With the official end of summer one day away, the time has come to write a report on my summer reading. But don’t
worry, my reading for the dog days of summer wasn’t assigned to me by a high school English/Journalism teacher that
shall remain nameless. No, I picked out my own books to read and lucky for you the readings for this report do not
include Tom, Chuck, or Bill (Payne, Dickens, or Shakespeare).

Instead, and this should come as no surprise to those who know about my basketball addiction, I read books by or
about Jim Valvano, Bob Knight and Dean Smith. On the list: Valvano – They Gave Me A Lifetime Contract, And Then
They Declared Me Dead, A Season On The Brink, and A Coach’s Life. In reading the selections because
of my aforementioned basketball addiction and my desire to become a better coach (I help coach varsity high school
girls) this summer, something a bit unexpected happened: I learned a lot about Virginia basketball and coaching in the
ACC.

So with all due apologies to Reading Rainbow, the following focuses on Valvano’s book, what I learned and
why you should pick a copy up at your local bookstore.

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