Best Football Books?
Does anyone have any recommendations for good football books? I just oredered Take Your Eyes Off The Ball 2.0, and the parts I read in the preview were quite entertaining. I have about 90 minutes per day on the train to read, so would love to hear some of your favorite books.
I'm familiar with Endzone, 3 and Out, Bo's Lasting Lessons, and 40 Years in the Big House. Also have read a bit of Essential Smart Football by Chris Brown.
October 18th, 2016 at 3:06 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 18th, 2016 at 3:10 PM ^
October 18th, 2016 at 3:12 PM ^
Stagg vs Yost by John Kryk was a good read.
October 18th, 2016 at 5:49 PM ^
Second this. It was a fascnating era in college football, and these were two of its real characters. Plus, the writing is very good and uses lots of period newspaper quotes to get you into the feel for the game at the time.
October 18th, 2016 at 3:17 PM ^
Is there a good book on how to effectively watch football? I played for 13 years and usually get what's going to happen (especially during the Bo/Mo/Lloyd years), but feel like I could diagnose the formations better on both offense and defense. Neck Sharpies for intermediates.
October 18th, 2016 at 3:26 PM ^
The forthcoming issue of HTTV that will be put together after we win the CFP.
October 18th, 2016 at 3:29 PM ^
By Elwood Reid. Great fiction about the U-M football team in the late 80s. Elwood Reid was a former lineman at Michigan, believe his name was Don Reid at the time. Pretty brutal at times, - but so were those football team parties back then.
October 18th, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^
just a great book, and really gives a sense of young people in college playing football. beautifully written as well, unlike most football books...
October 18th, 2016 at 3:32 PM ^
October 18th, 2016 at 3:48 PM ^
was a terrific read. I picked it up at the airport while in the service so release date was probably early 70s. Highlights the M vs. OSU rivalry. About a 5-6 hr read if I recall correctly. Good stuff
October 18th, 2016 at 3:53 PM ^
I really enjoyed Blood, Sweat and Chalk by Tim Layden. Each chapter is an overview of one of the great strategy innovations in football, both college and pro. It's got a little history and nostalgia, some X and O type stuff, and lots of cool stories about how coaches came up with big ideas.
Not a "technical," book, it shows the fundamentals of how the West Coast is different from Coryell offenses, and tells the tale of why they came up with the wishbone, the two gapping 3-4, and so forth. Another chapter traces the keys for the Bucaneers dominating Ds back to the 70s Steel Curtain.
Each chapter is really short, so it's great to read in chunks. You can flip around to the football concepts that interest you. A fun chapter shows the origin of RichRod's nambypamby read option ball, and relates it to Pop Warner's early wing T. It's superfun.
October 18th, 2016 at 3:56 PM ^
rather than X's and O's, So You Think You Know Football by Ben Austro is interesting and surprisingly fun.
October 18th, 2016 at 4:06 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 18th, 2016 at 4:09 PM ^
October 18th, 2016 at 4:30 PM ^
https://www.amazon.com/Football-Clock-Management-John-Reed/dp/0939224399
Please buy two and send one to Coach Jim Harbaugh.
October 18th, 2016 at 4:53 PM ^
As a bunch of others have said, Friday Night Lights is a great read.
I'd also recommend:
The Sweet Season by Austin Murphy. This book is interesting because of the glimpse it provides into John Gagliardi's methods, which run so contrary to so many coaches.
Our Boys by Joe Drape.
When the Game Stands Tall by Neil Hayes. Learn more about the type of program De La Salle runs to produce such dominant players like Asiasi.
Dream Season by Bob Cowser--This one is special, at least for me. An English professor decides to give his dreams of football glory one last shot with a semi-pro team. It doesn't have the action or drama you might get with some of the other books, but Cowser has a few passages that delve into the impact football can have on one's life that really hit home for me.
October 18th, 2016 at 4:54 PM ^
I read this when I was pretty young, but I got a kick out of About Three Bricks Shy of a Load. It would be interesting to read that and Collision Low Crossers side-by-side, because what I remember about the former was how chaotic things got even for a good team like the mid-70s Steelers, while the latter is about the intricacy and complexity of the Jets organization in the early teens.
October 18th, 2016 at 5:07 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
October 18th, 2016 at 5:20 PM ^
Read it a long time ago but I liked "Even Big Guys Cry" by Alex Karras.
October 18th, 2016 at 8:46 PM ^
It might be out of print at this point - I did see it at a used bookstore:
""Under the Tarnished Dome" is the bestselling book that rocked the Notre Dame football program. Don Yaeger and Douglas S. Looney investigate the contrast between the Notre Dame image--that of a place where wins on the field are no more important than the integrity off it--and the Notre Dame football program's reality, with trash talking, rampant steroid use, pregame fights, and academic misconduct. Part history and part investigative journalism--the authors interviewed 150 people for this book, including nearly 100 former Notre Dame football players--this is a stunning indictment of the school's administration and especially of present-day Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz."
October 18th, 2016 at 9:12 PM ^
My personal favorites along with Endzone are:
The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big Time College Football - This is a real in-depth look at mulitple situations that have popped up on the college football radar over the past 10 year give or take. Scandals such as the Lane Kiffin recruiting at Tennessee, Sexual assault cases at NC, Mizzou, and BYU. To the struggles of a student-athlete try to get by. One of my favorites in the book is it takes you through Mike Leach's coaching career, from being a student at BYU to getting hired at WSU. It also follows some really inspiring stories such as Ezekiel Ansah rise to stardom.
Fourth & Long - Another great college football book by John U. Bacon.
Billion Dollar Ball - I haven't had the time to finish it yet but I'm about halfway through and this book gives you a really great look at the economics of college football contrasting the athletic departmen versus academics department budgets and much more.
October 18th, 2016 at 9:54 PM ^
All those little 99 cent paperbacks they sold on book day in the grade school library. they usually had a short section on about 4 players w/ good color pics on the cover. I've still got a couple on my bookshelf at home: "Staubach-Landry-Plunkett-Gavriel" and "Kilmer-Hadl-Bradshaw-Phipps" for example. Those were the days.
October 18th, 2016 at 10:48 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad