challenge—whether on the field or in the classroom—has brought him closer to understanding the two different halves of his own life, and how reason and emotion, the mind and the body, are always working together. “So often, people want to divide the world into two,” he observes. “Matter and energy. Wave and particle. Athlete and mathematician. Why can’t something (or someone) be both?” |
| bill o'brien coaching history: Hang Time Elgin Baylor, Alan Eisenstock, 2018 Elgin Baylor's memoir of an epic all-star career in the NBA--during which he transformed basketball from a horizontal game to a vertical one--and his fights against racism during his career as a player and as general manager of the LA Clippers under the infamous Donald Sterling People think of Elgin Baylor as one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the game--and one of the NBA's first black superstars--but the full extent of his legacy stretches beyond his spectacular, game-changing shots and dunks. With startling symmetry, Baylor recounts his story: flying back and forth between the U.S. Army and the Lakers, his time as a central figure in the great Celtics-Lakers rivalry and how he helped break down color barriers in the sport, his 1964 All-Star game boycott, his early years as an executive for the New Orleans Jazz, and twenty-two years as general manager for the notorious L.A. Clippers and Donald Sterling, spent fighting to draft and sign young, black phenoms--only to be hamstrung by his boss at every turn. No one has seen the league change, and has worked to bring change, more than Baylor. Year after year, he continued to fight and persevere against racism. At the beginning of his career, he was forced to stay in separate hotel rooms. From those days to today's superstardom, he has had a front-row view of the game's elevation to one of America's favorite sports. For the first time, Elgin Baylor tells his full story. He's played with the legends, lived with them, and knows more about the NBA than anyone living, and is finally ready to set the record straight. |
| bill o'brien coaching history: The USA TODAY College Football Encyclopedia 2008-2009 Bob Boyles, Paul Guido, 2008-08-04 The result of 15 years of exhaustive research, this work is the definitive statistical and factual reference for everything related to college football in the past 50 years. |
Bill O'Brien (American football) - Wikipedia
O'Brien began his coaching career in 1993 at Brown University before spending more than a decade coaching in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). He joined the New England Patriots …
Bill O'Brien - Pro-Football-Reference.com
Bill O'Brien. William James O'Brien Born: October 23, 1969 in Dorchester, MA. College: Brown. College Coaching: View Records. As Exec: 2 Yrs (Full Record) More bio, uniform, draft info
Bill O'Brien coaching history: How coach got Boston College job …
Sep 2, 2024 · O'Brien began his coaching career at Brown in 1993 when he was just 21. He spent 14 years in the college game before jumping to the NFL with the Patriots in 2007. Since then, …
Bill O'Brien College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards ...
Bill O'Brien. Career Record: 3 Years, 22-15, .595 Win% (at major schools) Bowl Record: 1 Game, 0-1, .000 Win% (at major schools) More bio, uniform, draft info
Bill O'Brien - Pro Football History.com
Bill O'Brien was a football coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 2007 to 2023, finishing his career as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach of the New England …
Bill O'Brien - Football Coach - Boston College Athletics
Bill O'Brien was hired as the 37th head coach in Boston College football history on Feb. 9, 2024. In his first season on the Heights, O’Brien guided the Eagles to a 7-6 record and an …
Bill O'Brien Bio & Coaching Information - Saturday Down South
May 29, 2025 · Bill O’Brien Coaching History. 1993: Brown — Tight ends; 1994: Brown — Inside linebackers; 1995-1997: Georgia Tech — Graduate assistant; 1998-2000: Georgia Tech — …
Which teams did Bill O'Brien Coach? - Sportskeeda
Nov 5, 2024 · Bill O'Brien Coaching History. Bill O'Brien has had a remarkable coaching career, O'Brien began his coaching career at his alma mater Brown Bears in 1993.
From Penn State to The Patriots: The Coaching Journey of Bill O'Brien
Aug 10, 2023 · Bill launched his coaching career by staying at Brown University and coaching the Brown Bears tight ends in 1993; the following year saw him coach the linebackers, then from …
Bill O'Brien Coaching Record and Bio - Pro Football Archives
The most complete, accurate and reliable reference source for Bill O'Brien pro football coaching record.
Bill O'Brien (American football) - Wikipedia
O'Brien began his coaching career in 1993 at Brown University before spending more than a decade coaching in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). He joined the New England Patriots …
Bill O'Brien - Pro-Football-Reference.com
Bill O'Brien. William James O'Brien Born: October 23, 1969 in Dorchester, MA. College: Brown. College Coaching: View Records. As Exec: 2 Yrs (Full Record) More bio, uniform, draft info
Bill O'Brien coaching history: How coach got Boston College job …
Sep 2, 2024 · O'Brien began his coaching career at Brown in 1993 when he was just 21. He spent 14 years in the college game before jumping to the NFL with the Patriots in 2007. Since then, …
Bill O'Brien College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards ...
Bill O'Brien. Career Record: 3 Years, 22-15, .595 Win% (at major schools) Bowl Record: 1 Game, 0-1, .000 Win% (at major schools) More bio, uniform, draft info
Bill O'Brien - Pro Football History.com
Bill O'Brien was a football coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 2007 to 2023, finishing his career as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach of the New England …
Bill O'Brien - Football Coach - Boston College Athletics
Bill O'Brien was hired as the 37th head coach in Boston College football history on Feb. 9, 2024. In his first season on the Heights, O’Brien guided the Eagles to a 7-6 record and an …
Bill O'Brien Bio & Coaching Information - Saturday Down South
May 29, 2025 · Bill O’Brien Coaching History. 1993: Brown — Tight ends; 1994: Brown — Inside linebackers; 1995-1997: Georgia Tech — Graduate assistant; 1998-2000: Georgia Tech — …
Which teams did Bill O'Brien Coach? - Sportskeeda
Nov 5, 2024 · Bill O'Brien Coaching History. Bill O'Brien has had a remarkable coaching career, O'Brien began his coaching career at his alma mater Brown Bears in 1993.
From Penn State to The Patriots: The Coaching Journey of Bill O'Brien
Aug 10, 2023 · Bill launched his coaching career by staying at Brown University and coaching the Brown Bears tight ends in 1993; the following year saw him coach the linebackers, then from …
Bill O'Brien Coaching Record and Bio - Pro Football Archives
The most complete, accurate and reliable reference source for Bill O'Brien pro football coaching record.
