Customer Reviews

The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty

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Bill Walsh was the brilliant, insecure coach who won immortality with the the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980's. Mr. Harris follows his career from the Bengals of Paul Brown to Stanford (and other stops in-between) to the 49ers. He perfected an air attack that became known as the West Coast Offense and drafted the players to carry it out (Joe Montana, Dwight Clark, Jerry Rice, etc). The book is heavy on football and light on his personal life which is a pity -- he was eccentric enough that his personal life merits a deeper look. Having died a year ago of leukemia, Walsh won three Super Bowls (1982, 1985, 1989) in his tenure as coach before retiring on his own terms. Mr. Harris interviewed the coach extensively before his death and got the details right.

Harris does a really nice job of telling how Walsh's timing passing game and West Coast offense - the corrollaries and descendants of which are on display in every game every weekend in the NFL of today - "reinvented" football and created the 49ers 80's dynasty.

While I think the book offers a lot more for the 49er fan than the general NFL fan, the story of Walsh's rise, the development of his philosophy, his early NFL career as an assistant, his college work, his unlikely rise to Head Coach and GM of the 49ers without an NFL win on his resume and the circumstances that saw him bring together the talent and oversee the Montana/Craig/Lott/Rice 49ers run of Super Bowls are all interesting enough to hold interest.

There is a lot of Walsh's own voice coming through in the book, and that makes you wonder about the author's motives in book entitled "The Genius," where there was clearly a lot of reliance on subject-generated info.

Also, Harris has a habit of not identifying other sources -- even quoted sources -- by name. He'll call someone "a 49er lineman" or "one of Walsh's teammates," and it just seems a little strange.

Like "Patriot Reign," or the library of Yankee books out there, this book is probably a real winner for fans of the team. All in all, I don't think there is enough other info on Walsh or NFL/football philosophy here to merit much more than a so-so rating.

In other words, I don't think this is football's "Moneyball," a book that takes any fan of the sport behind the curtain to get a look at the industry, and which tells a personal story in a compelling enough story to hold interest.

I grew up a 49ers fan and was in hog heaven during the Walsh era. The Genius is a well-told story of how Bill Walsh came to direct the 49ers to four Super Bowl victories from 1979-1989.

The author takes readers through Walsh's early years and describes his days as a frustrated high school and college quarterback. He then moves on to show Walsh's road to coaching in the NFL. The most crucial bump in that road occurred in Cincinnati, where Walsh had worked for several years as a sort of assistant head coach under Paul Brown. When Brown retired, he chose someone else to assuming his head coaching duties, delivering a electrifying jolt to Walsh. Brown then told Walsh he was staying on as an assistant, like it or not, and that he'd never be a head coach in the NFL (Walsh's contract was up and he left quickly). The shock nearly ended Walsh's coaching career, but probably also provided some of the drive that resulted in his rise to Genius status. How fitting that two of Walsh's Super Bowl victories would come against the Bengals.

This book is very well-written and difficult to put down if you were a fan of Walsh and/or the 49ers during the 1980s. The author makes use of interviews with players and coaches and uses many secondary books, newspaper clippings, etc. Although we hear that Walsh was a diverse fellow with significant interests and connections outside football, the book never quite proves that point. My guess, only a guess, is those details were cut to keep the focus primarily on football and how Walsh truly did reinvent how teams coach and deal with players. The book truly shines in this area, although it depicts Bill Walsh as a moody and insecure genius. The man was certainly conflicted in his relationships with many players and also with then-49er owner, Eddie DeBartolo.

One interesting tidbit. The book shows that Walsh and quarterback Joe Montana were not always on the same page as coach and player. Their friendship truly bloomed after both were retired from the game, talking and playing golf regularly. Montana was one of two who spoke at Walsh's memorial service. Curious, then, that Montana does not appear to have been interviewed for the book...although many of his contemporaries, including Ronnie Lott, Dwight Clark, etc., were. I thought that was strange. Still a great book and recommended.

Over the past year I've read and then re-read six books about two coaches, Vince Lombardi and Bill Walsh: Building a Champion by Bill Walsh with Glenn Dickey, The Genius by David Harris, The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh with Steve Jamison and Craig Walsh, Run to Daylight by Vince Lombardi and W. C. Heinz, When Pride Still Mattered by David Maraniss, and That First Season by John Eisenberg.

For what they were, and what they were supposed to be, I judge each to be excellent. I applaud each of these books.

I was fascinated by coaches Walsh and Lombardi taking their teams from "worst to first" in only three NFL seasons stories, the comparisons and contrasts in their professional coaching and general manager methods, and by the surprising parallels in their personal journeys.

Harris's The Genius keeps me returning to it. I've read a LOT of biographies in the course of my six decades of reading, comparatively few about sports figures. The Genius is not only excellent as a football book, it is excellent as a biography. The author worked with what he had to work with and did a marvelous job. Highly recommended.

Bravo, David Harris. Well done.

Robert Beattie
New York Times bestselling author

The book focuses on the blow-by-blow of the 49er seasons Walsh coached. It gives little insight as to how he developed his revolutionary offensive concepts or to how he molded three teams into Super Bowl champions. There is a lot of repetition -- every loss is devastating, owner Eddie DeBartolo raged after each defeat, there are nine counties in the Bay Area. The author neglects to name names in a way that makes me wonder if he's researched his stories about drafts and games (he credits an interception in the 49ers crushing 49-3 defeat to the Giants to "a linebacker." That nameless linebacker was Lawrence Taylor.)

More insight into Walsh's personnel tactics, game plan concepts, and coaching day strategies would make this a much better book.

David Harris has created a very good biography of Bill Walsh, utilizing some extensive interviews with Walsh, other players, and his own skills at utilizing other sources to create a well-written biography that flows and delves into the complex psychology of Bill Walsh. It's not a perfect biography - I'd have liked to have heard more about his post-49ers life - but it's by far the best examination of Bill Walsh available, especially now that enough time has passed that we have gained a new perspective about figures like Walsh and Eddie DeBartolo. Shortly before I read this book I had read another book about the 1980s 49ers that took great care to toe the party line of "Eddie D. is great".

However, Harris could have given us some greater insight into Bill's personal life. What were his politics? He introduced minority coaching programs and Harry Edwards into the 49ers and the NFL as a whole - it would have been interesting to hear if Bill had any perspective on the wider world. Harris also could have done more research as it's common knowledge among the 49er Faithful that the SF Chronicle, which Harris seems to rely almost exclusively on for the media's perspective during Walsh's tenure, does not and has not always offered the best coverage of the team. Examining papers like the Oakland Tribune, SJ Mercury News, Sacramento Bee and the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat (the last two being well known for their Bay Area sports coverage) would be useful in fleshing out the complex feelings Walsh had for the media. He fluidly intersperses the narrative with quotes from Ronnie Lott and Joe Montana - yet this is from their autobiographies, not interviews he had with the pair. While Harris's extensive and carefully noted bibliography leaves no doubt that he's not trying to pull a fast one, and there is a certain skill in finding relevant quotes in the usually bland world of sports autobiographies, I'd like to have seen him made it clear these were from autobiographies.

His refusal to name key figures on opposing football teams or the media is strange. Harris once quotes Walsh as saying the Bears had the best middle linebacker in the league. Nowhere is it said that linebacker is Mike Singletary, who is now the coach of the 49ers. Likewise the famous interview after Super Bowl XXIII where Walsh breaks down and cries is with Brent Musberger - hardly a nobody in the sports world. One particularly infuriating passage was when Harris mentions that the Miami defense in Super Bowl XIX had a core of linebackers named the Killer B's, "because their last names started with B". Just tell us their damn names, David. Aspects like this make me wonder if Harris, whose biography at the end of the book mentions that he is a Northern California native, a Bay Area resident, and someone who published a book on the NFL during Walsh's tenure, was really paying attention.

However, it's by far the most informative biography on Walsh available and the most informative book on the 49ers during their greatest period. For that alone it's a worthwhile addition to a football library.

David Harris has written a very nice and balanced biography of Bill Walsh. He provides the ups, downs, genius and flaws of a man involved in one of the most mentally and emotionally demanding professions - NFL Head Coach. We see Bill achieving fame/sucess later in life, relative to the typical high perfomer, after age 45. He takes a an organization that was bad during its best years and turns it into a dynasty that lasted through the 80's and most of the 90's. He is credited with creating an offensive scheme that changed the NFL and continues to be used today. Most remarkably he was able to see greatness that broke with conventional wisdom by drafting Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice and Steve Young. All four made it into the Hall of Fame and the first three are considered to be the best ever at their position. He finished with 3 Super Bowls and most likely he would have won several more had he not retired after the 1989 Super Bowl win.

But all of the above also caused much pain,anxiety and personal destruction. He took each loss personally and could not handle criticism from the media, ownership and from anywhere else for that matter. His most critical players such as Montana and Lott grew to play for him as their coach but seemed to have lost respect during their time together. Some of this was due to Bill's overiding philosophy of Team over Individual - even the All Time greats. In his final years Bill made a goal to go back and mend many of his failed relationships including his family and Montana. It was touching to read in the final Chapter that Montana was chosen by Bill to make the final speech at his funeral. Montana closes with "He wanted people to know that he loved you"..."So I'm saying that now. And in closing, as I say goodbye to my friend and my coach, I just want to say, 'We love you too. ' "

There may not be a better book for understanding the modern NFL than this one. Harris' look at Bill Walsh's career history and creation of the 49er dynasty is wonderful reading. One comes away with the idea that it is not easy -- even for a genius -- to succeed without patience and trials.

My first vivid memory of Bill Walsh occurred when I was a kid, during his brief tenure as a TV commentator for football games on NBC -- and it wasn't exactly Walsh at his most flattering. As I recall I was a little zoned out, hardly paying attention to the game Walsh was covering or its commentary, when suddenly my dad caught the heated exchange between Walsh and his TV sidekick, who was razzing the ex-coach about a team the San Francisco 49ers had lost to repeatedly or something like that. Walsh's on-air, unabashedly angry response wasn't pretty, and it definitely got my dad's attention. Though I don't recall Walsh's exact words to his cohort, it was something to the effect of, "How many times are you going to mention that?!"

Part of my reason for reading "The Genius" all these years later was because of that long-ago TV memory of Walsh. And after reading about his life story and how hard he took losses after games, it's not surprising to me that Walsh didn't enjoy his time as a broadcaster. As a coach, however, the guy was truly innovative and an undeniable winner, though attaining all those NFL wins came at a steep price. To be sure, during Walsh's 49ers heyday he never would have won Father of the Year or Husband of the Year, and at times his mental equilibrium and overall health were jeopardized. Nonetheless, Walsh won games and Superbowls on his own terms, all under the watchful eye of a sometimes shady 49ers owner who dogged the coach and his team to no end.

Walsh claimed his life was far from a "Cinderella story," and this biography proves it. Nothing much was ever handed with ease to Bill Walsh during his lifetime, and when he decided he wanted to coach for a living, the guy worked like a madman to produce winning teams and get the most out of his talent. And he did those things with an artist's touch: creative, complex, thin-skinned and almost too intense for his own, and some of his teams' own, good. Indeed, one friend of Walsh's said his football "genius" was a complete waste: The guy should have been president of the United States in his view.

Since Walsh is a fascinating subject, the sometimes pedestrian writing of David Harris never makes this book seem like a slow read. To his credit, Harris conveys the decades-old games that Walsh coached seem like they happened yesterday -- exciting, detailed and often in doubt when it comes to the final result. Though I would have preferred more copy about the aftermath of Walsh's life following his retirement from the 49ers, Harris does a good job relating the dark side of a football legend who would be the first to admit that things weren't always perfect but he lived a good life and accomplished a lot.

If you're looking for the "X's and O's" of football, this probably is not the book you want. There is a little of that and how "The Genius" Bill Walsh changed how modern football is played, but author David Harris gives us a glimpse of the man, not the plan.

I'm a huge fan of football - the blitzes, bombs, offense, defense, punching holes in the line, strategy, execution, power vs. finesse, drama, will power, endurance. All of these things are captured here, as well as the politics and money behind the NFL. The Genius provides an in depth look at the NFL, the precarious life of coaches, players and the sacrifices made for this "game". Game? Billion dollar industry.

But a game it is, extremely popular and this book helps show why. Bill Walsh had a huge influence on the game, his players, the San Francisco Forty-Niners. Harris shows Walsh to be larger than life and just as complex. Intelligent, driven, flawed, misunderstood - all of the attributes of a true genius. Aptly titled, very interesting reading for hard core football fans. Although I wanted more X's and O's, I very much enjoyed what is here.