Seth Davis (1) (1970–)

Like most sports-crazed teenagers in 60's LA, I was a huge fan of John Wooden and his spectacular Bruins teams. But the Coach Wooden I knew was far more complex than the nice older gentleman I saw on TV and read about in the newspaper. For example, I knew he was inducted in the College Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach - but I didn't know he was inducted into the College Hall of Fame in 1960 - as a player. I didn't know he viciously baited referees and other teams' players. I do now, thanks show more to "Wooden: A Coach's Life" by Seth Davis.

Davis gives the reader an in-depth, well-researched look into the life of America's most successful college basketball coach: 10 national championships, including 7 in a row, in a span of 12 seasons is a record that likely will never be broken. He brings Wooden to vivid life, warts and all.

If you're interested in basketball history, or are just a fan, I think you'll find this a worthwhile book. show less

Seth Davis thoroughly details the life events, on and off the court, that turned Johnny Wooden the boy into John Wooden the man. Davis tells Wooden's story in a delightfully readable prose that flows remarkably quickly through the decades without leaving any detail untold. We've all heard of the legend that Wooden was, Davis proves it many times over. This is not a basketball book, it's about a man more than worthy of emulating who just happened to be associated with the game.

I'm probably slightly off the target audience for this book. I like basketball but the NCAA variety has all the things about it that I dislike about amateur sports (mostly the so-called amateurism and exploitation of athletes.) On the other hand, the subject of this book was around for the transition of college athletics from its original purpose into the big-money show it is today. I didn't know much about John Wooden before requesting this book except that he was still making the show more occasional speech around 2008 (thanks, Dodgers broadcasts.) I learned a lot about both Wooden and the history of college basketball from this book, as well as why basketball is so important in Indiana culture. It was fascinating showing how this coach worked so well when he started but couldn't keep up with the changes in generations, particularly the growing political consciousness of college students in the late 1960s, and couldn't keep up with the rise of boosters. Davis writes that boosters were always around the game, even in the 1930s; the money and stakes just got bigger. I appreciated that this biography was neither hagiography nor hatchet job; Davis shows what Wooden got right as well as what he got wrong. show less

I received "Wooden: A Coach's Life" as part of a Goodreads giveaway.

As someone whose sports interest tends towards pro hockey and baseball, I didn't know a lot about John Wooden coming into this book. However, Davis' biography of the legendary UCLA basketball coach is through while remaining eminently readable. I got a sense of Wooden not only as a legendary coach, but also as a person--a devout Christian Midwesterner transplanted to the West Coast, followed by towering success and a show more bittersweet end to his career.

One of the aspects of the book that I most respected was Davis' balanced portrayal of Wooden. After researching and working on the book for years, including three separate interviews with Wooden himself, in addition to being an accomplished college basketball writer, it would be understandable if Davis fell prey to hero worship, but that's not the case here. He takes plenty of times to highlight Wooden's mistakes, blind spots, and faults. Wooden, while on the whole a very good man, was human, and the book reflects that.

One of the challenges of writing about sports in general, and college sports in particular, is the revolving door nature of teams. I'll admit that, over Wooden's more than two decades at UCLA, including his string of championship runs in the 1960s and early 1970s, names and personalities did tend to run together a bit, but I don't necessarily lay that at Davis' door; it's just sort of the nature of the subject.

Even as a novice of college basketball, "A Coach's Life" was a fascinating read. Recommended. show less