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Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind
The U. S. hockey team’s victory at the 1980 Olympics was a “Miracle on Ice”--a miracle largely brought about by the late Herb Brooks, the legendary coach who forged that invincible team. Famously antagonistic toward the press at Lake Placid, Brooks nonetheless turned to sportswriter John Gilbert after each game, giving his longtime friend and confidant what became the most comprehensive coverage of the ’80 team. This book is Gilbert’s memoir of Brooks. Neither strictly biography or tell-all exposé, Herb Born to Coach is the story of an extraordinary man as it emerged in the course of a remarkable friendship.
Gilbert, writing for the Minneapolis Tribune , first met Brooks during his coaching days at the University of Minnesota, whose hockey program he resurrected in the 1970’s. The two became fast friends, and here, for the first time, Gilbert relates anecdotes--his own and former players’--that illuminate Brooks’ oftentimes hard-nosed coaching methods, his dramatic successes, and his incomparable character. From Brooks’ beginnings in East St. Paul and his stint with the 1960 gold medal-winning Olympic team (from which he was famously the last player cut), Gilbert goes on to dissect the coach’s tenure with the Gophers (including three national titles) and the Lake Placid story, from the selection process and yearlong barnstorming tour to the Games themselves. Throughout this and later chapters of Brooks’ career--including coaching turns with St. Cloud State University, four NHL teams, and the 2002 U.S. Olympic squad--readers are treated to impossibly colorful quotes, rare photographs from Brooks’ playing and coaching careers, and pertinent sidebar pieces that originally appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune .
Gilbert, writing for the Minneapolis Tribune , first met Brooks during his coaching days at the University of Minnesota, whose hockey program he resurrected in the 1970’s. The two became fast friends, and here, for the first time, Gilbert relates anecdotes--his own and former players’--that illuminate Brooks’ oftentimes hard-nosed coaching methods, his dramatic successes, and his incomparable character. From Brooks’ beginnings in East St. Paul and his stint with the 1960 gold medal-winning Olympic team (from which he was famously the last player cut), Gilbert goes on to dissect the coach’s tenure with the Gophers (including three national titles) and the Lake Placid story, from the selection process and yearlong barnstorming tour to the Games themselves. Throughout this and later chapters of Brooks’ career--including coaching turns with St. Cloud State University, four NHL teams, and the 2002 U.S. Olympic squad--readers are treated to impossibly colorful quotes, rare photographs from Brooks’ playing and coaching careers, and pertinent sidebar pieces that originally appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune .
320 pages, Hardcover
First published November 14, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 20, 2019
After many years of admiring the story behind the man who created the greatest sports moment of the twentieth century - the Miracle on Ice 1980 Olympic gold-medal hockey team - John Gilbert finally gave me the ultimate biography of a person he knew oh-so-well and gladly shared with the world in “Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind.” Scratch that: I will never truly be done with finding out more about Herb Brooks, and that makes me all the more happy to keep researching this hockey legend!
I first heard of Herb Brooks the day I saw him for the first and final time. Herbie was a tried-and-true East Sider of St. Paul, Minnesota, and was at his high school alma mater, St. Paul Johnson, for the annual pancake breakfast in Spring 2003, 5 months before his untimely death in a car accident. Dad pointed Herb out to me, and I’ll never forget how happy Herb looked talking with a group of people in the school cafeteria. Sure, Herb easily could have known those people his entire life, or just as likely, he had just run into them that morning for the first time and wanted to have a cordial conversation with some fellow Johnson Governors. Though Herb had played and / or coached in colleges, the NHL, and for international and Olympic teams from around the world for the past 40 years, here he was at a simple pancake breakfast in his hometown chit-chatting with some fellow East Siders. The very next year at the pancake breakfast, the school honored Herb’s memory by retiring his #5 jersey. On a national scale, Disney released the greatest hockey movie ever made, “Miracle.” My desire to learn everything I could about Herb was on!
Gilbert does a fantastic job of covering the life and times of Herb Brooks from birth to death, with special emphasis on his coaching career at the University of Minnesota and the 1980 Winter Olympics. The author’s relationship with Brooks - which began when he was working as the noted hockey reporter at the Minneapolis newspaper and when Brooks became the Gophers head coach, with their great working relationship transforming to a deep friendship - is perhaps the greatest element to this biography and will forever make this piece stand out compared to anything published before or since. Ross Bernstein’s “Remembering Herbie” - which is essentially just a book of quotations gathered from Herb’s friends, family, players, and contemporaries - did a good job in highlighting Brooks’ philosophy degree and how he likely used it to his advantage throughout his coaching career, as well as stories of his exploits on St. Paul’s East Side. The recent work on highlighting each member of the 1980 Olympic team, “The Boys of Winter”, goes beyond all measure in covering most aspects of that 8 month journey. However, it wasn’t until this book that I was finally satisfied with the commentary on the great upset of the #2 seed, Czechoslovakia - leave it to a Minnesota newspaper reporter to be the one who actually followed Team USA all 8 months and recognized the importance of each Olympic game played.
All in all, Gilbert manages to capture the essence of both these aforementioned books while offering the complete and focused story of the greatest developmental hockey coach the world may have ever known. As a fellow East Sider and Johnson alumni, but also as a fan of this great sport, I will always cherish everything Herb Brooks gave to this world. For that, we say “Thank you, Herb!” (And my grandma’s sister will always be thankful for that kiss you shared with her, probably in the late 1950s, while my grandma was in the other room. Oh, Herbie!)
I first heard of Herb Brooks the day I saw him for the first and final time. Herbie was a tried-and-true East Sider of St. Paul, Minnesota, and was at his high school alma mater, St. Paul Johnson, for the annual pancake breakfast in Spring 2003, 5 months before his untimely death in a car accident. Dad pointed Herb out to me, and I’ll never forget how happy Herb looked talking with a group of people in the school cafeteria. Sure, Herb easily could have known those people his entire life, or just as likely, he had just run into them that morning for the first time and wanted to have a cordial conversation with some fellow Johnson Governors. Though Herb had played and / or coached in colleges, the NHL, and for international and Olympic teams from around the world for the past 40 years, here he was at a simple pancake breakfast in his hometown chit-chatting with some fellow East Siders. The very next year at the pancake breakfast, the school honored Herb’s memory by retiring his #5 jersey. On a national scale, Disney released the greatest hockey movie ever made, “Miracle.” My desire to learn everything I could about Herb was on!
Gilbert does a fantastic job of covering the life and times of Herb Brooks from birth to death, with special emphasis on his coaching career at the University of Minnesota and the 1980 Winter Olympics. The author’s relationship with Brooks - which began when he was working as the noted hockey reporter at the Minneapolis newspaper and when Brooks became the Gophers head coach, with their great working relationship transforming to a deep friendship - is perhaps the greatest element to this biography and will forever make this piece stand out compared to anything published before or since. Ross Bernstein’s “Remembering Herbie” - which is essentially just a book of quotations gathered from Herb’s friends, family, players, and contemporaries - did a good job in highlighting Brooks’ philosophy degree and how he likely used it to his advantage throughout his coaching career, as well as stories of his exploits on St. Paul’s East Side. The recent work on highlighting each member of the 1980 Olympic team, “The Boys of Winter”, goes beyond all measure in covering most aspects of that 8 month journey. However, it wasn’t until this book that I was finally satisfied with the commentary on the great upset of the #2 seed, Czechoslovakia - leave it to a Minnesota newspaper reporter to be the one who actually followed Team USA all 8 months and recognized the importance of each Olympic game played.
All in all, Gilbert manages to capture the essence of both these aforementioned books while offering the complete and focused story of the greatest developmental hockey coach the world may have ever known. As a fellow East Sider and Johnson alumni, but also as a fan of this great sport, I will always cherish everything Herb Brooks gave to this world. For that, we say “Thank you, Herb!” (And my grandma’s sister will always be thankful for that kiss you shared with her, probably in the late 1950s, while my grandma was in the other room. Oh, Herbie!)
August 27, 2011
A good book telling the story of herb Brooks the coach of the 1980 Olympic Team. The book does not detail much of Brook's childhood or his playing career, being the last cut on the 1960 Olympic team. The bulk of the book covers his coaching career at the University of Minnesota where he won 3 NCAA championships, his building and coaching of the 1980 Olympic team and his post Olympic career in the NHL. The book details a lot of his coaching innovations and motivational techniques which were unique in the US in the 70's and 80's.
November 14, 2019
I absolutely enjoyed this book. It thoroughly described Herbs life in a way that kept the reader interested during the novel. The story switched between Herbs time on and off the ice fluently but still kept it true to its character. Herbs time as the 1980 Men's Ice Hockey Olympic Coach was very eventful and stunning to say the least. The only thing I thought the book could have done better is explain the players reactions to Herb during certain events. Overall I give this Book a ten because I am a very picky reader, but I still picked up this book every chance it got.
May 29, 2019
I thought this book was a really good book because it talked about all of his accomplishments. It was cool to hear about some of the things that he did that weren't to famous but he still gets credit for. I think this book is for any sports fan but especially hockey fans because most people in the hockey world know Herb Brooks. I would recomend this book to any hockey fans because Herb Brooks moved the hockey world.
January 8, 2024
Fascinating read. A lot of history and change in the game of hockey that you don’t really think about as being such huge shifts if you didn’t live through. Getting a look at it from an author close to a pillar of the development of the game in the US is interesting to say the least
October 7, 2021
Great inside the life tale of the greatest hockey coach of all time
March 20, 2022
A great book.However. It took a long time. Stick to the subject.
February 12, 2013
Considering I don't usually read biographies, or anything nonfiction, really, I enjoyed this look at hockey coach Herb Brooks' life. Though hockey coach seems to be an understatement for the man whose coaching career spans the NCAA, NFL, amateur/junior hockey etc, and of course, 3 appearances at the Olympic Games ('80 and '02 for USA, '98 with France). He also played on u.s. national teams, was last cut for the '60 games, and stayed close with grassroots MN hockey (being a native MN himself). Apart from learning these tidbits and more moments, I also developed an appreciation for a sport I normally give little consideration to--with the exception of Miracle, a movie loosely adapted from the 1980 US hockey teams journey from training camp to the lake placid games (I'm from the football and basketball part of MN, hs hockey doesn't have a very large following in my area). From reading this book, I might just start watching (and even slightly understanding) hockey.
January 27, 2013
An excellent biography of the legendary coach's life and career. It covers not only the 1980 Olympic team where his legand grew but also his coaching career at the University of Minnesota and the NHL. As a fan of college hockey, especially during the late 70s and early 80s, I enjoyed the stories of the Minnesota Gopher hockey teams coached by Brooks. John Gilbert is a talented hockey writer and was a close friend of Brooks. Both of these are evident throughout the book. A must read for any hockey fan.
October 3, 2011
A wonderful account of Brooks and his life from someone who was close to him. The stories shared make you feel like you have known Brooks all your life.
August 20, 2012
Great book from someone who was very close to Herb Brooks. Nothing to differentiate from other Herb Brooks stories or books, but still a good read.
February 1, 2013
Great book! Couldn't put it down, learned a lot about Herb and hockey. Two thumbs up!
May 18, 2015
Amazing to read more about Herb Brooks. He is such an inspiration and lets me look at life a little differently.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews