Customer Reviews

Win Forever: Live, Work, and Play Like a Champion

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have been waiting for this book for awhile and might have had my hopes a little too high...and full disclosure I am a lifelong SC and Seahawks fan...this book is an easy read and was very motivating...I am constantly reading these types of books and I always keep a hi-lighter, notepad, and pen nearby and this book gave me all kinds of nuggets...my rating however was lowered from a four to a three star (i rarely will hand out a five) because of the simple fact that Pete doesn't coach the reader on how to map-out and plan their own philosophy...I love Pete...his energy, his mannerisms, and his coaching style and I have kept a lot of articles about him over the years because he always gives the reader/listener some great motivating ideas and tools and i love having those as a reference...this book offers the same however, I bought it to help me shape and actually create my own philosophy for business/coaching and the book left me a bit disappointed with no chapter on creating and formalizing my own philosophy...again, motivating book...some great ideas and quotes, however, it left me wanting just a bit more...


on a side note...I hope Amazon pulls down all the reviews on here that are just posted to trash Pete Carroll...I buy quite often from Amazon and use these reviews to help me decide on my purchases...obviously those of you "reviewing" have issue with Pete so here is a suggestion - start a blog and share your opinions on there as much as you would like, but don't affect the rating integrity of Amazon...

Pete Carroll is a classic example of living life to the fullest no matter what period in life a person is at. This book covers what a positive attitude can bring to the table. More importantly, however, is the clear vision he has for his team and how he articulates that. There is no gray area; very clear points. In short, I love it!

As a coach, I try to read as many of these type of books as I can to gain any knowledge that might be helpful to me and my teams. Living in So Cal, I have had the opportunity to visit USC and hear Coach Carroll talk in both a classroom setting and on the field. There is nothing in this book that deviates from anything that he has been saying for the last few years. He has consistently talked about attitude, effort, competition, and believing in the power of practice.

With that said, I found the book very helpful and enjoyed many aspects of it. I found the chapters on developing your own philosophy, competition, coaching your coaches, and practice is everything the most beneficial. I also enjoyed how this book stayed the course and focused on the development of his belief system and did not get into a lot of "glory days" of USC football. At times, he does become redundant but that is done to reinforce what was said and how he got to where he is today.

Finally, while some reviewers have hammered Coach Carroll on his recent departure with sanctions looming and theories on how he was successful via cheating, I found these unfair and irrelevant to the book. While you may not like him or how they were successful over the last few years, take the book for what's it worth: one man's growth and evolution as a coach and how he got to where he is today.

Great book.

Especially a wake up for looking at your own coaching philosophy (if you really have one - if you can't say it in less than 25 words, you should pick this up ASAP).

Also, he lays out his own pretty clearly, its not simply an autobiography, as it is an inside look on how he wants to run his program.

Great stuff! One of the better reads in the last few years.

Pete Carroll shares several stories of success for coaches. This is an awesome book with practical advice you can use right away!

After reading this, I would have to say it is inspiring, and revs you up. But, it is a re-hash of Wooden. I do have to say it is a more enthusiastic read than some of the Wooden books. I am not a huge Pete Carroll fan, nor am I a fan of USC. OF course, the inspirational part may be that it is more of a "today's" history than 40 year history, so it is more relatable.

Are you ready for some football? Pete Carroll was the most successful college football coach of the past decade, whose illustrious on-thefield record at the University of Southern California was severely tarnished by recruiting and other violations of NCAA regulations. Carroll resigned as USC's head coach in January and has returned to coaching professional football for the Seattle Seahawks. Nonetheless, Carroll has written a good primer on his coaching method, which he calls the Win Forever philosophy.

Win Forever was birthed during the post-mortem of his firing from his first head coaching position in the National Football League in 2000. Inspired by the writings of legendary college basketball coach John Wooden, Carroll had an Aha! moment when he realized he needed to "pull together [my] own vision, philosophy, and belief system into a detailed plan for winning." He crafted his philosophy around his essential competitive nature: "I set about constructing a football program strictly based upon my core belief. Competition would become the central them of the program, and our day-to-day thinking would be driven by this single thought: to do things better than they had ever been done before."
Carroll constructs the book around four parts:

Part One - Before the Philosophy - "I have never completely accepted that it didn't work out for me as a[n elite college] football player, and to this day I still wish I could suit up. Given a chance to return to his school's football program as a graduate assistant coach, Carroll learned that instead of his finding a career, "my career had begun to find me."

Part Two - The Power to Win Forever - Competition became the core characteristic of Carroll's philosophy, "It is a mentality, an outlook, and a way of approaching every day...the challenge is to remain focused on maximizing [his players'] abilities in preparation for the game...we would practice with more energy and more excitement than anyone else in football."

Part Three - Win Forever at USC - Carroll insisted upon connecting everyone to the philosophy, especially his assistant coaches, which he called the "heartbeat" of his program. "You can try to position and promote players in ways that make them leaders, but I don't want to rely on them when it comes to winning or losing. I have chosen to rely on our staff first and foremost."

Part Four - Win Forever Beyond the Field - Carroll challenges the reader to adapt the philosophy into his or her own environment. "You will make competing to stay on course with your vision the way you live your life every day. How badly do you want it? Are you willing to adjust your focus to create the changes and reach the potential that you already own?"

I found Win Forever to be an open "playbook" from one of today's most successful coaches. While Carroll's halo may be tarnished, I was able to look past his recent travails to learn some effective X's and O's for my own leadership playbook.

This book is not just about football although ther are some great football stories. It is more about Pete Carroll's philosophy for success. I believe that anyone and everyone needs to think about and create their own definition of success and create a plan to achieve it, even a regular Joe bricklayer like me. Chapter 20 had me weeping like a baby and reminded me that there is no excuse for anyone to not be the best they can be. I recomend this book for anyone who wants to define success and achieve it.

WIN FOREVER: LIVE, WORK, AND PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION is an autobiography of Pete Carroll, who became the Seahawks' eighth head coach in 2010 and who led nine seasons bringing champions to fruit at USC. His teams were ranked in the top AP 25 for 102 consecutive games and he was named Coach of the Decade: his coaching career and sports insights are invaluable and make for lively reading, here!

A great read from a remarkable person. While the background of football may not appeal outside a certain world the key to the value in the book is the ability to transplant the philosophy and stories to real world and business situations. Far too often organizations forget the need for entrenched practice and focus and they continue to repeat errors on a day to day basis without systems and a philosophy to become the best they can be, even at the most tactical and most mundane levels. The book Coach Carroll and Yogi Roth have written is a wonderful example of how to put a very simple philosophy into play every single day. I have recommended and bought this book for a wide range of Fortune 500 clients as a fresh reminder of how to think and act on simple yet incredibly impactful philsophically premises that practice makes perfect and that we should push our people to be the best they can as we all benefit from it. Write on please.