The Perfect Pass, S. C.  Gwynne
The Perfect Pass, S. C.  Gwynne
6 Rating(s)
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The Perfect Pass
American Genius and the Reinvention of Football

Author: S. C. Gwynne

Narrator: Santino Fontana

Unabridged: 8 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/20/2016

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

An “excellent sports history” (Publishers Weekly) in the tradition of Michael Lewis’s Moneyball, award-winning historian S.C. Gwynne tells the incredible story of how two unknown coaches revolutionized American football at every level, from high school to the NFL.

Hal Mumme spent fourteen mostly losing seasons coaching football before inventing a potent passing offense that would soon shock players, delight fans, and terrify opposing coaches. It all began at a tiny, overlooked college called Iowa Wesleyan, where Mumme was head coach and Mike Leach, a lawyer who had never played college football, was hired as his offensive line coach. In the cornfields of Iowa these two mad inventors, drawn together by a shared disregard for conventionalism and a love for Jimmy Buffett, began to engineer the purest, most extreme passing game in the 145-year history of football. Implementing their “Air Raid” offense, their teams—at Iowa Wesleyan and later at Valdosta State and the University of Kentucky—played blazingly fast—faster than any team ever had before, and they routinely beat teams with far more talented athletes. And Mumme and Leach did it all without even a playbook.

“A superb treat for all gridiron fans” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), The Perfect Pass S.C. Gwynne explores Mumme’s leading role in changing football from a run-dominated sport to a pass-dominated one, the game that tens of millions of Americans now watch every fall weekend. Whether you’re a casual or ravenous football fan, this is “a rousing tale of innovation” (Booklist), and “Gwynne’s book ably relates the story of that innovation and the successes of the man who devised it” (New York Journal of Books).

About S. C. Gwynne

S.C. Gwynne is the author of His Majesty’s Airship, Hymns of the Republic, and the New York Times bestsellers Rebel Yell and Empire of the Summer Moon, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He spent most of his career as a journalist, including stints with Time as bureau chief, national correspondent, and senior editor, and with Texas Monthly as executive editor. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nooilforpacifists on December 05, 2016

This book is so obviously influenced by Michael Lewis that it could have been annoying. But Gwynne is amazingly convincing in plucking a name out of obscurity and pronouncing him responsible for modern, pass-happy game of (American) football: and it isn't the late Bill Walsh. Rather, this is a bio o......more

Goodreads review by Kevin on October 01, 2016

I very interesting story about a influential football coach and thinker Hal Mumme. And there are two threads in the book: one focused on Mumme's coaching career through high school and obscure colleges before a brief stint at Kentucky in the SEC; and another focused on the development of his famous......more

Goodreads review by Jake on October 16, 2016

(4.5) Probably doesn't make a lot of sense to start a football book review by discussing a baseball one but what made Moneyball so great (and what makes this one so damn good) is NOT the talk about how Billy Beane was a genius among fools, rather it was how the underfunded, understaffed Athletics ex......more

Goodreads review by Ben on April 08, 2021

I really liked this book, but only for the football nut. This book recounts the creation/evolution of the pass first offenses we see today which slowly and sometimes painfully evolved from 50’s to today. Recounting the great innovators (and I’ll miss a bunch) but Mouse Davis, Lavell Edwards at BYU, B......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on October 30, 2017

Somehow a book about football, and more specifically, the forward pass, was a total pageturner. I didn't want to put this down. It was a book-length version of "this New Yorker article looks somewhat interesting, I'll start it and see what happens... oh... look at that, I read the entire thing." Whi......more