Best Coaching Books - not necessarily running

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie... Physiology and other technical aspects of coaching are important, but probably not as much as working with/relating to people. This is a phenomenal book in that aspect.

There is an awesome one abt Bill Walsh. Can’t remember the name of it.

Anything by Bob Rotella, esp Golf is Not a Game of Perfect.

Also kinda like Coaching the 46 Defense, but that may not be what you had in mind...

The Perfect Pass

Born to win : a lifelong struggle to capture the America's Cup (1985) ISBN 0-553-05118-0

this is about sailing, ocean yacht racing, but it is really about building a team who believe in themselves and who went on to win a trophy that had been successfully defended for 132 years.

cheers.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Anybody else?

John Wooden has authored some solid books on coaching and leadership in general

the score takes care of itself by bill walsh. published and released after his passing. excellent!

the education of a coach by david halberstam. early bio re bill belichick and his rise to prominence. also excellent.

Winning Badminton Singles: Theory and Practice of Attacking Singles Play by Jake Downey

The philosophies in this book cut across all sports.

Dual in the Sun: Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America’s Greatest Marathon by John Brant

Just a fascinating story and character study.

RAFA by Rafael Nadal and John Carlin

The relationship between Rafa and his uncle/coach Toni is integral to understanding Nadal's greatness, discipline and obsession.

“If he hadn’t made me play without water that day, if he hadn’t singled me out for especially harsh treatment when I was in that group of little kids learning the game, if I hadn’t cried as I did at the injustice and abuse he heaped on me, maybe I would not be the player I am today. He always stressed the importance of endurance. Endure, put up with whatever comes your way, learn to overcome weakness and pain, push yourself to breaking point but never cave in. If you don’t learn that lesson, you’ll never succeed as an elite athlete, that was what he taught me.”

“The rest of the family looked on with a bemusement that, in the case of Rafa’s mother, occasionally gave way to anger. His father, Sebastián had his misgivings. Rafael his uncle wondered sometimes whether Toni was pushing his nephew too hard. His godfather Juan, went as far as to say that what Toni was doing to the child amounted to “mental cruelty.” But Toni was hard on Rafa because he knew Rafa could take it and would eventually thrive. He would not have applied the same principles, he insists, with a weaker child. The sense that perhaps he might have been right was what stopped the more doubtful members of his family from outright rebellion. One who did not doubt Toni was Miguel Ángel, the professional football player. Another disciple of the endurance principle, in which he believes with almost as much reverence as Toni himself, Miguel Ángel says that success for the elite sportsman rests on the capacity “to suffer,” even to enjoy suffering. “It means learning to accept that if you have to train two hours, you train two hours; if you have to train five, you train five; if you have to repeat an exercise fifty thousand times, you do it. That’s what separates the champions from the merely talented. And it’s all directly related to the winners’ mentality; at the same time as you are demonstrating endurance, your head becomes stronger.” – John Carlin

From RAFA:

"During a match, you are in a permanent battle to fight back your everyday vulnerabilities, bottle up your human feelings. The more bottled up they are, the greater your chances of winning, so long as you've trained as hard as you play and the gap in talent is not too wide between you and your rival. The gap in talent with Federer existed, but it was not impossibly wide. It was narrow enough, even on his favorite surface in the tournament he played best, for me to know that if I silenced the doubts and fears, and exaggerated hopes, inside my head better than he did, I could beat him. You have to cage yourself in protective armor, turn yourself into a bloodless warrior. It's a kind of self-hypnosis, a game you play, with deadly seriousness, to disguise your own weaknesses from yourself, as well as from your rival."