Getting to Us: How Great Coaches Make Great Teams

by Seth Davis

What makes a coach great? How do great coaches turn a collection of individuals into a coherent “us”? 
 
Seth Davis, one of the keenest minds in sports journalism, has been thinking about that question for twenty-five years. It’s one of the things that drove him to write the definitive biography of college basketball’s greatest coach, John Wooden,  A Coach’s Life . But John Wooden coached a long time ago. The world has changed, and coaching has too, tremendously. Seth Davis decided to embark on a proper investigation to get to the root of the matter. 

In  Getting to Us , Davis probes and prods the best of the best from the landscape of active coaches of football and basketball, college and pro—from Urban Meyer, Dabo Swinney, and Jim Harbaugh to Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo, Jim Boeheim, Brad Stevens, Geno Auriemma, and Doc Rivers—to get at the fundamental ingredients of greatness in the coaching sphere. There’s no single right way, of course—part of the great value of this book is Davis’s distillation of what he has learned about different types of greatness in coaching, and what sort of leadership thrives in one kind of environment but not in others. Some coaches have thrived at the college level but not in the pros. Why? What’s the difference? Some coaches are stern taskmasters, others are warm and cuddly; some are brilliant strategists but less emotionally involved with their players, and with others it’s vice versa. In  Getting to Us , we come to feel a deep connection with the most successful and iconic coaches in all of sports—big winners and big characters, whose stories offer much of enduring interest and value.

Genres: Sports, Leadership, Basketball, Nonfiction, Biography, Football

304 pages, Hardcover

Published March 6, 2018

Reviews

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This is a book primarily about college sports--mainly basketball and football. Guess those are the ones people are most interested/aware of. The author is a sports writer and each chapter (there are 9) looks at a very successful college coach and attempts to analyze how he helps bring a team together (what the author calls, "getting to Us").
I was interested in this topic for two reasons. My son is a college D1 coach and I am always looking at ways to connect to him and what he does and 2. from observations of many teams over the years I know that the secret sauce that makes a good team great is how they come together as a team. In really good teams this sometimes happens naturally and sporadically but some coaches have a magic touch and know how to create this even in a team that is not quite working to its potential.
I was hoping to find the ingredients of this magic formula.

I did find some of this here but much of it was short biographies of coaches with occasional words of wisdom thrown in. From these biographies the reader was suppose to understand how the coach's background added up to their coaching methods and being there for their teams.
Most of it was as advertised but I wanted more insight. Not enough here to make it a five star for me. One aspect that was not mentioned (or I missed) was how coaches might pick out particular players who were important to buy into what the coach was trying to do. I've observed that Leaders in teams come in all shapes and roles but if you can find the right one (the glue so to speak for the team) it makes all the difference
So in all I liked the book, it was easy on my ears and some was stories were quite fascinating--my favorites were Geno Auriemma (UCONN women's basketball) and Mike Krzyzewski (Duke Men's basketball), Dabo Swinney (Clemson football)
but found it not as heavy on insights as I wished. For me the examples used made for interesting reading but not as instructional as advertised.

[Matt Wolo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trying to figure out how to coach a successful team has only one answer, but so many unique ways of getting that solution. The answer is in the title of the book itself, Getting to Us. Seth Davis introduces the idea that coaches use known as PEAK. The P stands for persistence, E for empathy, A for authenticity, and K for Knowledge. Using this idea of PEAK and understanding the culture needed in their respective locker rooms the coaches try to get the team to “us” instead of “me”.

However, the main purpose of the book is to figure out how these coaches get to the idea of us. Using some of the most successful and famous coaches takes on the idea, he describes to the reader the way each coach got to us. For example Coach K of Duke University wanted his players to understand that the work would be done to its best ability. Playing for Army he was taught discipline and how to be humble. He uses this with his players while creating a great personal relationship with them to be on the same page as much as possible. Creating this bond would help the player and Coach K understand each other therefore making it easier to play on the court because the players understand what coach wants and the coach understands the players view on the game. However, this varies from a coach such as Coach Izzo who is also a college coach, yet has his own take on how to get to us. Coach Izzo believes it lies in the hands of the players to get to us as much as much as it lies in the hands of the coaches. Two coaches in the same area of coaching, yet two different takes on how to succeed. The book also talks about the other coaches such as Urban Meyer, Doc Rivers, Jim Harabaugh, Jim Boheim, Geno Auriemma, Brad Stevens and Dabo Swinney with their perspectives on how to get to this idea of Us. Davis did a great job of using multiple coaches from the same field to show how different they can coach, yet be successful. Yet, he implemented other coaches to show how the approach to success can vary based on a certain sport. Davis also does a great job of taking these strategies and tying them back to the theme of the book, “Getting to Us”.

After reading a review by an actual basketball coach I agree that it is scary how badly coaching can ruin a person's personal life, family, etc. However the success of coaching can be equally as amazing. It is a unique job that is not for just anyone. It has to be a person that is mentally stong and can balance all the responsibilities of coaching, while maintaining a healthy personal life with family and friends. Although critics may say that the theme is unoriginal, it is still the answer that all the coaches give him. They focus on the idea of unifying as a team. I find the title to be perfect for the book.

How come Davis provides background information on each coach? Davis put the background of each coach in to show how the way the coaches were brought up might change how they view coaching and how they approach trying to succed.

This book has given me a completely different outlook on how hard coaching really is. There are so many beautiful things about it, yet so many lonely and brutal parts to coaching. The book was incredible and did not have weaknesses in my perspective, I loved every bit of it.

[Tim Baumgartner · Rating 5 out of 5]

9 of the best coaches (NBA, NCAA Men's/Women's BBall, NCAA football) were interviewed by veteran sports journalist, Seth Davis to provide one of the most unique books on coaching and leadership I have ever read. Davis asked some unique questions (after sharing various background information on the coaches) that led to how each of them strive to bring a bunch of individuals into Us--a TEAM--through what he calls a P.E.A.K. [Persistence; Empathy; Authenticity; & Knowledge] profile. These characteristics are assumed by the great coaches, but it's HOW they go about doing these things that is most interesting to him--and me.

Urban Meyer=Sustaining OR changing the player's mentalities from doing something difficult to WANTING to do something difficult [pg. 9].

Tom Izzo=It takes more than a coach to get to Us--players need to contribute to bringing the team together [pg. 55].

Coach K=He doesn't want his players to just think like winners, he wants them to FEEL like winners. That means they need to see what he sees (EX: When Bobby Hurley was SO emotional on the court, coach brought him into his office and showed him video of ALL his outbursts on the court and talked him through how much they needed more stability from him to win.) [pg. 89-90].

Jim Harbaugh=The need for contact, that disdain for standing idle...lies at the heart of his ability to get to Us--for teams [pg. 102].

Jim Boeheim=Earning player's confidence in the knowledge he has accrued during his lifetime spent playing, learning, and thinking about basketball [pg. 133-134].

Geno Auriemma=Coming from Italy, he didn't initially know what people were saying to him in the English language, so he studied HOW they were saying it [he learned how to read body language, which gives him great emotional intelligence] [pg. 161].

Doc Rivers=Striking a balance between coldness and empathy [pg. 191]. He minimizes his emotions, even to the point of being ruthlessly cold, and teaches his players how to be persistent. By calling upon his experiences as a player, he empathizes with their frustrations and fears, feels their aches, their pains, their tired legs. By showing them how comfortable he is in his own skin, he convinces them to sacrifice their individual glory for the greater good. By proving he has expert knowledge, he gets them to trust his instructions and his vision, which he tends to impart with a theatrical flourish. When critical moments arise, he doesn't play the victim and doesn't want a hug. He'd rather pivot and get moving, trusting that his players will follow.

Brad Stevens=It's not so much the joy of winning as a disdain for losing that drives him. His diligent, meticulous, disciplined preparation, and the knowledge he accumulates during that process, is what empowers him to get his team to Us. It's hard work, but a labor of love [pg. 218].

Dabo Swinney=He uses words to get to Us. He uses LOTS of repetition to project a clear and colorful message onto a big screen [pg. 248].

Honestly, reading this book was scary to me. Again, I researched about coaches who are most admired in our world and MOST have been divorced! It REALLY bothers me to see how us basketball coaches have prioritized coaching this game over our relationship with God and our wives. I want to be a model, but it's VERY tough because of ALL the sacrifice involved. Lord, may You help all those who dare to take upon this challenge and raise up more examples of those who can balance all of our responsibilities with excellence...and help reconcile all who need to reconcile with you, their wives, families, etc.

[Jay Domengeaux]

Persistence, Empathy, Authenticity, Knowledge.

These four characteristics are shown as a mainstay in the group of successful coaches listed in this book. While I think they are an accurate laundry list, I'm sure you could add letters to the authors PEAK concept and plug them in to these and other successful coaches in the world of sport. Seth Davis does a fine job of interviewing and shedding light on the coaches he highlights but the book reads more like a series of separate biographies than a written epiphany on what it takes to be a championship coach. Learning more about those coaches the reader may already be interested in helps to keep your attention in those chapters, while the background and instances of P E A and K in coaches that the reader may not be familiar with tends to melt together.

All in all, I do believe that the PEAK principles can be of benefit to coaches and teachers alike. The author illustrates this from time to time within the short biographies, giving the reader some "peek" into how this concept, however unbeknownst, entered into the successful careers of these coaches.

Some of the more interesting take aways from this book were the contrasting environments that these people come from as well as the diversity in the athlete they encountered and mentored in their careers. While the "Empathy", "Authenticity" and "Knowledge", shown through in many different scenarios, the glaring constant was the hard work and determination (to an unhealthy degree sometimes) exhibited through the Big "P". Persistance..

I would consider this book to be somewhat interesting but not essential reading.

[Lilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The profiles of the coaches were not very memorable, and I didn't come out of this book with any particular leadership wisdom. The PEAK profile (perseverance, empathy, authenticity, knowledge) was forced into each chapter, and didn't read like a natural framework that explained the successes of the coaches.

I'm only giving this book 3 stars for the following exchange that was very amusing to me, as a basketball fan:

Krzyzewski observed to Kevin Durant that every time he spoke, his eyes were on the floor.

"That's because I'm shy," Durant said.

"Kevin," Krzyzewski said, "you can't be shy. The guys need you not to be shy."

Is this why KD uses his main account instead of his burners nowadays?

[Andrew Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read. 30 page stories about how different coaches became who they are and how they lead. Lots of different perspectives. Seth writes in a story-like style although they are generally biographies.

[Stuart Hoegh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of sports writing is exaggerated. Players and coaches get super-human descriptions. Getting to Us does a good job of being honest while also entertaining. The book covers each coaches shortcomings as well as achievements, which I really appreciated.

[Pete Wung · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not sure where to put this book. Seth Davis is a nationally known sports reporter and he is a very good sports writer. The prose that he commits to paper reflects his sports reporting background, and to be clear, he is a very good sportswriter. He tells his stories well and he has a fine sense of the internal stories of his subject. The stories are taut and always gives perspective on the person being featured.

But there is a problem with this book, many problems actually.

It is a collection of nine profiles of successful coaches; almost all of them have succeeded in their profession and are recognized as the leader of athletes. Some have well defined personalities and known reputations, others are relatively new to the limelight and benefits from not being ubiquitous in the media spotlight. One problem is that the chapters are relatively short, which makes for easy reading but it also make the profiles seem rushed and incomplete. Davis is seemingly trying to make his points and then rushing to demonstrate the challenges and obstacles they have faced in their inner life through anecdotes and personal histories without really examining how those headwinds affected their coaching philosophies and execution of their philosophies. What we get is a laundry list of what they do and examples. Davis lays out the facts as a reporter and then he links the professional practices of these coaches with the facts, but he never drills in deeply into the why’s of the relationship between the fact and practices. It isn’t a fatal flaw but it left me wondering. To be fair, he states in the introduction that this was not the intent of the book, it still leaves a void, a road not taken which could potentially be productive.
Another problem is that Davis uses a unifying theme to tie the coaches’ profiles. The theme is the title of the book: Getting To Us. He explains the theme thus: “A team begins as a collection of me’s, him’s and you’s. It is the job of the coach to figure out a way to get to Us.” A noble yet unoriginal theme, as our sports culture has always revolved around teams and teamwork. Davis uses the acronym PEAK to describe the desired characteristics of a coach to enable this ability to see the big picture and get the team to Us. PEAK is: Perseverance, Empathy, Authenticity, and Knowledge. Davis tries to apply these four characteristics to the story of each of the nine men and tries mightily to squeeze details about their experience and make up into these four niches. The effort seems forced and at times are inspired and at times clichéd. Davis stated that he only intended to highlight PEAK and try to connect those characteristics to Getting To Us. The results are uneven at best, mostly disappointing.

The coaches that came through with their reputations enhanced are Geno Auriemma, Doc Rivers, Brad Stevens, and Dabo Swinney. Stevens and Swinney are relative new to the national spotlight so the portraits are excellent at revealing their stories to us, through the Davis filter. Auriemma and Rivers were revelations to me, their stories were fascinating even though a little short. Rizzo came through unscathed yet also unenhanced.

One thing that Davis did was to give a portrait of these men that are unadorned, he reaffirms the portrait of coaches like Meyer, Krzyzewzki, Harbaugh, and Boeheim as they have been portrayed previously in the press. He does however, go into explaining why they are the way they are, he was not very successful. Urban Meyer came off as somewhat reasonable until the recent troubles at Ohio State with Zach Smith. Ironically, Davis also featured Meyer’s wife Shelley, in this profile. Davis never fully explained Krzyzewzki’s decision to deal with Grayson Allen’s transgressions the way he did, other than repeating his defense. Harbough came off like a petulant child at times, albeit a very successful one. Boeheim reaffirmed his public persona as prickly personality, even though he seems more sympathetic.

If you came to this book as a means to get any insight on Getting to Us, don’t waste your money. If you can to read some quickie portraits of nine successful coaches, I would say go ahead and read this book, although I would also advise you to temper your expectations.

[Jake Tomko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jake Tomko
8/24/19
Humanities, period 2
Getting to the Peak
Whenever the average fan criticizes their teams coach, it’s easy to judge them based on a play call or decision making. However, most probably don’t know what it took for that coach to be in that spot, and the amount of work it takes to build anything off of the team you’re given. In Seth Davis’s book Getting to us, the author goes through the background of a number of coaches to know what each of them does to build a team. Seth Davis evaluates each coach by a “PEAK” profile. Persistence, empathy, authenticity and knowledge, each is core for being a good coach. Persistence is the lessons a coach learns through their childhood and their career. Being able to learn from mistakes and use previous life lessons to better themselves, good coaches have great persistence. The next is empathy, each athlete is different and grows in different ways, some need a firm kick or just a soft touch to motivate them. Seth Davis says that empathy is the most important when judging a coaches PEAK. Authenticity is next, a coach can act in whatever way they want, but players know a phony. Coaches need to be themselves and remain authentic in their style. Lastly is knowledge, every good coach acquired knowledge through days of studying and adapting to different situations, a coach needs to gain knowledge to be successful. Each of these is needed to, as Davis says, get to us. A great coach must have all of these qualities in order to connect with their team and help make them successful.
When reading this book, it really opens up how much some coaches go through. One of the stories was how Urban Meyer would go days without eating, it showed how stressful coaching became. Doc Rivers through his high school years had to deal with racism while playing, but was able to stick through it and persiste. These types of stories show that coaches don’t just study film and make calls, but they use the life lessons they’ve gathered to better themselves. What this book helps understand as well is that every coach has to make different approaches to their team. What may seem as an easy job where every player is going to follow along, different coaches need to connect with their own style, being authentic. One of my favorite chapters was in Tom Izzo, head coach of Michigan State basketball. On camera he can be seen screaming profusely at his players, but off of it he is one of the more empathetic coaches that average viewers don’t know about. This is what this book can really show that off camera action that you just can’t see.
One question I would ask is this, could teams evaluate future hires based on this PEAK profile? Or, is it only good to evalutenthat on good coaches as this book did? Personally, it would seem like a good idea to know what a new coach has gone through, how he’d react to certain situations and how he’d deal with certain players. It would help determine how a new coach could blend with a team.

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seth Davis does an excellent job in showing the life of all these coaches behind the fame. The book was phenomenal. This book had me hooked right away because I am a sports junkie. The book shows the challenges and coaching styles of the likes of Urban Meyer, Dabo Swinney, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo, Jim Boeheim, Brad Stevens, Geno Auriemma, and Doc Rivers. In “Getting To Us,” the third coach that is talked about is Mike Krzyzewski, one of my personal favorites. I can somewhat relate to Coach K because one of my friend’s uncle is Coach K, so growing up, I always heard so much about him. Seth explains how Mike battled hardships in order to become the legendary coach he is today. Coach K grew up in a poverty stricken area in the south side of Chicago. It also did not help he was one of the few polish kids in the town so it was hard for him to fit in. Coach K was a very gifted math student throughout his education career which ultimately led him to being a basketball coach because he enjoyed numbers, and basketball is all numbers when it’s broken down. During his coaching career, one of his most important wins came against the unbeaten and top-ranked UNLV in the final four, 79-77 on March 30, 1991. This win meant so much because it helped transform him into the coach he is today. It gave him confidence and fueled the mental aspect of coaching. Another one of my favorites Seth talks about is Brad Stevens. Brad is also one of my favorite coaches because he is one of the few coaches to coach a college team then coach an NBA team and actually succeed. Seth explains how Brad has certain characteristics that made him successful. For example, Brad is not superstitious at all so he lets none of those things get to his head. Brad is also very competitive so when he loses he always tries to better his team and make sure they are ready next time. Brad grew up very wealthy, opposite of Coach K who grew up fairly poor. Brads parents would send him on mission trips to Louisiana and Texas to feed needy people in downtrodden neighborhoods. They did this to show Brad how grateful he was and how he should never take anything for granted. This helped Stevens so much because he cherished his time at Butler and made the most out of every moment there and if not for that, he most likely would not be an NBA Coach. Lastly, one of my favorite quotes by Seth is, “It is not so much the joy of winning as disdain for losing that drives Stevens.” One discussion question I would pose is What separates a good coach from a bad coach? I would answer this by just saying a strong mentality and will for what you do. All of these coaches in “Getting To Us” have these characteristics that have paved their careers and made them Hall of Fame coaches.

[Jeri Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found "Getting To Us" on the new non-fiction shelf of our local library, and I picked it up because I've had to read various leadership books for a day job as a senior writer for a local university. But I had never read one that revolved around coaches. Plus, I had read Seth Davis for years in Sports Illustrated, and as a sports journalist, I knew he stretched his stories beyond the Xs and Os of basketball and football.

So, what did I think? Yeah, I liked it. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars. But I came to that. I didn't get there right off the bat. Let me explain.

At first, I was bothered by a writing trope I see so often in leadership books. It's how writers use a word, phrase or acronym throughout a book as a way to connect it together to what they want to read to glean on how they think. In Davis' case, throughout the book, he used the word "Us." As in the chapter about Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, he wrote: "He uses words to get to Us." Then, there is the whole PEAK acronym -- as in Persistence, Empathy, Authenticity and Knowledge. He used that acronym as a way to show readers what he found that connected coaches like Jim Boeheim to Brad Stevens to Jim Harbaugh.

Then, there was Davis' writing style. At first, it bugged me. It was too formulaic, too reminiscent of reading these sports biographies that I dog-eared as a kid. It was the same narrative arc with each chapter, and in some places, the writing felt rushed. But the more I dove into chapters about nine different coaches, the more I realized, "Aah, let it go. Look at the information you're finding, Rowe."

So, I did. I found narrative nuggets that I didn't expect. So, I got over the whole idea of "Us" and PEAK. It bound the book together. I also had to tell myself the book is not some gold mine of narrative non-fiction. But what Davis gives readers -- and he does this incredibly well -- is use telling details and scenes to how human, how flawed these coaches are. He used his incredible access to draw back the curtain of sports pop culture to show these household names in sports are just like us. They struggle, they fail, they bounce back, they fail again. Life, as Urban Meyer has found out, is full of gray areas.

The two surprises in this book are what I found out about UConn's Geno Auriemma, the Clippers' Doc Rivers and Ohio State's Urban Meyer. I really didn't know anything about Auriemma and Rivers, and quite honestly, I didn't like Meyer. Now, I know Geno and Doc, and Urban, well, I like. Who knew? I might even pull for Ohio State.

So, "Getting To Us' does what a good book does. It reveals information you didn't know existed, and you learn something you didn't expect.

[Adam Mekky · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the highs of college football with Dabo Sweeney winning a national championship with Clemson University to the lows of Urban Meyer nearly dying due to a mysterious brain cyst caused by high stress, the book Getting To Us: How Great Coaches Make Great Teams shows the reader the real inside look into the tough job of being a head coach. The book has nine profiles of some of the most highly sought head coaches in the business. There are many different strategies used by these nine coaches to make a team elite. The chapters and stories of each coach are short but it is a very detailed and a nice look into their personal lives and how they created such dominate teams. A strength of the book is that it can show the reader the “keys to success” and how can coaches be able to create these successful teams. A weakness of the book is that the book focuses mostly on the coaches struggles and buildup and doesn’t talk about the end goal that much which is winning championships. The goal that all of these coaches achieved is the way to get to “us”, which is a mindset that teams have when they are truly connected and that is the only way to create a successful team.
Other reviewer’s that critiqued the book have said that the writing feels rushed to try to get to the point of how the coaches have struggled which I do agree with. Urban Meyers story went from his start of coaching straight into his medical struggles which was almost 5 years apart. Also the reviewers have said that the book shows a good insight of the coaches mindset to create a dominate team which is correct. The book gives a very in-depth look in how the coaches created these teams from the craziness of Jim Harbaugh to the very laid back Doc Rivers. A discussion question for book clubs and people chatting about this book is that “How can this group of diverse personalities be able to accomplish the same goal of winning championships?”

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book report: Getting to Us – How Great Coaches Make Great Teams by Seth Davis. Great topic, decently written with some great quotes (each chapter starts out with a quote by the chapter’s subject – nice choice), and a great book to get the juices flowing. Davis stays around the “Us” theme throughout, meaning how coaches get to a team mentality (this is a little forced, knowing something about some of the coaches he talks about), and – there had to be an acronym in there somewhere – organizes good coaching into PEAK categories: Persistence, Empathy, Authenticity, and Knowledge. A bit dubious in the sense that none of those qualities are too controversial, so it’s not like any coaches have to make a choice between, say, being knowledgeable and being ignorant – and it’s the choices you make that make the difference, a lot of the gray areas. But I digress. Interesting cast of characters: Urban Meyer (coaching may kill him), Tom Izzo (great Mateen Cleave’s quote: “You haven’t called a good play all day,” Mike Krzyzewski (surprisingly easygoing in life), Jim Harbaugh (Doug Collings in khacki), Jim Boehim (rough relationship with his funeral director father), Geno Auriemma (great Rebecca Lobo quote: “His natural walk is a strut”), Doc Rivers (the only black coach represented, and as usual completely centered on race; also a horrible parental relationship – as a matter of fact, almost by definition, this guy doesn’t belong in this book), Brad Stevens (makes it look easy), and Dabo Swinney (never heard of him, but his mom is a warrior, and he’s a breath of fresh air as a football coach). All in all, superb. I might give his other books a go.

[Benrubs Ruboyianes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Getting to Us is a book all about how legendary coaches have built a legacy and facts about how them and their teams have thrived. The first chapter is about Urban Meyer. He has won NCAA championships with Florida and Ohio State. He then talks about Tom Izzo who was the 1998 AP National Coach of the Year. The next chapter is about Mike Krzyzewski. He has won a game of basketball on 30 different teams and has beaten 191 different schools. The next chapter is about my favorite coach Jim Harbaugh. He has coach in the NFL on the 49ers and now is the head coach for Michigan. He made it to the Super Bowl and has won NFL coach of the year. Up next is Jim Boeheim. Jim Boeheim has made a legendary run at Syracuse and has gotten the basketball arena named after him. The next chapter talks about Geno Auriemma. He led the team to an unbelievable undefeated season. Then he talked about Doc Rivers who has coached and played in the NBA. He played college basketball at Marquette and was a second round draft pick in 1983. The next chapter talks about Brad Stevens. He coached alongside Doc Rivers on Boston and won a National Championship. Finally, Dabo Sweeney is talked about. The current coach of the Clemson Tigers and Nick Saban’s nemesis because now the Tigers are becoming the best team in the nation over Saban’s Crimson Tide.

[Stephanie Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting To Us is a nine-story profile collection of prominent collegiate and professional coaches, bound together by Seth’s PEAK profile; on the surface, it is a nice, neat little book that shares leadership tips from some of the best in their respective fields.

But... you knew there had to be a “but” coming...

It’s like diving into the shallow end of the pool. I enjoyed these profiles; I admire all of these coaches and know they have some great personal and professional experiences. I’d love to have a beer with any of them and listen to hours of their favorite memories. I’d love to shadow them for a week and glean advice from watching them work. Seth gives us a bit of that, but never actually allows us to reach a climax. We don’t get pages upon pages of fun stories (and I found his habit of jumping around in time, even within a single paragraph, really annoying) and we also don’t get straightforward quotes or tips about leadership— just Seth’s interpretation of their lives into his PEAK acronym.

This is a great book to gift to a sports fan that isn’t necessarily trying to enter the industry or look for Life Advice but instead is happy to dip a toe into biography without feeling too overwhelmed with detail. I liked it; I just craved so much more.

[Doc Mcgarey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine yourself an elite athlete deciding which coach you will sign with -- letter of intent or contract-- to develop you and put you in the position of winning a championship. That's a lot riding on your decision. Seth Davis gives us an inside view of 9 of our best known U.S. sports coaches and how they get their teams to work together and win championships. Jim Harbaugh is the worst chapter and an odd inclusion. Anyone that Mike Ditka asks "how long have you been crazy?" too sets an all-time new standard for an odd duck. Dabo Sweeney, Brad Stevens, Urban Meyer, Tom Izzo, Coach K, Jim Boeheim, Geno Auriemma and Doc Rivers are the others. I found the chapters on Urban and Dabo the most insightful to the man. However, as a leadership book, I got the most out of the Geno, Coach K and Doc chapters. Brad Stevens chapter is especially interesting right now given the Celts run and his style is quite useful.

[Paul Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short bios of great coaches: Meyer, Coach K, Dabo, and others. The author purports to have found a common theme that unites these figures - “PEAK” - Persistent, empathy, authenticity, and knowledge. A clever construction, but the book doesn’t try very hard to make its point. Each chapter is just a fun little standalone bio. Unintentionally, what it shows is that the ‘old’ generation of coaches - Meyer, Doc Rivers, Harbaugh, Boeheim - are jerks and bullies, products of the ‘plantation’ era of sports where the coaches word was gospel. Brad Stevens and Dabo come across as enormously more balanced people and modern leaders. As Dabo says, he tries to not present losses as the end of the world because “tomorrow’s the first day of your next season”. You’re not hearing that from Urban Meyer as he screams at another criminal he’s recruited to play tight end. Do NOT bet against Clemson while Dabo’s in charge.

[Writemoves · Rating 2 out of 5]

This sports book portraits coaches Urban Meyer, Tom Izzo, Jim Boeheim, Gino Auriemma, Jim Harbaugh, and others. Davis attempts to put a favorable face on the personalities and tactics of the various coaches. However, he tends to skip the not so nice sides. These guys are not saints. This book also tends to avoid the real factors on how these coaches make great teams:

1. They recruit superior players. Some of these coaches do not always follow the rules on recruiting.
2. They make promises to recruits that they may not be able to keep.
3. They work the hell out of their players who do not collect paychecks for all the time they put in practice or preparation.
4. They have huge budgets for their programs. They are able to hire quality assistants who help them with recruiting and coaching. They have huge taxpayer paid stadiums and arenas.
5. They are able to blunt criticism of their programs and to mitigate or cover up the poor behavior of many of their athletes.

[Lane · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting book about successful coaches but you are left with a feeling there should be more. Maybe that is a strength of the book as it attempts to define what makes these coaches successful. For some of them, the material has been presented several times in different forms. The most interesting chapter was the view of Urban Meyer with his recent Zach Smith incident and the leaving of his Florida jib that was not well covered.
Probably not enough emphasis was put on having the best players. Only Brad Stevens gets much attention for making his players at Butler better than they were rated going in to their college years.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book that gives a snapshot into the minds, habits, and stories of eight highly competitive coaches at both the collegiate and professional levels. "Getting to Us" is not a book that glorifies these high profile individuals but one that also casts light on the shadows that follow them whether it be controversy in their personal or professional lives.

Seth Davis' quick and easy book showcased how human individuals like Duke's Coach K and Michigan's Jim Harbaugh are with relatable backstories. Their stories reflect how they overcome personal adversities while adjusting to the dynamic world of sports and the talented athletic personalities they lead.

[snoopdog · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I personally did not enjoy the writing style, I found this to be a fun read! I really liked the analysis on each coaches coaching style and mindset and how Davis would call back to the "PEAK" characteristics all coaches share. I do wish there was more variety in the coaches covered, whether it be having different sports represented in addition to different levels of sports. I also think this book would benefit from being longer as I find it difficult to believe that all of the valuable coaching lessons these coaches learned through a multi-decade long careers can be summarized in 30 pages or less.

[Dave Bolton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Previously I'd read Seth Davis' book on Coach Wooden and really enjoyed it, so ordered this as soon as it was available. In contrast to the deep detail of the Wooden book, this books is a superficial look at the lives and careers of nine coaches of major American sports. It had a contrived "framework" for these coaches success called PEAK, which was so loose that it's not useful in any way and feels like a bit of an afterthought.

So, nowhere near as insightful as the Wooden book, but an easy and enjoyable read if you like coaching anecdotes.

[Cheri Caravano · Rating 5 out of 5]

A snapshot into the paths of nine men who have transformed the coaching world in some capacity. If you are looking for a “how-to” book on leadership, you will be disappointed. Seth Davis does a great job detailing that there is not one way for someone to become a leader and get their team to “Us”. Each of these coaches had a unique journey to where they are today. Their stories demonstrate that there are many ways to grow into a strong leader. This was an enjoyable read and provided a glimpse into the lives of some of my favorite coaches.

[Tom Gase · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh not really what was looking for. Around nine different stories on nine different coaches at the pro and college level but I didn’t really see a common theme and not sure what Seth Davis was trying to prove or say. Felt this would have just been better as nine different magazine articles. I did like the info on Doc Rivers and Tom Izzo but I already knew a lot about Boeheim and Coach K and I don’t really care about Urban Meyer or Jim Harbaugh. Just read Seth Davis’ book on John Wooden instead. That one is flawless.

[John Stigman · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good read. The book is more of a biography of the coaches rather than methods of how they create the essence of a team. The stories of each coach is more of an overview of their lives rather than methods of culture. If you are reading this book to learn about big-name coaches, then it is good. If you are looking for information on culture, there are much better books out there, like Legacy by James Kerr and the Culture Code by Daniel Coyle.

[Colin Cerniglia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Urban Meyer material has not aged well but that's not entirely the fault of the author. However, the insight from Coach K and Doc Rivers is incredibly strong. River, in particular, has a super compelling story. His playing and coaching career in basketball has many ups and downs but it's clear that he is a person of high character and has an open mindset to learn from others. Overall, a great book!

[Marcus Scheer · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you look at some of the coaches’ names in this book, you may already have an idea or perception of them as a person or coach. But if you can push that aside, this book is great when it comes to learning about great coaches. Some of the little stories weaved in this book may be known, but I didn’t know most of the background nuggets in this one.

Highly recommend regardless if you are a sports fan.

[Song Flagler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried to like this book, but I just didn’t. It felt like he was forcing his themes (Us and PEAK) too hard. I didn’t learn a lot about the men in this book, and I didn’t learn a lot about leadership. I wanted it to be a deeper analysis of their abilities and leadership style, and it just wasn’t. It was...eh...

[Leslienorvell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each chapter/story stands alone, so you can skip coaches or teams that don't interest you. More a story about coaching personalities and how that personality drives/shapes teams. Not really about lessons that you can implement. It's more just validating all these successful coaches because of their personalities.

[Eric Orell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought this was a good read. I liked how each coach has its own chapter but wished they were a little longer. Overall, I took a little bit from each that will help me in my coaching which is what I always try to do.