I have been intrigued with Ron Vanderlinden since his days as the DC at Northwestern University. Gary Barnett was the Head Coach and together with Ron led Northwestern to the Big Ten Championship and the Rose Bowl! They did this in an unbelievable four year turn-around. Northwestern had been transformed from the Big Ten doormat [...]

When you think of great football coaches, the name Vince Lombardi will always come to mind. As a matter of fact if you think of great coaches Vince Lombardi’s name is there. Come to think of it if you think of great leaders again you think of Vincent T. Lombardi. So a book about Vince [...]

Anyone who saw the movie “The Gladiator” starring Russell Crowe knows who Marcus Aurelius is. He was a great Roman Emperor, but was also a great philosopher and leader. His philosophy was one of empowerment, independence and self reliance. These are very virtues that should be embraced and passed on to our youth. His philosophy [...]

When I think of Bear Bryant I think of Darwin and “The Survival of the Fittest” because that’s how The Bear coached. He is one of the true coaching icons in college football. His success is as great as any who have prowled the sideline. But he was much more than a brutal taskmaster and [...]

Every coach on the planet knows the correlation between winning and teamwork but only winning coaches know how to create a team environment. Some coaches completely underestimate the power of synergy. Just remember how our Olympic Dream Team basketball team floundered in the 2004 Olympics due to selfish play. Even the most talented athletes in [...]

The Education of a Coach by David Halberstram is a fascinating study of putting together a football dynasty in modern professional football. The era of free agency, parity and salary caps has changed much of the conventional wisdom of the old guard NFL. Whether you are a Bill Belichick fan or not the success of [...]

Colin Powell has always been a role model because he grew up a few miles from me in The Bronx. Powell certainly didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth. He is a great example of someone who lifted himself from poverty to become a world figure and an important pat of American [...]

I’ve been reading the Coach of the Year Clinics Manuals edited by Earl Browning since 1972. Every May I order my manual on the 1st Saturday so I have it to read over the summer. Every year I’ve always come up with a handful of ideas that helped me during the season. I looked forward [...]

Malcolm Gladwell is a bestselling author who has written three bestsellers: The Tipping Point, Blink, and The Outliers. I recommend all three. However my favorite piece by Gladwell is an essay about how underdogs win. The essay appeared in the May 11th 2009 edition of The New Yorker magazine. Gladwell discusses an undersized, under-talented girl’s [...]

These books have had a powerful influence on my coaching career; most of them are out of print so you have get them either on EBay or a garage sale etc. But these are well worth the search. Good ideas are never out-dated. The Split Line T Offense by Jake Gaither. This was my early [...]