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Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life
A story with a big heart about a boy, a coach, the game of baseball, and the game of life.
"There are teachers with a rare ability to enter a child's mind; it's as if their ability to get there at all gives them the right to stay forever." There was a turning point in Michael Lewis's life, in a baseball game when he was fourteen years old. The irascible and often terrifying Coach Fitz put the ball in his hand with the game on the line and managed to convey such confident trust in Lewis's ability that the boy had no choice but to live up to it. "I didn't have words for it then, but I do I am about to show the world, and myself, what I can do." The coach's message was not simply about winning but about self-respect, sacrifice, courage, and endurance. In some ways, and now thirty years later, Lewis still finds himself trying to measure up to what Coach Fitz expected of him.
"There are teachers with a rare ability to enter a child's mind; it's as if their ability to get there at all gives them the right to stay forever." There was a turning point in Michael Lewis's life, in a baseball game when he was fourteen years old. The irascible and often terrifying Coach Fitz put the ball in his hand with the game on the line and managed to convey such confident trust in Lewis's ability that the boy had no choice but to live up to it. "I didn't have words for it then, but I do I am about to show the world, and myself, what I can do." The coach's message was not simply about winning but about self-respect, sacrifice, courage, and endurance. In some ways, and now thirty years later, Lewis still finds himself trying to measure up to what Coach Fitz expected of him.
70 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
111 people are currently reading
2828 people want to read
About the author
Michael Lewis
42 books15.2k followersMichael Monroe Lewis is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He is known for his nonfiction work, particularly his coverage of financial crises and behavioral finance.
Lewis was born in New Orleans and attended Princeton University, from which he graduated with a degree in art history. After attending the London School of Economics, he began a career on Wall Street during the 1980s as a bond salesman at Salomon Brothers. The experience prompted him to write his first book, Liar's Poker (1989). Fourteen years later, Lewis wrote Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (2003), in which he investigated the success of Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics. His 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game was his first to be adapted into a film, The Blind Side (2009). In 2010, he released The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. The film adaptation of Moneyball was released in 2011, followed by The Big Short in 2015.
Lewis's books have won two Los Angeles Times Book Prizes and several have reached number one on the New York Times Bestsellers Lists, including his most recent book, Going Infinite (2023).
Lewis was born in New Orleans and attended Princeton University, from which he graduated with a degree in art history. After attending the London School of Economics, he began a career on Wall Street during the 1980s as a bond salesman at Salomon Brothers. The experience prompted him to write his first book, Liar's Poker (1989). Fourteen years later, Lewis wrote Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (2003), in which he investigated the success of Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics. His 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game was his first to be adapted into a film, The Blind Side (2009). In 2010, he released The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine. The film adaptation of Moneyball was released in 2011, followed by The Big Short in 2015.
Lewis's books have won two Los Angeles Times Book Prizes and several have reached number one on the New York Times Bestsellers Lists, including his most recent book, Going Infinite (2023).
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January 29, 2015
This is a nice story about how a tough coach inspired some high school kids to do more with their lives, including the author.
It is also a story of a generational divide, and how modern parents are accused of "helicoptering" and sheltering their kids too much, which makes it more difficult for the coach to do his job.
The book has a lot of meaning, despite being only 90 pages long. Michael Lewis attended a wealthy private school in New Orleans, and Billy Fitzgerald was his baseball coach. Coach Fitz was intense, and was prone to giving sermons, breaking things if he was upset, and adding extra practices if he didn't think the kids were working hard enough.
But that was more than 30 years ago. Lewis learned that some parents were trying to have Coach Fitz fired because they thought he was too tough on their kids. So Lewis went back to New Orleans to investigate.
When Lewis talked to Fitz about it, he said it was more difficult to have a meaningful relationship with the kids. "I can't get inside them anymore ... They don't get it. But most kids don't get it. The trouble is every time I try the parents get in the way."
Lewis described "it" as the importance of battling one's way through the easy excuses life offers up. "I've had to learn that you can't save everybody," Fitz said.
While there is some discussion of the complaints against the coach, most of the book focuses on the impact Fitz had on his life and and other students (one of whom was Peyton Manning). Lewis shares the story of a baseball game that was memorable for him. It was the last night of the season, the team was tied for first place, and Lewis was suddenly called in to pitch. Lewis said: "I was fourteen, could pass for twelve, and of no obvious athletic use."
But when Lewis got to the pitcher's mound, coach was waiting for him. He handed him the ball and told him to put it where the sun don't shine. "Then Fitz leaned down, put his hand on my shoulder, and thrusting his face right up to mine, became as calm as the eye of a storm. It was just him and me now; we were in this together. I have no idea where the man's intention ended and his instincts took over, but the effect of his performance was to say: there's no one I'd rather have out here in this life-or-death situation. And I believed him! ... I can still recall, thirty years later, the sensation he created in me. I didn't have words for it then, but I do now: I am about to show the world, and myself, what I can do."
And it worked! Lewis pitched well enough to win the game, and he suddenly felt more purposeful in his life. He started working harder in school and at practices. In short, Fitz changed my life.
This is one of those nice, little books that you can read in one sitting. It's well-written, inspirational and the stories will probably stay with me for a while. I like Lewis' writing (I have also read The Blind Side and Moneyball) and will continue to read his other books.
However, my complaint is that this slim volume is padded with photographs, most of which are unnecessary and irrelevant. This story was originally printed in The New York Times Magazine, and publishers probably thought that because Lewis was a popular author, they could slap it in book form and get a sales boost before Father's Day. But I chafe at such ploys. There are a few photos of Coach Fitz, and one of Lewis on the pitcher's mound, but the rest are stock photos of a kid playing in the snow, a girl cuddling with a dog, fireworks, graduation caps thrown in the air, blah blah blah. The ridiculousness of it made me drop down to a 3-star rating. I think if Coach Fitz had been in charge of this book, he wouldn't have stood for that nonsense.
It is also a story of a generational divide, and how modern parents are accused of "helicoptering" and sheltering their kids too much, which makes it more difficult for the coach to do his job.
The book has a lot of meaning, despite being only 90 pages long. Michael Lewis attended a wealthy private school in New Orleans, and Billy Fitzgerald was his baseball coach. Coach Fitz was intense, and was prone to giving sermons, breaking things if he was upset, and adding extra practices if he didn't think the kids were working hard enough.
But that was more than 30 years ago. Lewis learned that some parents were trying to have Coach Fitz fired because they thought he was too tough on their kids. So Lewis went back to New Orleans to investigate.
The current headmaster's name was Scott McLeod, and, he said, the school he'd taken charge of in 1993 was different from the school I'd graduated from in 1978. "The parents' willingness to intercede on the kids' behalf, to take the kids' side, to protect the kid, in a not-healthy way — there's more of that each year," he said. "It's true in sports, it's true in the classroom. And it's only going to get worse." Fitz sat at the top of the list of hardships that parents protected their kids from; indeed, the first angry call McLeod received after he became headmaster came from a father who was upset that Fitz wasn't giving his son more playing time.
When Lewis talked to Fitz about it, he said it was more difficult to have a meaningful relationship with the kids. "I can't get inside them anymore ... They don't get it. But most kids don't get it. The trouble is every time I try the parents get in the way."
Lewis described "it" as the importance of battling one's way through the easy excuses life offers up. "I've had to learn that you can't save everybody," Fitz said.
While there is some discussion of the complaints against the coach, most of the book focuses on the impact Fitz had on his life and and other students (one of whom was Peyton Manning). Lewis shares the story of a baseball game that was memorable for him. It was the last night of the season, the team was tied for first place, and Lewis was suddenly called in to pitch. Lewis said: "I was fourteen, could pass for twelve, and of no obvious athletic use."
But when Lewis got to the pitcher's mound, coach was waiting for him. He handed him the ball and told him to put it where the sun don't shine. "Then Fitz leaned down, put his hand on my shoulder, and thrusting his face right up to mine, became as calm as the eye of a storm. It was just him and me now; we were in this together. I have no idea where the man's intention ended and his instincts took over, but the effect of his performance was to say: there's no one I'd rather have out here in this life-or-death situation. And I believed him! ... I can still recall, thirty years later, the sensation he created in me. I didn't have words for it then, but I do now: I am about to show the world, and myself, what I can do."
And it worked! Lewis pitched well enough to win the game, and he suddenly felt more purposeful in his life. He started working harder in school and at practices. In short, Fitz changed my life.
This is one of those nice, little books that you can read in one sitting. It's well-written, inspirational and the stories will probably stay with me for a while. I like Lewis' writing (I have also read The Blind Side and Moneyball) and will continue to read his other books.
However, my complaint is that this slim volume is padded with photographs, most of which are unnecessary and irrelevant. This story was originally printed in The New York Times Magazine, and publishers probably thought that because Lewis was a popular author, they could slap it in book form and get a sales boost before Father's Day. But I chafe at such ploys. There are a few photos of Coach Fitz, and one of Lewis on the pitcher's mound, but the rest are stock photos of a kid playing in the snow, a girl cuddling with a dog, fireworks, graduation caps thrown in the air, blah blah blah. The ridiculousness of it made me drop down to a 3-star rating. I think if Coach Fitz had been in charge of this book, he wouldn't have stood for that nonsense.
October 13, 2017
"'There are teachers with a rare ability to enter a child's mind; it's as if their ability to get there at all gives them the right to stay forever.' There was a turning point in Michael Lewis's life, in a baseball game when he was fourteen years old. The irascible and often terrifying Coach Fitz put the ball in his hand with the game on the line and managed to convey such confident trust in Lewis's ability that the boy had no choice but to live up to it. "I didn't have words for it then, but I do now: I am about to show the world, and myself, what I can do." The coach's message was not simply about winning but about self-respect, sacrifice, courage, and endurance. In some ways, and now thirty years later, Lewis still finds himself trying to measure up to what Coach Fitz expected of him."
February 27, 2018
This brief book, basically written to do two major things: honor a legendary prep school baseball coach and remind today's parents the easy way does not prepare your kids for life's tough lessons.
Michael Lewis willing admits he was basically a spoiled brat when he was younger, roughly around 11-13 years old, until he met Coach Fitzgerald his freshman year in high school. Not only did the Coach teach baseball, but he also taught the adolescent boys about life. Coach didn't scream and yell about winning, he taught responsibility, teamwork, sportsmanship; and his boys and their parents loved him.
Fast forward to today's kids and many don't want to put in the work and the parents back them up. Not all, of course. At Lewis' old school parents were complaining about Coach, so Lewis went to find out why. This is his findings. Every parent should read or listen to this.
Personal Note: I've seen what he's talking about firsthand.
Michael Lewis willing admits he was basically a spoiled brat when he was younger, roughly around 11-13 years old, until he met Coach Fitzgerald his freshman year in high school. Not only did the Coach teach baseball, but he also taught the adolescent boys about life. Coach didn't scream and yell about winning, he taught responsibility, teamwork, sportsmanship; and his boys and their parents loved him.
Fast forward to today's kids and many don't want to put in the work and the parents back them up. Not all, of course. At Lewis' old school parents were complaining about Coach, so Lewis went to find out why. This is his findings. Every parent should read or listen to this.
Personal Note: I've seen what he's talking about firsthand.
April 4, 2018
A short memoir written by the prolific author, Michael Lewis, about a baseball coach he had in high school and how the coach’s firm, but caring approach had a lasting impact on him.
January 30, 2021
Slim book. Really a long article. But worth the steep price I paid to ship the physical copy across several oceans. To me, it's reminiscent of those Reader's Digest pieces. Except this is Michael Lewis we're talking about — so the point isn't driven him with a sledgehammer and there is no 'do this and you will win in life' kind of prescription. It's a gentle story that will leave you thinking for a long time afterwards. You can finish it in an hour. It came home from Books Wagon via Amazon. I ripped off the package and finished half of it with breakfast and the other half after a work out.
A must-read for parents.
A must-read for parents.
June 1, 2012
I won't bother to repeat all the basic details already covered by other readers except to say, Yes, it's short (I'm estimating 8,000 words), but it really packs a punch. As a father of four (3 boys, 1 girl), the themes really resonated with me. This quote seems to sum it up much better than I would be able to do:
There's an even better quote on pages 82-83, but I'll let you read it yourself.
Here's why that quote resonates with me personally. For the past 15 years or so, I've pondered the idea that self-discipline is listed last by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:22-23 perhaps because it is the "holy grail" of a truly fruitful life. More than anything, I want my children to grow up esteeming self-discipline as equally honorable and desirable compared to virtues such as love and peace. I recognize that one can be incredibly disciplined in all the wrong ways (hence the other 8 fruits), but the older I get, the more I recognize the elusiveness and value of that fruit called self-control. Even as I type this I am wearing a cheap rubber bracelet that simply says "Lose Your Quit." I can't help but think that the world would be a much better place if we would all learn this simple lesson. Too bad there isn't a Coach Fitz in each of our lives. I suppose this tiny booklet will have to suffice.
"Fitz gave another one of his sermons. They were always a little different but they never strayed far from a general theme: What It Means To Be A Man. What it meant to be a man was that you struggled against your natural instinct to run away from adversity" (p.77).
There's an even better quote on pages 82-83, but I'll let you read it yourself.
Here's why that quote resonates with me personally. For the past 15 years or so, I've pondered the idea that self-discipline is listed last by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:22-23 perhaps because it is the "holy grail" of a truly fruitful life. More than anything, I want my children to grow up esteeming self-discipline as equally honorable and desirable compared to virtues such as love and peace. I recognize that one can be incredibly disciplined in all the wrong ways (hence the other 8 fruits), but the older I get, the more I recognize the elusiveness and value of that fruit called self-control. Even as I type this I am wearing a cheap rubber bracelet that simply says "Lose Your Quit." I can't help but think that the world would be a much better place if we would all learn this simple lesson. Too bad there isn't a Coach Fitz in each of our lives. I suppose this tiny booklet will have to suffice.
July 22, 2021
Coach is a very good book. It explains how this one coach at a Tennessee high school was so good that he created a legendary school and a legendary program. This coach is called Coach Fitz. At the school he coaches for, Newman, the famous NFL quarterbacks Eli and Peyton Manning came through his program for baseball, and they don't even care to recall their football coach, because Coach Fitz was that good. This book explains just how good he was.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2021
In athletics, should a player ever feel bad or be made to feel bad for lack of effort or commitment? In Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life, Michael Lewis makes the case for "yes."
Coach is a short profile of Lewis's high school baseball coach, Fitz. Fitz takes a hard nosed approach to coaching teenagers, and parents increasingly complain about it now. There is a sort of culture wars/ generational divide quality to this work, which defends Fitz against helicopter parents who never want their children to feel uncomfortable or who feel their child is destined for the big leagues. I've become increasingly exhausted by these conflicts, but Lewis captures something that really does feel transcendent about athletics and something enduringly valuably about coming of age with mentors who have high and unyielding expectations.
Lewis recalls his own transcendent moment as a high school pitcher who was subbed in, dismissed by the other team, and ultimately victorious. It's a nice story. But that moment of victory is fleeting and perhaps also beside the point. Lewis explains that:
Speaking personally, I'm increasingly skeptical that sports is "just sports," even if it is obviously not so important that parents need to be yelling at the ref (or each other). Many of my proudest moments have come from those, to give one broadly representative example, opportunities to not run because it was pouring rain but I went out anyway. Sports can provide a lot of similar moments for teenagers but also for adults. As a coach, I'll never forget the time I subbed in a kid and told him to immediately put up a 3 if he was open. He made it! As a person who exercises, I've come to realize over the past year that I really like spinning classes in which the instructors are assertive, almost aggressive, in making their programs. A sense of humor is nice, but I guess fun alone isn't enough. Even if you're tired, it seems admirable to me to show up and give it a go anyway.
Ultimately, Coach nudged me to take more seriously the idea that a little pressure can be a good thing.
Coach is a short profile of Lewis's high school baseball coach, Fitz. Fitz takes a hard nosed approach to coaching teenagers, and parents increasingly complain about it now. There is a sort of culture wars/ generational divide quality to this work, which defends Fitz against helicopter parents who never want their children to feel uncomfortable or who feel their child is destined for the big leagues. I've become increasingly exhausted by these conflicts, but Lewis captures something that really does feel transcendent about athletics and something enduringly valuably about coming of age with mentors who have high and unyielding expectations.
Lewis recalls his own transcendent moment as a high school pitcher who was subbed in, dismissed by the other team, and ultimately victorious. It's a nice story. But that moment of victory is fleeting and perhaps also beside the point. Lewis explains that:
We listened to the man because he had something to tell us, and us alone. Not how to play baseball, though he did that better than anyone. Not how to win, though winning was wonderful. Not even how to sacrifice. He was teaching us something far more important: how to cope with the two greatest enemies of a well-lived life, fear and failure. To make the lesson stick, he made sure we encountered enough of both. What he knew--and I'm not sure he'd ever consciously thought it, but he knew it all the same--was that we'd never conquer the weaknesses within ourselves. We'd never drive the worst of ourselves away for good. We'd never win. The only glory to be had would be in the quality of the struggle. (82)I wonder if the line that divides readers who sympathize with Fitz from those who don't is how they think about struggle as something that provides an almost existential meaning, even if it's "just" sports.
Speaking personally, I'm increasingly skeptical that sports is "just sports," even if it is obviously not so important that parents need to be yelling at the ref (or each other). Many of my proudest moments have come from those, to give one broadly representative example, opportunities to not run because it was pouring rain but I went out anyway. Sports can provide a lot of similar moments for teenagers but also for adults. As a coach, I'll never forget the time I subbed in a kid and told him to immediately put up a 3 if he was open. He made it! As a person who exercises, I've come to realize over the past year that I really like spinning classes in which the instructors are assertive, almost aggressive, in making their programs. A sense of humor is nice, but I guess fun alone isn't enough. Even if you're tired, it seems admirable to me to show up and give it a go anyway.
Ultimately, Coach nudged me to take more seriously the idea that a little pressure can be a good thing.
May 20, 2020
Essential reading for every parent
If you want your kids to learn how to face hardship and work with others this is a book that might help you understand a hard lesson that many modern parents avoid learning.
If you want your kids to learn how to face hardship and work with others this is a book that might help you understand a hard lesson that many modern parents avoid learning.
June 1, 2016
“It was as if this baseball coach had reached inside me, found a rusty switch marked: 'turn on before attempting use' - and flipped it.”
― Michael Lewis, Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life
I recently had lunch with an old friend of mine and her sister. Their father was one of those iconic baseball/football coaches in Oregon who recently had a celebration on his 50th year of coaching (or something close). This is a guy, who, by the accounts of his daughters was so tough he probably would be fired if he was coaching today. He would yell at the boys, drill them hard, and if he felt they weren't leaving everything on the field, if they weren't giving it their best, would make sure they were the last team on the bus. The lights would be shut off, the field abandoned, before he would quietly escort his boys to the bus for the long, quiet, dark, shame-filled ride home. The funny thing was, these adults now who were celebrating this man, many now in their forties, talked about this event, this time, this season as the BEST in their lives. It is amazing the ability a good coach, a strong mentor, an inspired leader can have on boys of a certain age.
It has been years now, but I also remember meeting John Wooden once at a business meeting in LA. One of those meetings they bring out inspired speakers, etc., to motivate the sales force. Wooden was great, no doubt, but I was more fascinated by the crowd of men (my peers) who stood in awe of this man. It is amazing to see how even adults can reverence the idea and ideal of a great coach.
Coach is more of a tribute/essay/paean than a book, Coach is a relic. It is a reflection on Billy "Fitz" Fitzgerald, one of those influential and transformative men who through their character, courage and strength affect a large number of boys. Lewis recalls his memories of Coach Fitz and details the way both parents and children have changed (at least in the milieu of New Orleans and the Isidore Newman School). At heart it is a nostalgia tour of a great man and how lessons about adversity, strength, practice, resolve, respect and focus taught the right way to the right children can help children concur both fear and failure on the road to adulthood.
― Michael Lewis, Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life
I recently had lunch with an old friend of mine and her sister. Their father was one of those iconic baseball/football coaches in Oregon who recently had a celebration on his 50th year of coaching (or something close). This is a guy, who, by the accounts of his daughters was so tough he probably would be fired if he was coaching today. He would yell at the boys, drill them hard, and if he felt they weren't leaving everything on the field, if they weren't giving it their best, would make sure they were the last team on the bus. The lights would be shut off, the field abandoned, before he would quietly escort his boys to the bus for the long, quiet, dark, shame-filled ride home. The funny thing was, these adults now who were celebrating this man, many now in their forties, talked about this event, this time, this season as the BEST in their lives. It is amazing the ability a good coach, a strong mentor, an inspired leader can have on boys of a certain age.
It has been years now, but I also remember meeting John Wooden once at a business meeting in LA. One of those meetings they bring out inspired speakers, etc., to motivate the sales force. Wooden was great, no doubt, but I was more fascinated by the crowd of men (my peers) who stood in awe of this man. It is amazing to see how even adults can reverence the idea and ideal of a great coach.
Coach is more of a tribute/essay/paean than a book, Coach is a relic. It is a reflection on Billy "Fitz" Fitzgerald, one of those influential and transformative men who through their character, courage and strength affect a large number of boys. Lewis recalls his memories of Coach Fitz and details the way both parents and children have changed (at least in the milieu of New Orleans and the Isidore Newman School). At heart it is a nostalgia tour of a great man and how lessons about adversity, strength, practice, resolve, respect and focus taught the right way to the right children can help children concur both fear and failure on the road to adulthood.
January 13, 2008
The author of this book spoke at my graduation from Tulane Graduate School--for someone I never heard of he gave a wonderful and inspiring speech. I bought the book for my spouse shortly thereafter for Father's Day, it is very short so I thought it would be ideal given his non-work related literature phobia. It took me less than 2 hours to read this book today, served as nice dose of life coaching, told in a magnetic fashion.
December 19, 2008
Short and sweet. A one-day read.
A very compelling story of a generational clash (old players and current generation players) with a legendary coach being the subject of it all.
Teaches lessons about complacency, the virtue of struggle even against overwhelming odds, dedication to team and self, and many others.
Loved it.
A very compelling story of a generational clash (old players and current generation players) with a legendary coach being the subject of it all.
Teaches lessons about complacency, the virtue of struggle even against overwhelming odds, dedication to team and self, and many others.
Loved it.
January 27, 2009
I love everything Michael Lewis writes so I am overlooking the fact that this is basically one long article (you can read it in an hour) posing as a book, very slim on content. I am puzzled why there are wholesome-america photos that you would normally find already inserted in the photo album. Why?
February 8, 2019
A short read bringing back to our attention the importance of coaches and role-models, overall, in our life, even more as we're children developing our character, but also later on, as we're pursuing our careers.
So back to good ethics , hard work and perseverance !
So back to good ethics , hard work and perseverance !
June 1, 2009
A quick (30-minute) read but great insight into one of the traps of modern parenthood--overprotecting your child and not letting them learn lessons the hard way
January 5, 2018
Quick and easy read, yet packed with so many powerful thoughts. Many sentences and paragraphs I had to re-read because they were so inspirational. Everyone needs a coach fitz in their lives!
November 11, 2019
I used to surprise that a considerable population reveres sports teams and coaches, and previously attributed to a general cultural disposition of admiring sports as spectators. Lewis’ book let me understand, at least for the group who practiced sports in coach Fitz’s way, such reverence is hard earned, not a consumer admiring a purchased entertainment experience.
Lewis’s book is full of tension, I couldn’t do his superb writing any justice in this book review, except to recommend please read it in full (better: get the audiobook read by him. His voice, although hoarse, is earnest). In this short book, Lewis interspersed his own personal experience being coached by Fitz. Fitz made baseball a purpose for adolescents, and helped them to get out of young life crises. He differentiated “likes baseball, wants to win” the fun – from applying your whole self like it’s life-and-death, from knowing that life is not a series of purchase decisions to bail out of whatever trouble you are in (for this group of adolescents in expensive school, bail using parents’ money). Fitz had an intensity that tolerated nothing less than devoting all of self to a purpose – team members who went to parties between practices were disciplined and never wanted beach for decades. Lewis himself was grilled by Fitz when his parents took the family to vacation during Mardi Gras, which meant he was one week off committed practice. Guilty for falling short of Fitz’s intense devotion, he was accidentally hit by a ball which broke his nose upon returning to the field. But Lewis described that moment of being hit and losing consciousness as the happy moment of his life, and the first thing he said to his family at the doctor’s office, was he’ll never join vacations. He changed from a trouble-maker who frequented the headmaster’s office for confronting teachers, to a respectful one that the teachers genuinely love. Lewis put it the best– Fitz could reach in and pull a white rabbit out of an empty hat, and the whole experience means a lot more to the white rabbit than to the magician .
Before you think Fitz was sadistic madness torturing high school kids, the book sprinkles enough bits about Fitz to clarify that intensity is even stronger on himself. He’d walk home miles, through bad neighborhoods in murder capital city, when his team lost. It was a habit from his day as a player, kept all the way to coaching, punishing himself in quietness, to redeem for noncommittal adolescents’ sins. He’d miss his own grandson’s christening to be there for a game, and of course outraged when three boys chose to miss that game merely for Paris.
But the trouble is time changes, and the magician is not allowed to reach into empty hats anymore . This is a larger point of the book: a general shift in attitude towards coach and school between 1970s and early 2000s. Parents and former players from 70s revere Fitz for bringing senses into adolescent boys and making them better men – they appreciate him so much to raise funds to build a gym at school named Fitz. Parents today consider themselves as paying patrons demanding pampering, badger the headmaster to fire the coach for calling out their kids’ lack of discipline, failed commitment, and lies. Most these parents are lawyers wanting too badly to help their kids to conventional success of good school and good jobs, and resorting to pester the coach giving their kids more playing time. The irony is, the only parent (a cardiologist) who refused invitations to join this lobbying and actually went to the headmaster to defend the coach’s discipline – had the most hard-working, humble kid who also turned out to be the best player on the team and courted by the type of successes (professional team inviting to join directly after high school) the other lawyer dads wanted so badly that they are trying to harass their way into. You see the parents who don’t get the intensity idea from coach Fitz, are the ones who can’t handle intensity themselves and used to get their way through threatening, complaining, lobbying, purchasing.
This coach Fitz, a closet intellectual whose sermon to team quickly ran Aesop to Mark Twain, who quote "What is to give light must endure burning" to inspire team – is the intense idealism that money/lobbying consumers can’t purchase. As Lewis put, this kind of things "refused to be trivialized by time". This book makes me think of my teachers and parents, and worry whether I could do my job, caring the gift of intensity I received and transmitting it onward to the next generation.
Lewis’s book is full of tension, I couldn’t do his superb writing any justice in this book review, except to recommend please read it in full (better: get the audiobook read by him. His voice, although hoarse, is earnest). In this short book, Lewis interspersed his own personal experience being coached by Fitz. Fitz made baseball a purpose for adolescents, and helped them to get out of young life crises. He differentiated “likes baseball, wants to win” the fun – from applying your whole self like it’s life-and-death, from knowing that life is not a series of purchase decisions to bail out of whatever trouble you are in (for this group of adolescents in expensive school, bail using parents’ money). Fitz had an intensity that tolerated nothing less than devoting all of self to a purpose – team members who went to parties between practices were disciplined and never wanted beach for decades. Lewis himself was grilled by Fitz when his parents took the family to vacation during Mardi Gras, which meant he was one week off committed practice. Guilty for falling short of Fitz’s intense devotion, he was accidentally hit by a ball which broke his nose upon returning to the field. But Lewis described that moment of being hit and losing consciousness as the happy moment of his life, and the first thing he said to his family at the doctor’s office, was he’ll never join vacations. He changed from a trouble-maker who frequented the headmaster’s office for confronting teachers, to a respectful one that the teachers genuinely love. Lewis put it the best– Fitz could reach in and pull a white rabbit out of an empty hat, and the whole experience means a lot more to the white rabbit than to the magician .
Before you think Fitz was sadistic madness torturing high school kids, the book sprinkles enough bits about Fitz to clarify that intensity is even stronger on himself. He’d walk home miles, through bad neighborhoods in murder capital city, when his team lost. It was a habit from his day as a player, kept all the way to coaching, punishing himself in quietness, to redeem for noncommittal adolescents’ sins. He’d miss his own grandson’s christening to be there for a game, and of course outraged when three boys chose to miss that game merely for Paris.
But the trouble is time changes, and the magician is not allowed to reach into empty hats anymore . This is a larger point of the book: a general shift in attitude towards coach and school between 1970s and early 2000s. Parents and former players from 70s revere Fitz for bringing senses into adolescent boys and making them better men – they appreciate him so much to raise funds to build a gym at school named Fitz. Parents today consider themselves as paying patrons demanding pampering, badger the headmaster to fire the coach for calling out their kids’ lack of discipline, failed commitment, and lies. Most these parents are lawyers wanting too badly to help their kids to conventional success of good school and good jobs, and resorting to pester the coach giving their kids more playing time. The irony is, the only parent (a cardiologist) who refused invitations to join this lobbying and actually went to the headmaster to defend the coach’s discipline – had the most hard-working, humble kid who also turned out to be the best player on the team and courted by the type of successes (professional team inviting to join directly after high school) the other lawyer dads wanted so badly that they are trying to harass their way into. You see the parents who don’t get the intensity idea from coach Fitz, are the ones who can’t handle intensity themselves and used to get their way through threatening, complaining, lobbying, purchasing.
This coach Fitz, a closet intellectual whose sermon to team quickly ran Aesop to Mark Twain, who quote "What is to give light must endure burning" to inspire team – is the intense idealism that money/lobbying consumers can’t purchase. As Lewis put, this kind of things "refused to be trivialized by time". This book makes me think of my teachers and parents, and worry whether I could do my job, caring the gift of intensity I received and transmitting it onward to the next generation.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 29, 2023
Really it’s more like 3 and 1/2 or even 4 stars, but I’m knocking it down a smidge, given that it’s so short and I wanted so much more out of it, as well as the fact that, annoyingly, it’s essentially the exact same thing as a banger of a podcast episode I listened to called “Don’t Be Good, Be Great” from the second season of Michael Lewis’s podcast Against the Rules. I was hankering for an expansion of that podcast, and basically got the exact same thing…and payed 16 bucks to boot.
Nonetheless, Billy Fitzgerald is clearly one of the great ones. Listening to his stories reminds me, not only of what we’ve lost as a culture (and what’s leading to our collective downfall), but what I’ve lost as a human being. I’ve had many Billy Fitzgeralds in my life (how many can be so lucky?) and I’ve let them down in recent years, by forgetting just what it costs to be a grown man. I need Fitzes in my life and I need to try my best to be a Fitz to others. I pray God he makes it happen in my life, and, more importantly in our culture at large.
Nonetheless, Billy Fitzgerald is clearly one of the great ones. Listening to his stories reminds me, not only of what we’ve lost as a culture (and what’s leading to our collective downfall), but what I’ve lost as a human being. I’ve had many Billy Fitzgeralds in my life (how many can be so lucky?) and I’ve let them down in recent years, by forgetting just what it costs to be a grown man. I need Fitzes in my life and I need to try my best to be a Fitz to others. I pray God he makes it happen in my life, and, more importantly in our culture at large.
January 3, 2025
Billy Fitzgerald was the baseball and basketball coach at Newman HS in New Orleans for 40 years. He was Michael Lewis’ high school coach. This little gem of a book profiles the man, Coach Fitz, through the lessons he taught on the playing field, teaching in its highest art form. I’m biased having coached at the high school level for 30 years. There are lessons in this book for all involved in youth sports … athletes, parents, coaches, administrators. This is a great, quick read by one of the premier authors of our time.
Read
October 2, 2018This is a story about how a hard coach inspired some high school kids to do more with their lives. Michael lewis was short of a spoiled child when he was a teenager. Coach Fitzgerald taught baseball but he also taught the team about life. The book is pretty short but it is pretty good story.
Coach Fitz as they call him ends up having a lasting impact on Micael.The lesson in the book is that the easy life will not prepare your for life’s hard lessons. I enjoyed the book and I thought it was pretty good.
Coach Fitz as they call him ends up having a lasting impact on Micael.The lesson in the book is that the easy life will not prepare your for life’s hard lessons. I enjoyed the book and I thought it was pretty good.
April 29, 2024
It was a good, short, book.
I related heavily to the old school coach. The one that the parents and administration had problems/hesitation about because he spoke the truth, but wasn’t political enough to hide behind words.
I enjoyed this short read and related to it well.
Drawback was that sometimes the author jumped around or added some weird sentences and it caught me off guard.
But would read again
I related heavily to the old school coach. The one that the parents and administration had problems/hesitation about because he spoke the truth, but wasn’t political enough to hide behind words.
I enjoyed this short read and related to it well.
Drawback was that sometimes the author jumped around or added some weird sentences and it caught me off guard.
But would read again
November 25, 2018
Only available through Audible, this one hour listen is worth every minute. Lewis tells the story of Billy Fitz, known to his athletes as Coach Fitz, and the life changing impact Coach had on his own life and the lives of New Orleans Athletes. And in the telling is also a commentary on modern parenting that is spot on. Can't recommend strongly enough.
November 14, 2023
Well that was one of the shortest books I read in a long time. It’s mainly about the author’s high school baseball coach having to adapt to modern times in which the players’ parents hover and he can’t be as tough on them as he used to be. Which I guess is a bad thing… It is a bit boomerish to put it mildly.
January 22, 2018
I grant Lewis' premise that learning how to work hard and sacrifice to achieve a larger goal is an important thing for kids to learn. But the big unexamined question of this book for me is, is fear and intimidation the best way to teach that?
December 5, 2021
Good story and thought provoking but came across as a boomer lamenting on the good ol times
June 24, 2023
Good short story.
January 1, 2022
I'm a big Michael Lewis fan of his books and podcasts. He weaves a great tell and has an excellent reading voice. If you know and like Michael Lewis, you're in for a treat.
May 7, 2017
Kind of a little gem. I believe this originated as a magazine piece, but now is published in book form. It is a very quick read - 20-30 minutes. But while teaching executives this week about leadership style and grit, this book came in very handy. Michael Lewis recounts his experience being coached by a baseball coach that demanded much from his students both on the field and in life. The coach was beloved by Lewis's classmates and others of his generation. However, when raising money to refurbish the school gym and name it after the coach, parents of current players objected. The coach was no longer beloved, but rather seen to be too demanding, too harsh in his treatment of the boys. The book laments this disconnect and mourns the loss of an era in which boys could be pushed by a coach (or teacher or parent or scout leader, etc.) to excel and in the process develop the skills, capabilities, and resilience to be good men.
March 5, 2019
... I can't understand how this was published as a 'book' when it's a long-form article. There are precious few examples of how exactly Coach FritZ changed Lewis's life. If they were going to make this into a book, then, in keeping with that hard-working tradition, Lewis should have done additional writing/research to give a more in-depth and comprehensive look at this major influence on his life.
As it stands, this is the weakest thing by Lewis I've ever read. The fact that the 'book' (chapbook perhaps?) is padded with mostly stock photos is a further disgrace. Shame on everyone involved in this money grab of a project.
As it stands, this is the weakest thing by Lewis I've ever read. The fact that the 'book' (chapbook perhaps?) is padded with mostly stock photos is a further disgrace. Shame on everyone involved in this money grab of a project.
March 14, 2014
INSPIRING.
What price sissification?
COACH: Lessons on the Game of Life, by Michael Lewis begs that question. And hints at what a tremendous lose it is when self-respect is no longer to be earned but becomes merely a facetious, meaningless, spoon-fed entitlement.
Recommendation: Parents, please love your kids, and please read or listen to 'COACH.'
"The coach's message was not simply about winning but about self-respect, sacrifice, courage, and endurance."—goodreads.com synopsis
MP3 audio book edition, 57 Minutes
What price sissification?
COACH: Lessons on the Game of Life, by Michael Lewis begs that question. And hints at what a tremendous lose it is when self-respect is no longer to be earned but becomes merely a facetious, meaningless, spoon-fed entitlement.
Recommendation: Parents, please love your kids, and please read or listen to 'COACH.'
"The coach's message was not simply about winning but about self-respect, sacrifice, courage, and endurance."—goodreads.com synopsis
MP3 audio book edition, 57 Minutes
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