Customer Reviews

Faith in the Game

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am not an avid reader. I read this book at a pace of 1-2 chapters per evening. I could not put it down. Very interesting perspective on coaching and college football. In spite of not having the most attractive location (Nebraska), not having the highest ranked freshman class recruits, and following the rules (as opposed to some other college football programs), Tom Osborne and Nebraska have been a major success story. They have managed a consistently winning record with a number of national championships in the highly competitive arena of division I college football.

Dr. Osborne has captured many practical insights that extend to areas far beyond coaching and football. The book is interspersed with interesting anecdotes and many references to his faith in Jesus Christ.

If the book has a weakness, it is in the style of writing. At times I felt I was reading the same material over again. Overall a four star rating.

I plan to buy a number of copies to give as Christmas gifts!

Dr. Osborne managed to combine his memoirs as a coach for the Cornhuskers and a sociology of college football (mainly the Cornhuskers) in a concise book. It will interest any enthusiast of college football and will be particularly engrossing for fans of Nebraska and Tom Osborne.

There were two strengths of the book: A style which enabled Dr. Osborne to meld his memories of coaching and an analysis of applying sound moral and Christian principles to coaching a team to elite levels of competition; a willingness to keep the book short, sweet, and to-the-point, without bogging down in minutiae which would detract from the message. The book touches on subjects ranging from goal-setting with the players to how the coaching staff kept the players' best interests at the fore even in the most trying circumstances. My only criticism of the book would be that the style was more fullback-up-the-middle than wingback-reverse, but I guess you dance with the one who brung ya.

Faith In The Game: Lessons on Football, Work, and Life, by Tom Osborne, (New York: Broadway Books, 1999

I must start this book review with an unqualified confession. Growing up I had a strong case of hero worship of Tom Osborne and as I have grown older this hero worship has grown into a feeling of deep respect for the man and a feeling of gratitude for what he has done for the state of Nebraska. So my reading the book objectively proved to be somewhat difficult.

Having said that Faith in the Game is not Osborne's best literary work, but it does prove that he is a man that has his foundations in an American past that we should all aspire to achieve. If one reads this book with out experiencing first hand the impact the Coach has had on the young people that make up the Nebraska Football team, the author leaves you with a state of disbelief that real people still have values that this book propels.

But for a coach, or a leader of any kind, this book should be a must read! I doubt if any person in the country has taken on a task like Tom Osborne's and been as successful over the last 30 years.

As a professional platform speaker and consultant I will undoubtedly quote the coache's comments often in years to come. In FAITH IN THE GAME I find his work to be very open, honest, and a breath of fresh air in the often murky atmosphere of big time college sports. This is an enjoyable, make sense and inspirational read. FAITH IN THE GAME should be required reading for young and adult alike. GREAT JOB! Thanks again Coach.

In this new book just released a couple days ago, Coach Osborne is able to distill-down into about 160 pages what he believes are the reasons for his success as a coach, father and human being. When he was being criticized by nearly EVERYONE for not being able to win the "big game" because he's too nice a guy, he stuck to his guns and eventually came out on top. He created a family atmosphere with his players and stood behind them when they won games, as well as when they were being hauled into court. He proves that you DON'T have to make a pact with the Devil to succeed in today's world. The book also outlines some principals that he believes could help to alleviate some of the problems caused by the morality vacuum in which today's youth are being raised. After hanging up his whistle and sideline headset, Dr. Tom continues to teach at the University and works with several organizations to improve young people's lives. Who could possibly want more from a man? This is a "must read" book for any coach, teacher or youth pastor.

I bought this book because I wanted to find out more about how Dr. Osborne managed to win 3 National Championships in a four year period.

What surprised me was the incredible business value of the book, especially chapter 5 on Goal Setting. His process for setting and acheiving goals is simple, easy to implement and it works!
I keep buying it and sending it to managers and business executives I work with, it is a great foundation for anyone serious about growing their ability to be more productive and to acheive more.

Great book!

This is a neat book. It is fascinating, it has scores of information about how the Huskers built their program, and it is written in exactly the right amount of detail, including the technical details.

If you are a coach in any sport, if you are a Husker fan, or if you are a Tom Osborne fan, this book is a good read. It is also an excellent gift. It is one of the five best sports books I have read in the last few years. You can't miss with Faith in the Game.

When I began reading this book, I expected to read about the career of Tom Osborne. At first, I was a little disappointed. While the book contained passages that described some of the top games, and stories about some of the players who, for better or worse, made the Nebraska Cornhuskers what they are, it focused mostly on a philosophy of life that happened to take place on a football field. This is an inside look at what it takes to be a great leader. This book is a must for any coach of any sport. It shows what it takes to create quality student athletes. It is not about winning, even though Tom Osborne tells us that if you do all these things winning will occur anyway. It is really about creating quality-minded citizens who also have athletic abilities. I had the honor of speaking with Tom Osborne in 1984. He was an amazing man. I cannot attribute this to his being a famous person. He was amazing because he had a quality about him that very few people(particularly, college football coaches) have. This is a great book.

Faith in the Game by Tom Osborne covers the coaching career of Tom Osborne. He does this with the perspective of a Christian, which I enjoyed. But, I found that the middle of the book became somewhat dry and repetitive when discussing the legal troubles of the players. But I thought the overall message of the book was good. In comparison to other books about coaching and mentoring such as "Season of Life" I found Faith in the Game to be average.

I'm no fan of the Big Red and the state's obsession with it, but I was a fan of Dr. Tom. He seems like a decent, hard working man and I liked him for his fairness and smarts.

Dr. Tom uses this book, in a nice way, to make some points and answer his critics. Riley Washington, for example, was acquitted for shooting at a car but the critics would have thrown him off the team. He was found not guilty so Osborne was right to let him play.

He doesn't go too much into l'affair Phillips but I agreed with him on that. He points out the media errors. What Phillips did is not too much different what many college students did/do about breaking up.

I found his point system similar to the demerit system at my Jesuit high school; albeit modified for college in the 90's.

His mentoring program indicates where his heart is. He didn't need to do that and I can't think of another coach doing something similar.

I won't give it away, but I was very surprised by his decision-making process regarding his retirement.

One final note for certain Big Red fans, the coaches spend a great amount of time watching the players practice and grading the films. Stop second-guessing the play calling and the playing time. Dr. Tom makes that point in his indirect way.