A Breakthrough?

Near the end of the spring semester, John went to the campus dining hall for lunch and sat down with some students he had not yet met.  It turns out that one of the students was also enrolled in my International Finance course, so eventually, the student asked, “So John, what do you think about the book that Boz is writing about you?”

For the last several months, whenever anyone asked John that same question, he would reply with such confidence-building statements as “It is stupid”, “I hate it”, and “Boz is a really great guy who has a really bad idea.”

But this time was different.  John simply said, “He’s a pretty good writer.”  Wow.  Maybe, just maybe, John is starting to believe that I can pull off this project.  Or at least, perhaps he feels that I won’t completely blow it.  More on that later…

A bit about the subject of my sabbatical

For those who are new to my blog, this fall I will be taking a sabbatical to write a book about legendary Saint John’s University football coach John Gagliardi.

If you haven’t heard of John, he was won more games (484) in the history of college football than any other coach, regardless of division.  Despite turning 86 this coming fall, John will be pacing the Saint John’s sidelines for the 60^th straight year.  To put his success into perspective, he could lose every football game until he is 120 years old and still retire with a winning record.

John has achieved this success with one of the most innovative coaching styles ever utilized, often referred to as his “Winning With No’s”:  no tackling in practice, no practicing outdoors if it is raining, snowing, or if the gnats are too thick, no wasting time on calisthenics, no using tackling dummies or blocking sleds, no whistles, no trash talking, no calling anyone “Coach,” and more than 100 others.

Why I decided to write the book and what it is going to be about

I played football for John when I attended Saint John’s in the early 90’s, and started at offensive guard my senior year. To my readers who aren’t big football fans, that means that I tried to protect the guys with the ball so that they could score touchdowns and look good for the co-eds.

After graduating in 1995, I went to work in the Big 4 accounting firms for nine years before finding my dream job as a professor at Saint John’s.  Since that time, I have spent dozens of mornings in John’s office discussing every topic under the sun.  Once in awhile, we even talk about football.  I co-taught a day of his Theory of Football course and even became his CPA.  It was through these experiences that I really began to understand how John has experienced such great success.  It has a lot less to do with his knowledge of football and more to do with his communication skills, innovation, humility, and many other traits.  I started to feel a calling to share what I had learned with others, as the keys to his success transcend being a great football coach.  In short, the book will be a conversation between John and me where we discuss the characteristics that have enabled him to create such a powerful legacy. 

As if I wasn’t already feeling called to tell John’s story, I read the wildly popular book “Tuesday’s with Morrie” and was enchanted by Morrie’s story.  I aspired to be Morrie someday, a college professor who endeared himself to the masses.  It quickly dawned on me that John was my Morrie.  And if Morrie’s story could be used to inspire millions of people to better themselves, John’s could as well.

John has had a few books written about him, but I feel his story needs to be told from a different angle, from someone who has known him as a player, colleague, and friend. The other authors hadn’t played football for John, nor had they spent nearly as much time with him, and certainly did not have a connection to John’s 2,200 former players.  I believe you cannot fully understand John by simply interviewing him; rather you need to spend time in his presence and observe his actions.  My belief was validated by one of John's biggest fans, his daughter Gina.  When I shared my plan with her (in much more detail than I am providing here), she simply said, "Wow.  You really get it.  You get him."

Progress thus far

The project has been going exceptionally well.  I spent a great deal of time with him this spring, actually enrolling as a student in his Theory of Football course and then meeting with him for dozens of hours outside of that.  It turns out that I have way more information than I need, and a big challenge will be paring down that information.

I have also been fortunate enough to receive advice on multiple occasions from Austin Murphy, senior writer at Sports Illustrated.  More than a decade ago, Austin took a sabbatical from Sports Illustrated and moved his family to Saint John’s for a football season and wrote a book about his experience, The Sweet Season.  After a long meeting with Austin at his favorite coffee shop in California earlier this month, I have more or less decided how to tell the story.  I can’t give away the plot other than to say it will be a little about football and a lot about life, with plenty of humor thrown in.  I believe that football and non-football fans alike will enjoy it and be inspired by it.

Work still to be done

I am sending out e-mails and letters to all of John’s former football players to get their insights on John’s legacy.  I imagine I will hear a number of stories from them that will guide my remaining conversations with John this summer.

Around August 1^st, I will wrap up research and start writing the book.  At that time, John’s focus will turn to football and I need to finally leave him alone, or as he would put it, “stop bugging the crap” out of him.

I will spend the fall writing when I am on my sabbatical.  A sabbatical means that I still get paid by Saint John’s, but I have a semester off from my regular teaching, advising, and service responsibilities.  After the book is outlined and the first couple chapters written, I will begin to send it to literary agents, and am keeping my fingers crossed that Austin may be able to hook me up with some connections.  Once I sign on with an agent, they will begin shopping the book to publishers.  I envision wrapping up the book before I begin teaching again in January and ideally, the book would be released during the 2013 or 2014 football season.  However, most folks tell me I am being too ambitious with that timeframe, so keep tuned and I’ll let you know when it is coming out!

My dream for the book

As I have delved further into this project, I firmly believe that the book will be very successful, and that is my goal for two main reasons.  First, I believe almost everyone has things to learn from John, and the more copies it sells, the more people will be learning.  People won’t be learning how to become a great football coach (although they could), but they will be learning principles to improve their own lives and make a more significant impact in whatever their role is…a coach, teacher, employee, parent, business owner, or member of community or church.

Second, I’d love the book to generate huge royalties, as I plan to use a portion of those to partner with other alumni in establishing a scholarship (or something similar) in John’s name.  Some (e.g., John himself) may say that is wishful thinking, but I believe completely in this project.

Regardless of how successful the book becomes, I will not waver in that it will be very honoring to John and his family.  As I told John, “Not one word gets published without your permission.  You are going to read this book before it is finalized, even if I have to read it aloud to you!”

Closing Thoughts

As I wrap up this entry, you may have noticed the question mark in the title of this blog (A Breakthrough?) and wondered what that was all about.  Well, after my student told me that John thought I was a pretty good writer, I thought I perhaps had John believing in the potential of this project.  However, I have since talked with another person close to him.  John’s reply when they asked him about the book?  “It is going to bomb.”

I’ll just pretend that person misheard John and that he actually said, “It is going to be the bomb.”  Because I believe it will.

If you are new to my blog, check out this older blog entry that I wrote on the final day of John's Theory of Football class this year.  There are some pretty cool things said about John in this one:
http://professorboz.blogspot.com/2012/04/johns-last-class.html