Title/Author:
“Against
the Grain: A Coach’s Wisdom on Character, Faith, Family and Love” by Bill
Courtney with Michael Arkush
Tags:
Football,
high school, motivational, family, faith
Published:
May 13,
2014
Length:
206 pages
Rating:
4 1/2 of 5
stars (excellent)
Review:
Bill
Courtney gained fame and recognition as the assistant coach in the
Oscar-winning documentary “Undefeated” about a Memphis high school football
team that became a winning program through hard work, faith and the teachings
of a volunteer part-time coach. That
coach was Courtney who also turned an abandoned piece of property into a
thriving business. These successes helped
Courtney decide to write this book in order to “coach” even more people on his
vies of character, faith and family.
In the
book, Courtney shares his values and reasons for his success in small
doses. He shares many stories about his
players at Manassas, his employees, his family and himself on many topics that
other books of this nature will cover: hard work, keeping one’s word, service
to others, dreams, responsibility and other similar topics. While reading the
book, the reader will be caught up in the moment and feel the joy of success or
the occasional heartbreak of failure as Courtney’s subject will either learn a
valuable lesson or at times even make Courtney stop and think that maybe he
could learn from the player or employee.
My
favorite story in the book is an example of Courtney pausing for a moment and
thinking about these values he is trying to teach his players. I believe that makes the message that he is
trying to deliver even more powerful, as it shows we all have room for growth
in these areas.
In the
chapter about service, Courtney was having trouble connecting with his players
and speaks privately to one of the seniors on the team, asking what he needs to
do in order to get the team to listen to him. The player simply said to keep
doing what he was doing. Pressing for
details, the player eventually told the coach that the team was trying to
figure out if he was a “turkey person.”
The player went on to explain that he and his teammates would often see
“folks who look just like you” drop off turkeys and other gifts and then leave, never to be seen again. Courtney’s players were trying to figure out if he was a turkey person, according to this player. It made Courtney reassess how he was coming across to his team and as a result, the team responded by playing some of its best football.
“folks who look just like you” drop off turkeys and other gifts and then leave, never to be seen again. Courtney’s players were trying to figure out if he was a turkey person, according to this player. It made Courtney reassess how he was coming across to his team and as a result, the team responded by playing some of its best football.
Stories
like that make this book a terrific read for anyone looking for a little
positive news, for some uplifting and helpful advice or just some nice stories
on football and life. The four and a
half star rating I gave the book is rounded to five for Amazon and Goodreads
that do not have half-stars for their ratings.
I wish to thank the publisher for providing an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Did I skim?
No.
Pace of the book:
Because
the stories are fairly short, consistent throughout the book and are varied in
topic, the reader will fly through the book.
While I didn’t read it at one sitting due to other commitments, the
total time to read all 206 pages was not very long at all.
Book Format Read:
Paperback
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