[David Harris]The Genius : How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty(pdf){Zzzzz}

The Genius is the gripping account of Bill Walsh’s career and how, through tactical and organizational skill, he transformed the San Francisco Forty Niners from a fallen franchise into a football dynasty. Along with his right-hand man John McVay, Walsh built the foundation for this success by drafting or trading for a durable core of stars, including Joe Montana, Fred Dean, and Hacksaw Reynolds. (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. With unmatched access to players, fellow coaches, executives, beat reporters, and Walsh himself, David Harris recounts the whole story–including Walsh’s pre-Niners odyssey, the demons that pushed him throughout his career, and the scope of his impact on the game beyond the field and locker room. In the end, Harris reveals the brilliant man behind the coaching legend.

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks; Reprint edition (September 8, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0345499123
ISBN-13: 978-0345499127

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
When Bill Walsh took over coaching duties for the San Francisco 49ers in the late 1970s, the team was arguably the worst in the NFL—and he was stuck trying to shake a rep that he lacked what it took to lead a pro team. Within two years, the 49ers had won the Super Bowl (against Walsh's former employers, the Cincinnati Bengals, no less) and were well on their way to becoming the team of the '80s. Harris's biography is grounded by extensive interviews with Walsh, but the players and others who were there bring nuance to the portrait, revealing that the Genius who was admired for his confident demeanor on game day could also be a brittle, insecure personality off the field. While game highlights do appear, equal attention is paid to Walsh's team-building skills, with lengthy analyses of his selections from the college draft pool—including Joe Montana, an underappreciated college quarterback who became one of the game's all-time greats. Harris clearly knows his football, but the personal drama of Walsh's career is told with such verve that even nonfans will be riveted. (Sept. 2)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
Before Bill Walsh became head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in 1979 and led the team to three Super Bowl victories, he had earned a reputation as an innovative offensive coordinator with an ability to develop quarterbacks. Considered soft-spoken and something of an intellectual, he was also considered an oddity among the NFL coaching fraternity. Harris, a former contributing editor at the New York Times Magazine and Rolling Stone and author of 10 previous books, conducted a series of interviews with Walsh in the year preceding the coach’s death in July 2007. Those form the basis for the book but are fleshed out with other first-person interviews as well as detailed research from other print sources. The resulting portrait confirms much of the public’s perception of Walsh: erudite, thoughtful, focused, brilliant, and compassionate. In addition, Harris illustrates Walsh’s incredible passion for the game, his competitive drive, and even his whimsical sense of humor. Walsh was one of the NFL’s greatest coaches, and Harris’ book does him justice. Expect significant demand. --Wes Lukowsky --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Coach of the Decade (the 1980's)
By C. Hutton on September 13, 2008
Bill Walsh was the brilliant, insecure coach who won immortality with the the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980's. Mr. Harris follows his career from the Bengals of Paul Brown to Stanford (and other stops in-between) to the 49ers. He perfected an air attack that became known as the West Coast Offense and drafted the players to carry it out (Joe Montana, Dwight Clark, Jerry Rice, etc). The book is heavy on football and light on his personal life which is a pity -- he was eccentric enough that his personal life merits a deeper look. Having died a year ago of leukemia, Walsh won three Super Bowls (1982, 1985, 1989) in his tenure as coach before retiring on his own terms. Mr. Harris interviewed the coach extensively before his death and got the details right.

Well written account of Walsh's football life
By P. Dunlop on October 31, 2008
I grew up a 49ers fan and was in hog heaven during the Walsh era. The Genius is a well-told story of how Bill Walsh came to direct the 49ers to four Super Bowl victories from 1979-1989.

The author takes readers through Walsh's early years and describes his days as a frustrated high school and college quarterback. He then moves on to show Walsh's road to coaching in the NFL. The most crucial bump in that road occurred in Cincinnati, where Walsh had worked for several years as a sort of assistant head coach under Paul Brown. When Brown retired, he chose someone else to assuming his head coaching duties, delivering a electrifying jolt to Walsh. Brown then told Walsh he was staying on as an assistant, like it or not, and that he'd never be a head coach in the NFL (Walsh's contract was up and he left quickly). The shock nearly ended Walsh's coaching career, but probably also provided some of the drive that resulted in his rise to Genius status. How fitting that two of Walsh's Super Bowl victories would come against the Bengals.

This book is very well-written and difficult to put down if you were a fan of Walsh and/or the 49ers during the 1980s. The author makes use of interviews with players and coaches and uses many secondary books, newspaper clippings, etc. Although we hear that Walsh was a diverse fellow with significant interests and connections outside football, the book never quite proves that point. My guess, only a guess, is those details were cut to keep the focus primarily on football and how Walsh truly did reinvent how teams coach and deal with players. The book truly shines in this area, although it depicts Bill Walsh as a moody and insecure genius.

This is a great book for SF Bay area football fans.
By David Eric Moore on March 24, 2013
A very interesting account of the Bill Walsh and the 49ner after living though the lean years of the 49ners in the early 70's. To see Walsh’ impact on today’s NFL’s strategy 25 years later is a testimony to his genius. However, if your teams were the Giants, the Cowboys, Rams, Bengals and Dan Marino’s Dolphins, during Walsh’s tenure, you might find the book boring or worst painful if you were a Brown’s fan. To understand Walsh’s greatness with less pain, I would suggest reading Chapter 4 on Bill Wash in Ron Jaworski’s book “Games that Changed the Game to understand how Walsh’s impact still is felt today. Even Raider fans could see what was happening across the bay.