Five Books for Future Coaches

There are a few steps every aspiring coach needs to take and it doesn't matter whether one seeks a coaching job in high school, college or the professional ranks.

One of the important steps is to find a coaching mentor, someone who has extensive experience coaching on several different levels. Another significant step is to research the profession and one of the best places to begin that research is with reading books written by coaches.

A few that should make every coaching hopeful's list:

1) They Call Me Coach: John Wooden, the legendary retired UCLA coach wrote this masterpiece in the early 1970s and it's nothing short of the Bible for aspiring coaches. It doesn't matter what sport one intends to coach, this book is the place to begin.

Wooden outlines his Pyramid of Success, saying "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

2) Landry, The Legend, The Legacy: Bob St. John takes an in-depth look at the coaching career of former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry. The fedora-adorned Landry was the only coach the Cowboys had for the first 29 years of their existence. St. John provides insight on how Landry toiled to become one of the most successful coaches ever. Landry's accomplishments on the sidelines, the reader will see, were a direct result of how he lived his life off the field.

3) Big Man on Campus: Leonard Shapiro provides insight on former Georgetown University basketball coach John Thompson, telling of the legendary Hoya boss's rise to fame in college basketball. The reader gets a glimpse of how Thompson, one of the best recruiters of high school athletes ever, went about the business of selling himself - and his university - to prospective players.

4) Run to Daylight: One of the National Football League's greatest innovators, former coach Vince Lombardi recalls the years of his famed Green Bay Packer teams. Lombardi tells of his upbringing and the road that led to his becoming a coaching legend. The reader gains access to the careers of Packer greats Paul Hornung, Bart Starr, Jerry Kramer and others. The most valuable aspects of the book, though, are the tidbits of information Lombardi provides on his coaching philosophies.

5) The Fighting Spirit: Possibly one of the greatest motivators in sports history, retired Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz takes readers through the Fighting Irish's 1988 national championship season. In a book as witty as its author, Holtz leads the reader through the recruiting process, building a team from nothing into a national title contender and invokes building blocks for character each step of the way.