The Players’ Coach: Fifty Years Making the NFL’s Best Better

by Tom Moore

Tom Moore is the greatest NFL assistant coach of all-time, though he humbly cites the talent and hard work of his players as the keys to his success. In The Players' Coach, the oldest active NFL coach chronicles the most exceptional players-first career in the history of professional football, talks football with his elite proteges and his underdog mentorees alike, and lays out the principles that helped him define the modern gridiron.

In an era of "systems" and "analytics," Moore maintains a refreshing focus on the "Jimmys and Joes"-constantly refining and augmenting players' individual talents and ability to read defenses, and building play-calling around the unique skills of his players. This book digs deep into Moore's one-on-one sessions with all-time NFL greats, untested rookies, and grizzled veterans seeking football knowledge and play-making prowess.

With Moore's coaching tips, leadership philosophy, and life lessons woven throughout,

The Players' Coach is a player-development masterclass. It is also an inspirational life story, from humble beginnings to becoming the quarterback for the University of Iowa, a college coaching career, and then to assistant-coach and offensive-coordinator roles in six different decades. This book is destined to be a football classic, a coaching Bible, and a must-listen on leadership.

Genres: Football, Sports, Nonfiction

Audible Audio

Published September 3, 2024

Reviews

[Garrett Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

A football book, by a football guy, for football guys and girls.

If you take this book for what it is — the story of an amazing career — then you’ll love it.

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tom Moore is a person who would be considered a football “lifer.” He proclaims himself to be one in this memoir co-written with Rick Stroud. Even though he never was named as a head coach of any team, college or NFL, one cannot say that he has not had a successful and interesting career.

Moore shares many stories about himself as well as some of the great players that he has coached. After getting his first college coaching job at Iowa after graduation, he went on to be an assistant at several colleges, including a rival of Iowa, the University of Minnesota (a place where he considered becoming a head coach before they hired Lou Holtz in 1984). From there, he transitioned to the NFL in 1977, becoming an assistant to Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Chuck Noll. After a successful stint in Pittsburgh that included two Super Bowl victories and a promotion to offensive coordinator, he held similar roles for several other NFL teams, including the Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints (he talks very little about his time there in this book), Indianapolis Colts, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He won two more Super Bowls – one with the Colts, one with the Buccaneers, and coached in another with the Cardinals.

With a resume like this, it naturally follows that Moore has coached some of the greatest players in this era of football and three of them are in the subtitle. He has good stories about each one of them, and even better stories about some who were very good but not at the legendary level of these three. There is a great story on Vikings wide receiver Jake Reed on the assistance Moore gave him when it was discovered a vision problem was hindering his ability to catch passes. Moore also has kind things to say about his quarterback in Detroit, Scott Mitchell. When Moore talks about some of these players, those are the best sections to read.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book didn’t hold my interest as much as these stories as the talk about his moves, the X’s and O’s and other parts of his career just didn’t seem to have the same level of enthusiasm and intangibles. I use that word for this description – just like when an athlete has something extra that can’t be described so it is said that person has “intangibles”. In this case, those chapters and sections LACK those “intangibles” to make them must-read areas.

That aside, any reader with an interest in a football coach with a lengthy and successful career despite never holding a head coaching position will want to read this book. If nothing else, read it for some good stories on some of the legendary players in recent NFL history.

I wish to thank Diversion Books for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

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[Michael Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Player's Coach about potentially the greatest Assistant Coach ever in the NFL. Coach Tom Moore started his NFL career in 1974 and is still active as a Special Offensive Assistant with T.B. Bucs. Moore is in his 8o's and over the years has work with some of the most outstanding Pro Athletes. Moore has had stops in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Indianapolis, Arizona, NY Jets, Minnesota and Tennessee. An offensive wiz that worked all skilled positions, QB's, RB's and WR's. His interactions with both players and coaches reads like a who's who in the NFL Hall of Fame. Anyone coaches football would appreciate this book and the coaching points that Moore brings up throughout the book. The interactions between coach and player really comes out as some of the players provide insight of what it was like playing for this coach.

[Dr. Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

To say Players Coach was a disappointment, I would say to myself, "You are being too polite." From the get-go, the book never crosses a line where you say, This is a great story. The point of view and timeline changes so often that I was never sure who was talking, which team, or what time period I was reading. Poorly written by a well-known columnist. The book offers some great insights into how to become a great coach. Tom Moore is just that. He is well-respected and deserves a book. It is not a book I'd recommend to anyone in coaching or leadership.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Goodreads for this book I won in a giveaway. Pretty easy book to understand, especially if you don’t know a whole lot about football. Tom Moore certainly coached some great players over his almost 50 year career. Unfortunately he never got the opportunity to be a head coach but he understood what a great assistant coach he was and was ok with that.

[Mallory Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. Being a Colts fan wanting to read this book was a given. Just reading about his past and all the amazing players that he has coached was really eye opening. I would recommend this book to any football fan.

[Chris OLay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who loves reading about football greats this is your book. Tom tells cool stories about some of the greatest to ever play the sport. He goes into X’s and O’s on how his teams won some big games. Also gives his opinions on the keys to success in the league. A great read.

[C Baker · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. Tom Moore is undoubtedly one of the premier coaches in NFL history and clearly has a deep history with some of the greatest offensives and quarterbacks of all time.

Unfortunately, this book desperately needed a better copyeditor. The book is poorly written and not all that well organized.

For example, on page 36 of the hardback copy Moore makes a claim that he got his racial sensitivity in 1942 and had a friend who was black that got called bad names and his father gave him advice on how to deal with it. He is 85 or 86 now. That means he would have been 4 years old. Not possible, that age is too young to have a conversation about race. Maybe he meant 1948 (10 years old). I am also not sure why the anecdote was even necessary.

The coaching points peppered throughout the book were rather self-evident and not illuminating.

I don’t feel a learned a lot new in the book, but I did like the story of Vikings wide receiver Jake Reed and his unusual vision problem that Moore helped to finally get corrected which saved Reed’s NFL career.

Othar than that I found the book rather mundane.

[Roger Smitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom Moore's book is very different from the usual books abou football. And Moore goes into the game into the bigest and "imporatnt" games --- the "pros." Just in case, that's the players get the money in the game.

Chapter two is "Peeling Back My Street Curtain:" to get some themes going. And the book is a;; about mem. The author doesn't make a theme that the players are forced to do the game. But it's a challenge to make changes. .

Chapter 3: "Football, even at holiday weekend minicamp, is a violent game." (47) And he says "The NFL game is spohisicated. There is no room for error." (50) And "The NFL is supposed to be sophisticated with these comple words."

And there is more of such writing in the book. The Players Coach could be useful AFTER the year of football if over.

Chapter 4 has makes this book the theme of the book. Yes, we have heard that often. Maybe we older people who watch football.