Education of A Coach (Paperback)

Joan Vennochi, a political writer who rarely writes about sports said this of Bill Belichick. "Belichick, she noted, wasn't 'glib or glitzy'. At press conferences he sometime seems a little goofy and is often way too grim. But he is a leader without the swagger, selfishness, and pomposity that so many men in business, politics, and sports embrace as an entitlement of their gender and posture."

This is not just a book about a man, or just about a coach, or just about a game, or just about football. This is a book about a man, who is a coach, who happens to love football, and the manner in which this man leads his life. David Halberstam, who has written his twentieth book, the last fourteen of which have been best sellers; and the last six, based on sports has written the coach's coach book in "The Education of a Coach". He has been able to dig deep inside of this man, Bill Belichick. The man who has come to be known as the best professional football coach of our era. And, the fact, that this man coaches the New England Patriots, is the icing on my cake.

Bill Belichick is the son of a man who is known as one of the best football scouts of his era. Steve Belichick has molded his son to not only follow in his footsteps, but to lead the way. Steve taught his son to break down a football film so acutely that he knows, understands and can recite to memory every play made in that game or any game. Bill grew up loving the game of football. He went on to Andover where he met his best friend, Ernie Adams, who, to this day works with Belichick.. Together, they have the bid on the history of and every play ever made in football. Why is this important? Because you can pick apart every mistake and every nuance of the opposing team. That is one method Belichick uses in his winning team. The Rams/Patriots game that won the Patriots their first Super bowl, was according to ESPN’s Ron Jarowski, the best coached game he has ever seen. “Belichick, he goes on to say, is the best in the game today, maybe the best ever”.

Belichick is known as a quiet man, too quiet, not at all flamboyant. Dressing in gray, trying to be as private as he can be. Difficult as the media firs thought. Hard to draw out
A star who did not want to be a star. Unfortunately, 40 million people wanted to know all about him and the team he coached. His life is football, and he dedicates most of his waking hours to that job. He has his best friends as his coaches with him on hi steam. They re the ‘Best and The Brightest’, as h author of this book would so eloquently say.
In 2005 Bill Belichick and his wife quietly separated after more than 20 years of marriage. They have three children whom Belichick loves and spends as much time with as possible.. But somewhere, the game of football became too much for the family and now Bill is alone. Known as he best football coach of his era, compared to Lombardi and Landry, his name will go down in history.

David Halberstam has brought knowledge and the power of football to this book. How one man was able to build a team from practically nothing, to win a Super bowl in two short years, and then go on to win 2 more Super bowls gives us a glimpse of this genius. We learn how luck has played a part o=in this history. The luck of drafting Tom Brady. How Tom was taught and how Tom Brady has become one of the best quarterbacks of his era.
How has this man built a dynasty, and the Patriots may be called a dynasty. How the old work ethic from the western, steel mills of Pennsylvania has played a large part in the
Growth of this man, His background, his culture and the “stuff” that helped to shape this man. A brilliant took. One every sport fan should read. Insight into the working mind of a man who will become a legend. Highly recommended. prisrob

Since coach Belichick began heading up the New England Patriots, everyone has become familiar with his one game at a time attitude and approach. Due to the publicity associated with the recent passing of his father, coach Steve Belichick, everyone has begun to sense that the real dynasty in New England began with coach Belichick's father.

Recounting the early years of coach Belichick's education and start in coaching reveals a lot that I didn't know before, and I appreciate Mr. Halberstam's efforts in that regard. But I was shocked to see some of the more obvious omissions in that dimension. For instance, both Belichicks found lots of wisdom in football books. While that aspect of their learning is referenced here, I learned more about that part of their approach from a brief television profile where coach Belichick was interviewed recently than from this book.

It's pretty clear that Mr. Halberstam doesn't know very much about football. As a result, you get constant references to game preparation such as watching and rewatching films . . . but not much beyond the mere recounting of the intense effort. Everyone watches films intently now. How is coach Belichick different in his methods? It isn't spelled out.

The descriptions of coach Belichick's time in New England could have been written from daily newspaper reports. There's not much value added by Mr. Halberstam.

Because others were willing to say a lot more about coach Belichick than either the coach himself or his colleagues were, this book is primarily about others' impressions of how coach Belichick learned and what he learned. I found those observations to be very superficial in most cases.

I attend as many open practices by the Patriots as I can during training camp. Anyone who came to three or four of those practices could have added a lot of depth to this book. I suspect that Mr. Halberstam was working in an air conditioned library somewhere rather than attending those sessions during recent summers.