Book Review: "Urban's Way"

[O-town Gator]

Finally got my copy of the book that I had pre-ordered from amazon.com in the mail earlier this week, and I just finished it this morning. Buddy Martin's book gives a good insight into the background, coaching career and philosophy of Urban Meyer, and after reading this book I'm glad Jeremy Foley brought him on board after the Zook firing. The way he has turned around the lives of some of our players, has outlined a Plan To Win for 2008, made a dream come true in 2006 with winning the National Championship and learning from the experience in 2007 has me totally convinced of this. Meyer is a man who has put all his heart into Florida football, has laid down guidelines for his players and staff to follow and will be satisfied with nothing less than victory for the Gators.

I definitely recommend my fellow Gator fans read this book; it's a great addition to my Gator library (and the next time I have an oportunity to see Coach Meyer in person I'm going to ask him to autograph it!)

 

[O-town Gator]

BUMP on this one; I've read the book several times already and strongly recommend it for any die-hard Gator fan, especially now that we're in the off-season.

Once you've read the bio from cover-to-cover, you can better understand what makes Coach Meyer do the things he does. From the chapter on his upbringing, one can see how he learned to take a zero-tolerance stand on mediocrity from his father and how to genuinely show compassion for others from his late mother, which is reflected on how he treats players and staff like "family".

Also included is a chapter on how Meyer came to UF and how the wheels started spinning after the Zook firing; it wasn't a slam-dunk to get him to Gainesville and this goes into detail why.

As far as his coaching career goes, one can see how he's learned to develop his own style both from a "watch-and-learn" standpoint as a grad assistant and also from working alongside mentors such as Earle Bruce, Sonny Lubick, Lou Holtz and Bob Davie. While he was at Notre Dame, he developed the "Plan to Win" that's the basis for the Florida football program right now.

In spite of what trash-talking rivals and others say, Meyer is a man of integrity. Not only has he established core values and a code of conduct for his players, he has expectations for his assistants as well - it's OK to disagree from time to time, but dare to sabotage his efforts or cheat on your wife, and you'll be handed a pink slip. Meyer is completely dedicated to Florida football, and in that one chapter you'll understand why.

The later chapters discuss the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons, as well as how he prepared our 2006 team for the National Championship win against Ohio State. Meyer managed to take a team he inherited from Zook of academic underachievers, slackers, miscreants and jerks, and bring them together as a winning unit. Based on what I've read I suspect there was resistance to the change he had facilitated, but after he delayed them onboard the flight out of South Carolina following the 2005 loss and read them the riot act, he made it clear that anybody who wouldn't work with him needed to get out. This guy's all business, but deep down he genuinely cares about his players and promises them "I will never quit on you".

If any of you have also read the book, please feel free to add your comments!

 

[nismodrift]

i cant wait to buy this book i totally am getting it asap as soon as i get spare change

 

[O-town Gator]

i cant wait to buy this book i totally am getting it asap as soon as i get spare change

Definitely get a copy; it's available online at amazon.com, and even as part of a package with a DVD at www.gatorsdvd.com.