Top Books on Leadership for Coaches and Athletes

With the holidays rapidly approaching, you may be looking for just the right gift to give your basketball coach. We put together a list of our favorite books that will resonate with any good coach, as well as athletes, parents and leaders.

• InSideOut Coaching by Joe Ehrmann, Gregory Jordan and Paula Ehrmann. This book helps coaches to discover a deeper meaning to why they do what they do. The author, Joe Erhmann has been called “the most important coach in America.” Ehrmann shares his experiences as a college All-American and professional football player and now as a high-school coach and how important a coach’s role is in a person’s life. He explains the difference between transactional and transformational coaching and ways in which you can fulfill your bigger purpose as a coach, mentor and leader of the athletes you coach whether at the youth or pro level. We believe this book should be read by every single coach before they start coaching as a part of their indoctrination and certification of becoming a coach.
  (Recommended by TJ Rosene and Sam Allen.)

• Practice Perfect by Doug Lemov, Katie Yezzi, and Erica Woolway. This is the ultimate guide to training others in any endeavor, including but not limited to sports. It teaches how to help others practice effectively to get results and how to achieve your own personal goals through practicing the “right” way.
  (Recommended by Mano Watsa and Tyler Coston.)

• The Go-Giver by Bob Burg & David Mann. This book changes one’s focus from getting to giving and adding value to the lives of others and how it ultimately leads to unexpected returns. It emphasizes that it is better when we don’t make things about ourselves and it introduces ways to naturally live a life of joy and prosperity. “The point is not what you do. Not what you accomplish. Its who you are.”
  (Recommended by Marke Freeman and TJ Rosene.)

• The Go-Giver Leader (originally published as It’s Not About You) by Bob Burg and John David Mann. This book echoes the core idea of The Go-Giver and applies it to the realm of leadership. It gives a proper perspective on the idea of service and sacrifice, challenging you to think why you serve and who you serve.
  (Recommended by Micah Hayes.)

• How Successful People Lead and The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential by John Maxwell.  Both books do a great job not just defining leadership but how to grow yourself and others as leaders.
  (Recommended by TJ Rosene.)

• Season of Lifeby Jeffrey Marx. This is a bestselling inspirational book in which the author reunites with a childhood football hero, Joe Ehrmann, now a minister and coach, and witnesses a revelatory demonstration of the true meaning of manhood. It is an amazing story about the difference we can make in the lives of others and will resonate with athletes, coaches, parents – anyone struggling to make the right choices in life.
  (Recommended by Mano Watsa.)

• Mindset by Carol Dweck. If you desire to be a better teacher, coach, parent, or just better aware of your own mindset and the way you approach things, this book is a must. Few other books could have a greater influence on and bring more change in your life.
  (Recommended by Sam Allen.)

• Leading with the Heart: Coach K’s Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life by Mike Krzyzewski and Donald Phillips.  This book peels back the curtain on one of basketball’s greatest coaches, Coach K. It reveals how he leads and his personal principles for leadership.With this book, you will learn from an extraordinary leader how to bring out the best and demand the best from yourself and those around you.
  (Recommended by Sam Allen.)

• Lead for God’s Sake by Todd Gongwer. This is a fantastic story about a high-school coach who had lost grasp of what matters most in life – our relationships. It shows us how better relationships lead to greater fulfillment and a richer life and ultimately translates into winning more as a coach.
  (Recommended by Sam Allen.)

• My Losing Season by Pat Conroy. This is a great story that reminds us basketball is only a part of life. It tells us how to keep perspective on losing and focus on the value of the journey.
  (Recommended by Tyler Coston.)

• The Hoops Whisperer by Idan Ravin. This is a great book on how to speak to players and get outside the traditional coaching box. It gives an inside look into the career and methods of basketball’s most sought-after trainer and the all-star players whose games he’s helped transform.
  (Recommended by Tyler Coston.)

• Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek. This book shows how to create an environment that fosters trust and cooperation and leads to strong teams where people work together naturally to do great things. It shows us that leading is about permission, not position, and that followers are willing to give leaders that permission when they are given protection, value and, most of all, love. In the traditional role of leadership, the head of the company, team or culture is taken care of first. This book challenges people in leadership to sacrifice those comforts to take care of their followers first and, in turn, their followers will not only take care of them but also each other.
  (Recommended by Micah Hayes.)

• Living with a Seal by Jesse Itzler. This is a very entertaining book about a man who invites a Navy Seal to come live with him which turns his world upside down. This fun read shows you the benefits of stepping outside your comfort zone. It will challenge your ideas of comfort, toughness and adventure.
  (Recommended by Micah Hayes.)

• Resilience by Eric Greitens. In the basketball business and basketball world very few things come easy. We all need to have resilience in some form or fashion. Coaches get fired for having decent years, players get cut from teams or get injured – it will look different for everyone. This book explains that from pain can come wisdom, from fear can come courage and from suffering can come strength if we have the virtue of resilience.
  (Recommended by Graham Maxwell.)

• Burn Your Goals by Joshua Medcalf and Jamie Gilbert. “Process”has become such a buzz word nowadays, everyone uses it. This book breaks down the importance of the process versus your goals. It teaches how to transform your mind into thinking about daily things and how to perform at such a high level each day as opposed to always focusing on future goals. This is another tool in becoming great at many things.
  (Recommended by Graham Maxwell.)

• STUFF! Good Players Should Know, Think Like a Champion, Runnin’ the Show and There’s Only One Way to Win by Dick DeVenzio. These books are the basis for what we teach at PGC. Considered by many to be a basketball genius and a gifted writer, Dick’s writings and basketball programs have inspired and influenced countless coaches and athletes. STUFF! has been praised as “the ultimate guide to playing the game the right way” by Larry Brown, the only coach ever to win both NCAA and NBA championships and a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
  

Read More: Top 10 Books for Athletes, Coaches and Leaders.