Chasing Perfect: The Will to Win in Basketball and Life

by Bob Hurley, Daniel Paisner

The inspiring story of the most famous high school basketball coach in America.

In 40 seasons as the head coach of St. Anthony High School, a private parochial school in Jersey City, New Jersey, Bob Hurley has established a standard of excellence and achievement without peer, and remarkably, he has done this at a high school with a total student body enrollment of about 230, with no gymnasium, and with an operating deficit that threatens to shut the place down each year. Hurley himself sweeps the floor before each home game. Despite the long odds against them, Hurley's teams have captured 26 state titles and four consensus national championships, all behind an astonishing career winning percentage of .905.
     In Chasing Perfect , Hurley opens up his tool box and shares some of the championship strategies he's developed to help lift his players up and out of Jersey City. The narrative centerpiece will be each of St. Anthony's seven undefeated seasons, with sketch profiles of some of the most memorable players, making some of the most memorable plays in St. Anthony history. Along the way, he'll offer empowering insights to help coaches and players to elevate their games, while empowering the rest of us to walk a more purposeful path. Part memoir, part coach's notebook and part reflection on the St. Anthony players it has been Hurley's privilege to coach, Chasing Perfect  will stand as a compelling barometer of life in and around the hardscrabble streets of Jersey City, set against the backdrop of one of the most enduringly competitive high school basketball programs in the country.

Genres: Sports

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chasing Perfect: The Will to Win in Basketball and Life by Bob Hurley (Crown Archetype 2013) (Biography) is a book by and about one of the most successful high school basketball coaches of all time. Bob Hurley has coached basketball at St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City, New Jersey for over forty years. His teams have won twenty-seven state titles, over a thousand games, have gone undefeated five times, and have won five national championships. Every player who has played for four years for St. Anthony's has won at least one state championship, and over two hundred of his players have earned college basketball scholarships. Even more impressive, his teams have reached this level of success against almost impossible odds: St. Anthony's is a tiny inner-city parochial school of 250 students which is so small that it does not even have a gym! Hurley's sons Bobby and Danny were both successful Division I basketball players in their own right and have continued their father's legacy by themselves entering the coaching ranks. The author shares his memories and his philosophy of life in this enjoyable volume. My rating: 7/10, finished 10/8/13.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what to make of this book. It's not a season long basketball journey. It's not a biography of Bob Hurley and his thoughts on basketball. It's not an X's and O's book. Bob Hurley had 7 undefeated seasons and each is detailed in this book. It doesn't go into details about what is learned just the games they almost lost or when a player gets into trouble and can't play. There's a couple pages on Coach Hurley's start, a couple more about his kids and a couple more about his "real" job. However, it intertwined in this synopsis of these teams that aren't enjoyable. I wish there had been more stories about each team or teachable points.

This book needs something maybe Coach Hurley's personality, but it just falls flat especially compared to other books written about him and his teams. I gave it two stars based on the topic and the fact that you do learn something about Coach Hurley and his teams if you know nothing about them. I would recommend this book to members of the teams and that's about it. If you must read it then it needs to be a bargain book or a library book.

[Brent Soderstrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recieved this book free through GoodReads First Read program.

This would be a great book for a coach to read. Coach Hurley talks about the issues he has addressed over the years as a high school basketball coach for St. Anthoney's in Jersey City, New Jersey. He has over 1,000 wins, 25 state championships, 4 national championships, 7 undefeated seasons and has been named national coach of the yaar 4 times. This book covers in detail the 7 undefeated seasons.

My favorite parts of the book dealt with the Coach's personal side. The most memorable is when he discusses his son Bobby's car accident where Bobby almost died. The Coach and his wife Chris were thrust into the situation where their child is in a hospital thousands of miles away for a long period of time.

You also see the Coach's compassion when he talks about Sister Alan and what she meant to the school and his basketball program. When the Sister gets cancer and eventually dies you can feel the deep felt loss the whole school must have felt.

[J. Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way Coach Hurley was able to compete and impact young lives in an environment of meager amenities is amazing. I want to be like Coach Hurley when I grow up. Of interest for anybody especially basketball fans.

[Robert Ellington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read. Got some great ideas. The chapter that dealt with his son's car accident was intense, as you might expect.