Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The remarkable rise of Lincoln Riley, America's youngest college football head coach and the "quarterback whisperer" of the University of Oklahoma
What makes a great football coach? And can one spot those qualities early on?
When the University of Oklahoma named Lincoln Riley its head football coach in 2017, he was a surprising successor to Bob Stoops, Barry Switzer, and Bud Wilkinson, the three coaches who were winners of seven national championships and thirty-six conference championships. Riley was only thirty-three years old, the youngest head coach in the entire top tier of college football, and he had just been entrusted with one of the sport's crown jewels. Would he be up to the task, or would he crash and burn?
In Sooner, Brandon Sneed traces Lincoln Riley's meteoric rise to the top ranks of football coaches, a tale of commitment, grit, long odds, relationships, growth, pain, brains, and passion. Riley's coaching odyssey began when a shoulder injury dashed his dreams of playing college and pro football, but he was spotted by a coach who saw brilliance in him. At the age of nineteen he began his journey, working his way from personal assistant to positions coach to offensive coordinator, and ultimately to head coach of one of the biggest programs in college football.
Along the way Riley has proved himself a brilliant innovator in offensive strategy. He has also shown outstanding people skills and a knack for spotting and developing talent. In his first three seasons as head coach, his teams reached the national semifinals and two of his quarterbacks not only won the Heisman Trophy but each was the #1 overall pick in that year's NFL draft. And in his thired season (2019) Oklahoma has once again qualified for the college football playoff.
Synopsis
The remarkable rise of Lincoln Riley, America's youngest college football head coach and the "quarterback whisperer" of the University of Oklahoma
In 2017 the University of Oklahoma hired Lincoln Riley as its head football coach, making him the youngest head coach in the top tier of college football. Only thirty-three years old, he had been entrusted with one of the sport's crown jewels. And in his first three seasons at Oklahoma, his teams reached the national semifinals each year, and two of his quarterbacks won the Heisman Trophy and were the #1 overall pick in the NFL draft.
In Sooner, Brandon Sneed traces Lincoln Riley's journey, in an exploration of the qualities that make a great football coach. Sneed recounts Riley's meteoric rise and shows how it was fueled by commitment, grit, relationships, growth, pain, brains, and passion, as the young coach's unquestioned brilliance as a football strategist and his outstanding people skills set him apart from so many of his peers.
For Lincoln Riley, human connections lie at the heart of being a coach, and Sooner is a story of how each of our lives is bound up in so many others.
Synopsis
Lincoln Riley: Quarterback Whisperer, Back-to-back Big 12 champion, Head coach of the OU Sooners
Legendary University of Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops shook the college football world in 2017 when he handpicked Lincoln Riley to be his successor at the perennial powerhouse. At age thirty-three. In his first three seasons at Oklahoma, Riley's teams dominated the Big 12 to reach the national semifinals each year, and two of his quarterbacks--Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray--won the Heisman Trophy and were No. 1 overall picks by the Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals in the NFL draft.
In Sooner, Brandon Sneed charts Riley's remarkable ascent from small-town star quarterback in West Texas, to walk-on turned assistant coach at Texas Tech, where he learned the revolutionary Air Raid system from Mike Leach, to offensive coordinator at East Carolina, to football titan Oklahoma. It takes more than sheer talent to go toe-to-toe with the brilliant strategists of the modern game--like The University of Alabama's Nick Saban, University of Texas's Tom Herman, and Ohio State's Urban Meyer--and Sneed shows how this wunderkind's commitment, grit, relationships, pain, brains, and passion have empowered him to compete. And win.
More important than the zealous fans, the intense rivalries, and the multimillion-dollar contracts, are the human connections that lie at the heart of Lincoln Riley's triumphs as a coach. Sooner is not only the story of a mastermind in the making, but also a reminder of the many people who make each of us who we are.
Synopsis
Sooner tells the remarkable rise of Lincoln Riley, formerly America's youngest college football head coach and the "quarterback whisperer" of the University of Oklahoma.
Legendary University of Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops shook the college football world in 2017 when he handpicked Lincoln Riley to be his successor at the perennial powerhouse. At age thirty-three. In his first three seasons at Oklahoma, Riley's teams dominated the Big 12 to reach the national semifinals each year, and two of his quarterbacks--Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray--won the Heisman Trophy and were No. 1 overall picks by the Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals in the NFL draft.
In Sooner, Brandon Sneed charts Riley's remarkable ascent from small-town star quarterback in West Texas, to walk-on turned assistant coach at Texas Tech, where he learned the revolutionary Air Raid system from Mike Leach, to offensive coordinator at East Carolina, to football titan Oklahoma. It takes more than sheer talent to go toe to toe with the brilliant strategists of the modern game--like The University of Alabama's Nick Saban, University of Texas's Tom Herman, and Ohio State's Urban Meyer--and Sneed shows how this wunderkind's commitment, grit, relationships, pain, brains, and passion have empowered him to compete. And win.
More important than the zealous fans, the intense rivalries, and the multimillion-dollar contracts, are the human connections that lie at the heart of Lincoln Riley's triumphs as a coach. Sooner is not only the story of a mastermind in the making, but also a reminder of the many people who make each of us who we are.