Customer Reviews

Building a Champion: On Football and the Making of the 49Ers

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Being a fan of American pro football in general and the Niners in particular, I decided to give Bill Walsh's 'Building a Champion' a read. With the help of bay area sports scribe Glenn D!ckey, Walsh's famous calm and analytical style is faithfully translated to the written page. Throughout the course of this paperback, Walsh discusses his career of coaching in the NFL, from his initial assisting gig with the Raiders to his developing what would become known as the West Coast Offense as the QBs coach of the Bengals and Chargers in the 70s.

Then there's his biggest challenge and achievement- the turnaround of the San Francisco 49ers from league doormats to the team to beat in the 80s. From season to season, Walsh discusses the many highs and lows of coaching the Niners. He also goes into his philosophy and methods that helped keep the team successful over the years he coached them, and helped to maintain their success for several years following his departure. Sadly, many of his thoughts on how to improve and maintain a championship-form team would likely be considered outdated today, what with the added difficulties of less restricted free agency and the
salary cap, which he covers this in his follow-up, 'Finding The Winning Edge'.

Walsh also goes over the many trials and tribulations that he endured, such as learning the effects of drug abuse on players (lowlighted by a disastrous tryout by the infamous 'Hollywood' Henderson), and his coming close to quitting following the team's horrific showing in the strike-shortened 1982 season. I found his memories of dealing with the media somewhat absorbing, the high point- or low point, rather- being a confrontation with legendary Monday Night Football commentator Howard Cosell. Then there's the aspect of coaching that no sideline leader enjoys: the cutting of a beloved past-his-prime veteran. Walsh admits that this, out of all his duties, is the one he dreaded the most when he was running the show.

The last few pages are a small index of some of the most famous plays in 49er lore. Included is 'Brown Left Slot- Sprint Right Option' (Dwight Clark's Catch against Dallas), 'Red Right Tight- F Left- 20 HB Curl- X Up' (Montana's TD pass to Taylor to win Super Bowl XXIII), and a few other notable offensive formations.

Whether you're a Niner fan or a football follower in general, this is definitely one for your must-read list!

'Late

This is a great book by Bill Walsh on how he sculpted the 49ers in the 80's and why ultimately since then,he's so emulated today by other coaches. There really wasn't a so called "west coast offense"...it was simply the Bill Walsh offense plain and simple.

Apparently,no one wanted to call it that but we all know where that offense was derived from. This book shows you how inteligent and articulate the man was and why he's recognized as one of the best ever. Here's some handy advice in regards to this book,if you don't understand football that well,there's no point in reading this because you probably won't know what he's talking about.

Coach Walsh walks you through year-by-year his perspective on the 49ers magnificent decade. He also discusses his experiences with the Bengals and Chargers as an assistant as well as Stanford's leader. There is an appendix with some famous plays.

Bill Walsh's San Francisco 49ers were not like other NFL teams, either before or since.

Sure, their offense owed a debt to Paul Brown's Cincinnati Bengals, and Don Coryell's San Diego Chargers, but Walsh took that style of football to heights his predecessors never achieved. He did this in spite of the fact that one of his mentors actively worked against him, stymieing his efforts to become a head coach in the NFL.

This book traces his career arc from his earliest ventures into coaching through the 1988 NFL season, which culminated in his third Super Bowl victory with San Francisco. It is written from Walsh's first person perspective.

At times it's a bit meandering and unfocused. At others, it lends some real insight into Walsh's philosophy of organization building and coaching. There are principles that he espouses that could possibly apply equally well to business or social relationships as they do to football teams.

If I'm not mistaken, there are even traces of Dale Carnegie's famous tome, "How To Win Friends And Influence People" in Walsh's musings.

I read this book hoping to gain a bit of perspective on what new 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh was facing when he was hired to rebuild a notoriously underachieving team. Only time will tell, I suppose, but at the very least, this book has been good company during a heretofore winless preseason for the 2011 49ers.

Great chronicle of the 49ers' dynasty of the 80s. I have an original hard copy available. E-mail me if you want to bid on it.