num_pages: 162
description: "The only way I want to stay in this for any length of time, I thought, is if I can be a head football coach where I can take control of my own destiny."--Tom OsborneAt age 28, young Tom Osborne made this resolve when he agreed to join Bob Devaney's full-time coaching staff at the University of Nebraska. With his commitment to football came a secret determination to be a head coach by the time he reached age 35. Little did he know that his goal would chart his course toward becoming one of the nation's premier coaches.Six years later, in 1972, Osborne's knowledge and experience in athletics, plus his hard work as assistant coach, gave Devaney the confidence to name Osborne as his successor as head coach. Tom had been an outstanding athlete in his own right, playing three sports during high school and later at Hastings College. He won the honor of Nebraska "Athlete of the Year" in his senior year of high school and twice won State College "Athlete of the Year"--a feat no one else had accomplished. he then went on to play professional football and to earn his master's and doctorate in educational psychology.Throughout all these years in sports, he was developing his unusual and inspiring philosophy of coaching. He saw it wasn't winning that mattered so much as the process of athletics. He also realized early on that a coach can't define personal success by a winning record alone."It really isn't so much achieving the end result--the national championships and the trophies," Osborne says. "I love the process--the preparation, the effort, the strategy, the players, the games."In More Than Winning, Tom Osborne gives an in-depth personal account of his life--the forces that shaped his values, his own accomplishments in sports, and his experiences as a coach at Nebraska. He shares personal perspectives on football greats such as Turner Gill, Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier, Dave Rimington, and others. He gives his view of key Nebraska games such as the quest for the national title against Miami in 1984. Throughout, he maintains that his strength and success come from a deep faith in God and a desire to honor Him with his talents.
language: English
title: More Than Winning
titlecomplete: More Than Winning
genres: Sports, Leadership, Nonfiction, Football
ratings_count: 61
publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc