Rick Pitino is a basketball icon: the only coach in college history to lead three different schools to the Final Four, the winner of the 1996 NCAA championship, the owner of a sparkling career record, a bestselling author, and a lock for the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Yet Pitino's journey has not been without life-altering adversity: After experiencing profound personal and professional losses, including three losing seasons as coach and president of the Boston Celtics, the devastating loss of his infant son, Daniel, and the additional tragedies of losing two brothers-in-law, Pitino writes, "From that point on, my life changed forever. Nothing will ever be the same."
This realization gave Pitino a new perspective, and the failures and tragedies he recounts make this book unique. It's about how to succeed after you've failed; how to pick yourself up after being knocked down; and how to reframe yourself and see the world in a new light. This is a comeback story, a manual for overcoming life's difficulties. In Rebound Rules: The Art of Success 2.0, Pitino's crafted a book that's more deeply personal, more inspiring, more practical, and more powerful than any he's written before.
College basketball coach Rick Pitino gets to the crux of success with his belief in having a "PHD," of sorts: Be Passionate, Hungry, and Driven. Pitino's personal growth guidelines can be applied to business, as well as basketball. He sprinkles anecdotes from his life, on and off the court, and uses examples from the corporate world. In his 50s, Pitino is the model of a person who has adapted to circumstances--especially in today's culture of instant results. Holter Graham is a solid narrator whose range is admirable, and he stresses Pitino's points, from goal-setting to philanthropy. But his much younger voice lacks the lifelong authority Pitino brings to his book. Nonetheless, Graham's reading is well paced and well modulated. Sports and business types will appreciate these ideas, which come from someone who lives what he writes. M.B. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
Rick Pitino is the head coach at the University of Louisville. He boasts a 476–168 record, and has led three different teams to the Final Four (the only coach to do so). He won the NCAA Championship in 1996 with the University of Kentucky and has won the Southeastern Conference tournament championship five times. He was named National Coach of the Year in 1987. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
Writer Pat Forde is a national columnist for ESPN.com and a regular on shows across the ESPN platform, as well as a contributor to ESPN The Magazine. Prior to working at ESPN, Forde worked for 17 years at The Louisville Courier-Journal, where he won 16 national awards in the AP Sports Editors writing contests. His work has twice been included in The Best American Sports Writing, and he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1990. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
