The Education of a Coach

Now in paperback, legendary journalist and author David Halberstam's in-depth look at the life and career of the NFL's winningest coach, Bill Belichick, with unprecedented access to Belichick.

Bill Belichick's 31 years in the NFL have been marked by amazing success-first in Cleveland, then with the Giants, and most recently, his two out of the last three Super Bowl wins with the New England Patriots have made him second to only Vince Lombardi in his record for playoff victories. In this groundbreaking new book, David Halberstam explores the nuances of both the game and the man behind it. He uncovers what makes Bill Belichick tick both on and off the field, as a coach, a father, and a son. "I've been fascinated by Bill Belichick for more than 20 years, going back to the time when he was a young coach in his early 30s working with the linebackers on the Giants." Halberstam writes. "There was, I thought, a certain signature to a Belichick game--whatever it was the other team's offense was doing in the first half, the team coached by Belichick tended to take it away in the second half. I was fascinated by that, and by the fact that he seemed so un-coachlike, or perhaps the prototype for a very different kind of modern coach in what was an increasingly complicated game. He wasn't in any way charismatic, and he made no attempt to be charismatic--if anything, quite the reverse--but he always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else. If anything, that made him even more interesting to me--a man who had no interest in the celebrity culture, but had been projected into the epicenter of it because of the nature of his job and his success with it." Set apart by his Wesleyan education, Belichick approaches coaching differently than anyone else in the NFL. Here, for the first time, we learn why and how.

“"In describing the triumph of 'an unadorned man,' a coach without artifice, Halberstam has created a tale of excellence."-- New York Times Book Review”

"Halberstam takes the classic sports-bio formula--one stellar performer's rise to the pinnacle of American sport--and transforms it into a nuance-rich story of individual triumph and social history."--Booklist
"If you want to learn about schooling and allegiance and leadership and, most of all, football, by all means--slip inside the sweatshirt."--Wall Street Journal
"In describing the triumph of 'an unadorned man, ' a coach without artifice, Halberstam has created a tale of excellence."--New York Times Book Review

David Halberstam was one of America's most distinguished journalists and historians. After graduating from Harvard in 1955, he covered the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, then was sent overseas by the New York Times to report on the war in Vietnam. The author of fifteen bestsellers, including The Best and the Brightest, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam reporting at the age of thirty. He was killed in a car accident on April 23, 2007, while on his way to an interview for what was to be his next book.

David Maraniss is an associate editor at the Washington Post. He is the winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. He has written four New York Times bestsellers: They Marched Into Sunlight (Vietnam), When Pride Still Mattered (Vince Lombardi), First in His Class (Bill Clinton), and Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero. The author lives in Washington, DC, and Madison, Wisconsin.

Now in paperback, legendary journalist and author David Halberstam's in-depth look at the life and career of the NFL's winningest coach, Bill Belichick, with unprecedented access to Belichick.Bill Belichick's 31 years in the NFL have been marked by amazing success-first in Cleveland, then with the Giants, and most recently, his two out of the last three Super Bowl wins with the New England Patriots have made him second to only Vince Lombardi in his record for playoff victories. In this groundbreaking new book, David Halberstam explores the nuances of both the game and the man behind it. He uncovers what makes Bill Belichick tick both on and off the field, as a coach, a father, and a son. "I've been fascinated by Bill Belichick for more than 20 years, going back to the time when he was a young coach in his early 30s working with the linebackers on the Giants." Halberstam writes. "There was, I thought, a certain signature to a Belichick game--whatever it was the other team's offense was doing in the first half, the team coached by Belichick tended to take it away in the second half. I was fascinated by that, and by the fact that he seemed so un-coachlike, or perhaps the prototype for a very different kind of modern coach in what was an increasingly complicated game. He wasn't in any way charismatic, and he made no attempt to be charismatic--if anything, quite the reverse--but he always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else. If anything, that made him even more interesting to me--a man who had no interest in the celebrity culture, but had been projected into the epicenter of it because of the nature of his job and his success with it." Set apart by his Wesleyan education, Belichick approaches coaching differently than anyone else in the NFL. Here, for the first time, we learn why and how.

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