Confessions of a Coach

The former college basketball coach offers a candid, behind-the-scenes account of his life as a coach and the controversial end of his career in 1989

College cage coach in the South from 1951 to 1989, Sloan took his North Carolina State team to the national championship in 1974. His account of his career, concerned mainly with setting straight the record about his forced resignation from the University of Florida in 1989, covers the time when athletic teams became integrated. Though raised by a racist father, he reports, he stood firm against efforts to maintain segregation in his sport. Asked to resign ostensibly for having violated NCAA regulations by giving money to a team member, Sloan charges that the real reason lay in athletic department politics. Still bitter about his dismissal, Sloan is unusually candid in this behind-the-scenes story, told with Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel sports columnist Guest.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sloan was one of college basketball's most successful coaches, the winner of a national championship and national coach-of-the-year honors, among many successes. Then in 1989, he was forced to resign as basketball coach for the University of Florida. Here, he pulls no punches in discussing people, issues, or colleges. Example: "When John Thompson coach of Georgetown University recruits, he puts everything on a racial level." The book is loaded with fascinating anecdotes that will give readers a feel for life in college basketball beyond the headlines. Most interestingly, Sloan talks honestly about how he, a conservative, had to adjust to integration in college sports. Sloan's willingness to talk openly about his career makes this book different from other sports autobiographies. Recommended for public libraries.
- Ron Chepesiuk, Winthrop Coll. Lib., Rock Hill, S.C.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.