Synopsis
Examines the life and career of legendary football coach Bill Walsh, from his phenomenal success with the San Francisco 49ers, through his brief job as NBC sports commentator, to his triumphant 1992 season as coach of the Stanford football team
Reviews
Walsh gained a reputation as a coaching genius during his tenure with the San Francisco 49ers (1979-1988), winning six NFC Western Division titles and three Super Bowls. For the first three years after he left the NFL in 1988, he served as a football analyst for NBC, purportedly a job he did not enjoy. Although he had been head football coach at Stanford in 1977 and 1978, many were surprised when he returned to the Palo Alto campus in 1992. Cohn, a San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist, covers Walsh's homecoming season in this spirited book, which is as much about the coach as about that season when the team won 10 games for the first time in more than 50 years. Walsh battled to appear dispassionate about games in which he was passionately involved, and people almost invariably failed to recognize his low-key, ironic wit as humor. Gridiron fans will find both the individual and the book ingratiating. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
During the 1980s, when head coach Bill Walsh guided the San Francisco 49ers to six division titles and three Super Bowl wins, it was common to see his name linked with the word genius. After retiring from coaching and spending three unfulfilling years in broadcasting, Walsh surprised the football world by accepting the head coaching job at Stanford, a position he had held for two years in the late seventies. Cohn, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, was granted unlimited access to Stanford's program for Walsh's debut 1992 season. The result is an intelligent, evenhanded look at both Walsh and the complex dynamics of a high-profile college football program. Walsh, who had always envisioned himself a teacher and a mentor, saw his return to college coaching as a reaffirmation of that vision. As the season wore onsuccessfully but not perfectlyhis idealized role did not take shape as he had hoped. The pressure to win, coupled with the outside demands on his time and his reluctance to delegate, took its toll physically and mentally. Cohn doesn't debunk the Walsh myth, but he does replace it with a new, more accessible and reality-based image. Walsh's genius, we learn, is bred of hard work; he doesn't roll out of bed on game day with an epiphany that will ensure victory. He labors over details, he struggles with motivation both of players and his own assistants, he has doubts, he makes mistakes, and, usually, he overcomes them. Must reading for football fans. Wes Lukowsky
Cohn chronicles Walsh's return to the collegiate ranks following his highly successful stint with pro football's San Francisco 49ers and subsequent role as a television commentator (a far less triumphant experience). Granted complete access to the Stanford coach and team for the 1992 season, the author presents game-by-game analyses that underscore Walsh's reputation as a master strategist and tactician whose cerebral approach to the game befits the school's academic image. Those who prefer brain over brawn with their football should find this insightful work a nice companion piece to Walsh's own Building a Champion (LJ 10/15/90). Recommended for popular collections.
William H. Hoffman, Ft. Myers-Lee Cty. P.L., Fla.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
