Football Bio Titles

<p>Miami University in Oxford, Ohio&nbsp;is recognized&nbsp;for its beauty, highlighted by the red brick throughout its grounds.&nbsp;Poet Robert Frost even called it &quot;the prettiest campus ever there was.&quot; It has a nationally acclaimed business school, and it has spent the last decade providing more CEOs of Fortune 500 companies with undergraduate Miami Ohio degrees than any other.<br /><br />Yet, the best kept secret for those inside the Miami Ohio family is The Cradle of Coaches, and the astounding track record over the last century of producing some of the greatest coaches, managers, and sports executives in sports history.</p><p>In&nbsp;<i>Red Brick Magic: Sean McVay, John Harbaugh and Miami University&rsquo;s Cradle of Coaches</i>, Miami Ohio alum and pioneering sports journalist Terence Moore explores this unparalleled sports leadership legacy, from Weeb Ewbank, Paul Brown, Ara Parseghian, and Bo Schembechler to John McVay, John Harbaugh, Sean McVay, and everyone in between.</p><p>Highlighted by Sean McVay&rsquo;s Super Bowl LVI win with the Los Angeles Rams &ndash; the record fourth NFL championship captured by a team coached by a Miami Ohio alum &ndash; Moore tells the inside story of how a mid-major sports school in the Mid-American Conference has evolved into an industry trailblazer, and a true powerhouse when it comes to producing leaders and thinkers helping shape the past, present, and future of the sports world.</p>

<p>&ldquo;You can if you will.&rdquo; A phrase uttered to a young Jerry Kramer by his line coach at Sandpoint High School in tiny Sandpoint, Idaho, that would go on to push him to a celebrated NFL career with the Green Bay Packers and a sentiment that he would repeat to close his speech at his long awaited enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame almost seven decades later in 2018.</p><p>In the spirit of Jerry Kramer&rsquo;s unforgettable and bestselling collaborations with the great Dick Schaap, his first book about his life and career in over two decades,&nbsp;<i>Run to Win</i>&nbsp;will serve as Kramer&rsquo;s definitive statement about a remarkable life and career of perseverance, teamwork, and gridiron greatness. Spanning the beginning of the legendary Vince Lombardi era through Kramer&rsquo;s confoundingly long wait to receive his bust in Canton, Kramer tells his amazing story as one of the most memorable and toughest Packers in franchise history.</p><p>Including insightful commentary about the eminently intriguing Lombardi, as well as fellow Hall of Fame teammates Jim Taylor, Forrest Gregg, Willie Davis, Bart Starr, Emlen Tunnell, and many more,&nbsp;<i>Run to Win</i>&nbsp;is a must read for all true Packers fans from one of the legends who helped lay the foundation for one of the most identifiable and successful franchises in the history of professional sports.</p>

Famously&nbsp;selected as the 199th pick, in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft, Tom Brady&#39;s career trajectory is nothing short of legendary.<br /><br />By the time he hung up his cleats in 2023, Brady held nearly every major quarterback record, including career passing yards, career touchdown passes, and quarterback wins. He won seven Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was named Super Bowl MVP five times.<br /><br />These moments and memories are collected in <i>Sports Illustrated Tom Brady,&nbsp;</i>a fully illustrated gift book commemorating the career of the NFL&#39;s greatest player of all time.<br /><br />Featuring more than 100 photographs and unparalleled written coverage from the pages of&nbsp;<em>Sports Illustrated&trade;</em>, this new volume provides readers a complete portrait of the player whose impact on football history cannot be overstated&mdash;from his earliest days in New England to Super Bowl euphoria and beyond.

<DIV style="BORDER-TOP-COLOR: ; BORDER-LEFT-COLOR: ; BORDER-BOTTOM-COLOR: ; BORDER-RIGHT-COLOR: ">The Princess of Darkness. Former NFL team executive Amy Trask has held many titles during her career – including chief executive, analyst, and author – but this nickname is what she is first and foremost known by to Raiders fans. Trask joined the Raiders as an intern during law school after the team moved from Oakland to Los Angeles – the position the result of a cold call she made to the team. From there, she worked her way up through the ranks of the organization, to the post she would eventually hold as chief executive. Along the way, Trask worked extremely closely with the late Al Davis, a man who treated her and others on his team without regard to gender, race, and age. Trask may have been the highest-ranking female executive in the NFL during her tenure with the Raiders, but in <EM style="BORDER-TOP-COLOR: ; BORDER-LEFT-COLOR: ; BORDER-BOTTOM-COLOR: ; BORDER-RIGHT-COLOR: ">You Negotiate Like a Girl: Reflections on a Career in the National Football League</EM>, she shares how she found success by operating without regard to gender. Replete with insider tales about being part of the Raiders' front office, behind the closed doors of NFL owners meetings, and Davis himself, Trask's book is a must-read not only for football fans, but anyone who wants to succeed in business.</DIV>

<strong>From one of the toughest players ever to strap on a Chiefs helmet comes a memoir of football life and finding home in the Chiefs Kingdom.</strong><br /><br />Tim Grunhard always felt he had something to prove. Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Grunhard wasn&#39;t initially considered a top recruit. But then-Minnesota head coach Lou Holtz liked what he saw in the young offensive lineman, and made a scholarship offer that carried over when Holtz took the job in South Bend.<br /><br />Grunhard flourished under the Golden Dome, helping the Fighting Irish to the 1988 national championship before being selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round of the 1990 draft.<br /><br />Grunhard was a staple of Chiefs football in the 1990s, paving the way for Marty Schottenheimer’s physical running attack on the field and becoming a prominent member of the Kansas City community off the field.<br /><br /><strong>The retired lineman shares behind the scenes stories from Chiefs Kingdom, from the unforgettable Martyball era and playing alongside superstars Joe Montana, Marcus Allen, and Derrick Thomas to the modern-day championship team led by Patrick Mahomes. It is an essential read for all Kansas City faithful.</strong>

&#34;The opportunity for the greatest turnaround in college football exists here today, and it&#39;s not one to be taken lightly.&#34; —Bill Snyder When Kansas State hired Bill Snyder as its head football coach in 1988, the Wildcats had one of the worst programs in college football and hadn&#39;t won a conference title since 1934. Little could anybody predict that Snyder would soon engineer a total transformation in Manhattan, Kansas. From his humble beginnings in St. Joseph, Missouri, Snyder rose to greatness, bringing K-State up from the ashes to a No. 1 ranking, six 11-win seasons in a span of seven years, and one Big 12 Championship. He still wasn&#39;t finished. After a three-year retirement, Snyder returned to lead the Wildcats to another Big 12 title. In 2015, he became just the fourth person in college football history to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as an active coach. In this new memoir, Snyder reflects on a successful yet complicated life, detailing the grueling 80-hour work weeks, his visionary Wildcat Goals for Success, and the virtues he doubled down on during his final years as head coach, all the while battling throat cancer.Readers will discover a multi-faceted portrait of one of college football&#39;s greatest leaders, his triumphs and defeats, his greatness and his flaws, and his passion and drive to, not once, but twice, lead a championship team while developing young men.

Spotlighting a New England sports icon, this autobiography chronicles the extraordinary life and career of Troy Brown, the talented athlete who played 15 seasons with the New England Patriots. Brown demonstrates how his grit, hustle, and hard work endeared him to a generation of football fans. Brown's past is explored, relating how he made it through college and into the pros despite being given up on several times. His years with the Patriots are documented in detail, covering what it was like to play for Coach Belichick, why Tom Brady has been so successful, and the secrets behind his three Super Bowl wins. Traveling from his younger years in South Carolina through his college career in West Virginia and to the pinnacle of the NFL, this inspirational, rags-to-riches sports memoir will entertain, inform, and inspire football fans of all stripes, especially the hundreds of thousands of fans who support the Patriots—one of the most successful franchises in the league. This new paperback edition features an additional afterword on the Patriots' unforgettable 2016 championship season and Super Bowl LI victory.

<div>All eyes and ears turned toward Ann Arbor in late 2014 when it was announced that Jim Harbaugh would be returning to the Big House as the new head coach of Michigan football. Now, Angelique Chengelis, longtime chronicler of the Wolverines for the <em>Detroit News</em>, gives the inside story on how exactly Harbaugh restored the Michigan program to national title contender status. Learn how he instilled a new culture and rankled rivals with outspokenness, creative tactics, and relentless recruiting. Get the behind-the-scenes story on how and why Harbaugh chose to come back to the university he led to glory as its starting quarterback in the early 1980s. Follow along as Jabrill Peppers, Jake Butt, and others develop into true stars. Michigan Man is a comeback tale, an examination of the rapid turnaround from a five-win team in 2014 to squads that earned 10 wins plus trips to the Citrus and Orange Bowls in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Featuring extensive interviews with Harbaugh himself, this is a book Wolverines faithful and football fans in general will not want to miss.</div>

Very few college football coaches earn the distinction of becoming their programs' winningest, but Gary Pinkel has done it twice. From his nine-year tenure at the University of Toledo to his career at the University of Missouri from 2001 to 2015, Pinkel has shown he has the talent and meddle to take his teams to the top.  These remarkable achievements have been met by challenges along the way in Pinkel's personal and professional life, including a DUI and a divorce, a threatened team boycott at Mizzou which dominated national news headlines, and ultimately, a decision to step away from it all following a diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.  In The 100-Yard Journey, Pinkel offers a glimpse into the mind of a winner as well as an honest reflection on meeting and overcoming the unexpected. Follow along from the start of Pinkel's coaching career at Kent State, the same program for which he played as a tight end, through stops at Washington and Toledo, and finally, taking over at the helm of Missouri, a program he guided to 10 bowl games in 15 years, a No. 1 AP ranking at the end of the 2007 season, and SEC Coach of the Year honors in 2014. Whether you're a Tigers fan or just interested in what makes a successful head coach tick, anyone can find something to relate to in Pinkel's personal memoirs.

During his nearly 50 years of sportswriting, including 28 at Sports Illustrated, readers of Dr. Z came to expect a certain alchemical, trademark blend: words which were caustic and wry, at times self-deprecating or even puzzling, but always devilishly smart with arresting honesty. In 2008, Zimmerman had nearly completed work on his personal memoirs when a series of strokes left him largely unable to speak, read, or write. Compiled and edited by longtime SI colleague Peter King, these are the stories he still wants to see told. Dr. Z's memoir is a rich package of personalities, stories never shared about such characters as Vince Lombardi, Walter Payton, Lawrence Taylor, Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas, Donald Trump, Rupert Murdoch, and Hunter S. Thompson.

The 1982 Penn State national championship team was not only one of Joe Paterno's best, it was one of the best teams college football has ever seen. In When the Lions Roared, Bill Contz, one of the squad's offensive linemen, details that special season and the experience of playing for a legendary coach. Featuring dozens of interviews with former players, this book provides anecdotes from the epic contests of that season while also proving statistically why this Nittany Lions team stands up against all of the talented teams that came before and after. Also featuring a foreword and reflections by Todd Blackledge, Penn State's 1982 starting quarterback, this is an essential read for Nittany Lions faithful.

<div>Bill Belichick started collecting Lombardi Trophies like some people collect coasters and won his fourth Super Bowl title in 2015. No other NFL team has been as successful since Belichick became the Patriots&#39; head coach in 2000, winning titles after the 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2014 seasons, along with Super Bowl appearances after the 2007 and 2011 seasons. But is Belichick the best NFL coach of all time? In <em>Bill Belichick vs. the NFL</em>, author Erik Frenz not only explains what separates Belichick from his peers and compares his accomplishments to some of the all-time legends, but tells why, if there were a Mount Rushmore of NFL coaches, Belichick’s face would already be on it. From his upbringing as a coach&#39;s son to learning under Bill Parcells to creating his own coaching tree, he has established a new standard that may be unparalleled in football history.</div>

<div>For more than three decades, the New York Giants have been one of the most competitive teams in the National Football League, winning four Super Bowls and eight conference championships in that time. Now, Lawrence Taylor—Hall of Fame player and consummate Giant—teams up with William Wyatt to tell the stories of the Giants’ most memorable players and coaches, including Bill Parcells, Rays Perkins, Carl Banks, Harry Carson, and Gary Reasons to name but a few. In <em>My Giant Life,</em> Taylor looks back at the best games, best moments, and behind-the-scenes stories of the men who played and coached for the team.</div>

<div><strong>A former NFL ref and acclaimed rules expert shares his insights and thoughts on the rules of the sport </strong><br /> <br />Only recently in the world of NFL media have “rules experts” become an essential part of a fan’s viewing experience. As the league continues to implement rule changes that have more and more of an impact on games and, sometimes, the final outcome, it’s become imperative that fans understand the rules and how they’re applied. But often, they need help. Mike Pereira, hired by Fox Sports in 2010 as the rules expert for both the NFL and college football, was not only the first to rise to prominence in the role, but he is consistently lauded as being the best by his peers and even rival media networks. Viewers have come to rely on Pereira, the former vice president of NFL officiating, to provide entertaining, informative, and reliable explanations of the league’s often baffling and controversial rulings during games. Now, Pereira digs a little deeper and gives NFL fans and casual viewers alike insight into NFL rules, their applications, and some of the most controversial calls in recent memory, in terms both can understand. In this book, Pereira draws on professional experience and his personal life, both his years of work at the pinnacle of the officiating world and his upbringing as the child of longtime official, Al Pereira.</div>

<div>Cam Newton is the NFL&#39;s reigning MVP, one of the faces of the league and already becoming a Carolina Panthers legend. After transferring out of Florida, Newton spent a year at Blinn Community College before eventually capturing the Heisman and leading Auburn to the 2010 BCS National Championship. Cam was selected No. 1 overall by the Carolina Panthers in the 2011 NFL Draft and has gone on to set the NFL on fire with his sublime play and flamboyant personality on and off the field.</div><div> </div><div><em>Super Cam: Cam Newton’s Rise to Panthers Greatness</em> is the ultimate behind-the-scenes look at the Panthers superstar, who has embraced the huge expectations as a No. 1 overall pick and shattered them. Including dozens of full-color photographs, fans are provided a glimpse into Cam’s life – from his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2011 to his breakout 2015 season that ended with an MVP and his first Super Bowl appearance, where Cam and the Panthers fell painfully short of a title. With the best Cam content in sports from <em>The Charlotte Observer</em>, this keepsake is sure to inspire and entertain Panthers and football fans alike, and get them ready for the 2016 NFL season as Cam looks to follow up his MVP campaign with a repeat performance.</div>