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The Genius : How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty by David Harris and Dave Harris (2008, Hardcover)

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Product Information

The Geniusis 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 arduousa 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' psycheshe 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 gameor on its relevance to life outside the linesas 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 From the Hardcover edition.

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
ISBN-10
1400066654
ISBN-13
9781400066650
eBay Product ID (ePID)
64362157

Product Key Features

Book Title
Genius : How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an Nfl Dynasty
Author
Dave Harris, David Harris
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
Football
Publication Year
2008
Genre
Sports & Recreation
Number of Pages
400 Pages

Dimensions

Item Length
9.5in
Item Height
1.3in
Item Width
6.4in
Item Weight
23.8 Oz

Additional Product Features

Lc Classification Number
Gv939.W325h37 2008
Reviews
"Exemplary . . . the rare biography that lives up to its subtitle's lavish claims."-New York Times Book Review "[David] Harris illustrates [Bill] Walsh's incredible passion for the game, his competitive drive, and even his whimsical sense of humor. Walsh was one of the NFL's greatest coaches, and Harris's book does him justice."-Booklist "The personal drama of Walsh's career is told with such verve that even nonfans will be riveted."-Publishers Weekly "Because of [Harris's] exhaustive reporting, the reader feels in good hands."-Wall Street Journal "Recommended."-Library Journal, starred review From the Trade Paperback edition.
Copyright Date
2008
Target Audience
Trade
Lccn
2008-016566
Dewey Decimal
796.332092 B
Dewey Edition
22
Illustrated
Yes