When you start talking about the greatest coaches in basketball history, the conversation starts and ends with one name: John Wooden, who led UCLA to 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, had a lifetime winning percentage of .804, and is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield as both a coach and player.
After leading the Bruins from 1948 to 1975, Wooden became an avuncular, revered figure in retirement until his death at age 99 in 2010. But his longevity and legendary status may have helped to obscure some of his rougher edges.
Now, he is the subject of a new biography by one of college basketball’s best chroniclers, Seth Davis, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports analyst.
Wooden: A Coach’s Life, traces Wooden’s evolution from a hard-nosed guard at Purdue to a March Madness fixture from Pauley Pavilion.
