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The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty | 
 enlarge | Author: David Harris
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $14.50
You Save: $11.50 (44%)
New (37) Used (8) Collectible (1) from $9.95
Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 21161
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 400
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5
ISBN: 1400066654
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.332092
EAN: 9781400066650
ASIN: 1400066654
Publication Date: September 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The Genius is the gripping and definitive account of Bill Walsh’s career and how he built a football dynasty from the rubble of a fallen franchise. David Harris gives a stellar account of the silver-haired sophisticate from humble working-class roots who was hired as head coach and general manager of the San Francisco Forty Niners in January 1979 and became the architect of what is arguably the greatest ten-year run in NFL history.
With unmatched access to players, fellow coaches, executives, the reporters who covered the Niners’ heyday, and Walsh himself, Harris recounts how Walsh, through tactical and organizational genius, created a football juggernaut. There were also the demons that pushed and haunted Walsh throughout his career: his clash with his former mentor, Paul Brown, who denied Walsh his first pro head-coaching job with the Cincinnati Bengals; Walsh’s struggle with self-doubt and criticism; the toll his single-minded devotion to football exacted on his family; and his complex relationship with the Forty Niners’ owner, Edward DeBartolo, Jr.
Walsh’s pre-Niners coaching odyssey was arduous–a longtime assistant coach, he developed his legendary and now-standard pass-oriented West Coast offense during stops at all levels of the game. Despite never having run a team’s draft before, Walsh, along with his right-hand man John McVay, quickly built the foundation for a dynasty by drafting or trading for a durable core of stars, including Joe Montana, Fred Dean, Hacksaw Reynolds, Dwight Clark, and Ronnie Lott. (Walsh would later restock the team with such players as Jerry Rice, Steve Young, and Charles Haley.) The key to Walsh’s genius perhaps lay in his keen understanding of his athletes’ psyches–he knew what brought out the best in each of them. But the scope of Walsh’s impact on the game extended well beyond the field and locker room. The Forty Niners’ life-skills counseling program, which Walsh spearheaded with the sports sociologist and activist Dr. Harry Edwards, and the internship program Walsh devised to bring minority coaches into the game have since been adopted by the NFL for all league franchises.
In the annals of sport, few individuals have had as great an impact on their game–or on its relevance to life outside the lines–as Bill Walsh. With knowledge, skill, passion, and a critical eye, David Harris reveals the brilliant man behind the coaching legend.
The vision Bill Walsh brought to all his pioneering efforts was a function of his perception of himself as someone who was far more than a football coach. He cherished his standing and participation in the larger world outside the NFL and nurtured them at every opportunity.
“Knowing Bill Walsh was kind of like the blind man describing an elephant,” one of the sportswriters who covered him observed. “We all knew just one little piece of him. But he had all these other areas we knew nothing about. He dealt with lots of people outside of football, outside of our scope entirely. He was able to deal with politicians, people who were intellects in other areas. They were impressed by him.”
–from The Genius
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Great Book for 49er Fans (from a woman's point of view) January 5, 2009
M. Rosser
I loved this book, but I am also a huge 49er fan. I could see how a non-49er fan might not love the book, as there is a lot of play-by-play accounts (which I loved). For example, the book gives some background behind "The Catch", which I thought was very interesting. It's neat to know what was going through the players' heads during plays like that. I also learned a lot about Walsh as a person and was surprised by a lot of what I read. I was only a kid during the early '80s, although I did follow the 49ers, so it was neat to go back to those games and relive them as an adult.
Bill Walsh is the Man December 22, 2008
The Rock (Redondo Beach, CA)
Some of the best inside football commentary I've ever read. The story and the man himself make it well buying. If you want to learn from the architect who took the 9ers from last place to Super Bowl winners in just two years, this is the book to buy. They really did re-invent how the game was played for a decade. I was surprised to hear a lot of the things about Walsh's personality off the field.
BEST DYNASTY EVER December 19, 2008
Michael E. Woodson (California)
With all due respect for Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Paul Brown or Knute Rockne, Bill Walsh must stand above all of them. He coached at a time of great innovation and was at the cutting edge of a revolution of ideas. He ushered in the age of computers and computer-generated data that required a sharper mind than any previous coaches. The 49ers of his era, if one includes the Seifert/Mariucci years which are really just an extension of Walsh and much of which he presided over as a front office man, has to be the greatest 15 or 16 years in pro history. The Packers dynasty was about a decade. The Raiders and Dallas matched up in terms of longevity but San Francisco won five Super Bowls between the 1981 and 1994 seasons, a run that is unmatched. Walsh created all of it. This book detail this run and the reasons for it as well as any have!!
 Only So-So December 17, 2008
James Eason (New York, NY)
The book focuses on the blow-by-blow of the 49er seasons Walsh coached. It gives little insight as to how he developed his revolutionary offensive concepts or to how he molded three teams into Super Bowl champions. There is a lot of repetition -- every loss is devastating, owner Eddie DeBartolo raged after each defeat, there are nine counties in the Bay Area. The author neglects to name names in a way that makes me wonder if he's researched his stories about drafts and games (he credits an interception in the 49ers crushing 49-3 defeat to the Giants to "a linebacker." That nameless linebacker was Lawrence Taylor.)
More insight into Walsh's personnel tactics, game plan concepts, and coaching day strategies would make this a much better book.
Walsh Changed The 49ers and Football December 9, 2008
Sacramento Book Review (Sacramento, CA)
Before Walsh, the San Francisco 49ers was one of the worst football teams in the league. But, with the "Genius" at its bow, the team went on to rewrite what it meant to play football. With a world-famous play, a stellar line up, and the greatest decade of games, The Genius follows Bill Walsh's career beginning, his rise to football greatness and then his gracious retirement. From his career as a high school and college quarter back to his not-so-great position as an assistant head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals under Paul Brown, who said that Walsh could never make it as a NFL head coach. The book shows how even though he had difficult beginnings, this man would rise up and show the world how great he could be at the head of a once dead football team. This is an excellent buy if you love football, but the 49ers fan would get a bigger kick out of this book than a fan of any other team.
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