Out of print for more than 30 years, now available for the first time as an eBook, this is the controversial story of John Wooden's first 25 years and first 8 NCAA Championships as UCLA Head Basketball Coach. This is the only book that gives a true picture of the character of John Wooden and the influence of his assistant, Jerry Norman, whose contributions Wooden  ignored and tried to bury.

Compiled with more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach. The players tell their stories in their own words.

Click the book to read the first chapter and for ordering information. Also available on Kindle.

Sports Medley The Oklahoma-Mixon Scandal 19 Dec 16

by Tony Medley

Football Thugs: On July 25, 2014 at Pickleman’s Gourmet Café in Norman, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Sooners running back 6’1” 225-pound Joe Mixon slugged slender blonde Amelia Monitor in the face, breaking her jaw and fracturing her cheekbone. You may see this brutal attack on the Internet because its release has been approved by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. OU alleged that it suspended him from the football team for a year. But that is factually false. He did not lose his scholarship and he wasn’t suspended; he redshirted. He has been a star running back for the Sooners for the last two seasons.

As far as I’m concerned, any huge muscular, athletic man who hits a woman in the face with a closed fist for any reason other than legitimate self-defense is a monster who should be banned from NCAA athletics for life. It apparently didn’t bother Sooners’ coach Bob Stoops or Athletic Director Joe Castiglione, though, because winning and football money are more important to them than justice and integrity. OU issued a statement saying, “Mr. Mixon has apologized for his actions and it is an indication that he has learned from his mistakes.”

This statement is also false. Mixon has never said, “I’m sorry.” His attorneys apparently released some sort of statement but not Mixon. When he appeared at a press conference he was arrogant and unapologetic. And he was subsequently cited for tearing up a parking violation and throwing it in the face of an officer, not an indication that he has “learned from his mistakes.”

And it apparently didn’t bother the NCAA because they took no action.  Regardless, there is no apology that could rectify the defect in character of a man who would slug a small woman in the face like that. If I were a coach nobody who did that would ever play for me even if his name were Tom Brady or Jim Brown. It will be interesting to see which NFL teams want this thug to play for them in next year’s NFL draft. I’m betting Jerry Jones’ Dallas Cowboys will be one.

This isn’t an isolated incident. Baylor football coach Art Briles ignored evidence that his players were assaulting women, both sexually and non-sexually, between 2012-2016. Even the school’s President, Ken Starr, turned a deaf ear to the complaints of women students who had been abused. Even though both eventually lost their jobs, the fact that it took so long to get the University’s attention is troubling, if not criminal.

Universities and the NCAA should shape up and recognize that the bottom line is that sports and money should not trump honor and integrity. So should the NFL and other sports leagues. People like Mixon and Briles who do or allow these things have forfeited any right they had to participate.

Rams Coaching Saga: So Stan Kronke finally fired Jeff Fisher as Rams coach. The question is, why did he do it with only three games left in the season? There was no earthly reason not to let Fisher finish the season and terminate the relationship in an orderly, professional, and considerate way after the season ended. The answer seems to be that Kronke couldn’t stand the heat he was getting, so he took it out on Fisher by making him a scapegoat and embarrassing him in front of the whole world.

Anybody who thinks that just because a person is a billionaire and has enough money to own a professional sports team he is intelligent enough to know what he’s doing should reconsider. Paul Allen, the 10^th richest person in the world, owns the Seattle Seahawks. He signed quarterback Matt Flynn for $26 million, $9 million of which was guaranteed, based on Flynn’s performance in one meaningless game played while a Green Bay Packer after they had clinched their place in the playoffs. Flynn was almost immediately released when he couldn’t beat out rookie Russell Wilson, and he was a flop everywhere else, but still ended up being paid $19 million by all the mindless billionaire NFL magnates.

Then there’s Houston’s billionaire owner Bob McNair, who signed equally unproven former Denver backup quarterback Brock Osweiler this year to a $72 million contract with the Texans. Osweiler has been a stunning disaster and was finally benched Sunday.

These are only two of innumerable imbecilic decisions made by people with a lot of money but no football knowledge (I’d say more money than brains, but I’m not that unkind). Kronke has already shown that he is clueless when it comes to football and to choosing competent people, witness the fact that he hired Fisher and general manager Les Snead in 2012 and retained them despite conspicuous lack of success. Does anybody really believe that Kronke has the intellectual wherewithal to hire a coach and general manager who can turn the Rams around? Don’t forget Kronke and his hirelings have already bankrupted the future by the indefensible trade of all those draft choices for Jared Goff. What capable person in his right mind is going to take over a team with no present and no future?