The Legends Club: Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Valvano, and an Epic College Basketball Rivalry

For people who watched a lot of ACC basketball in the 60s-90s, this is a great book to relive those years. Plus, it’s full of interesting insights that help you get to know these coaches on a new level.

Brought back memories of the day Dean Smith brought the Tar Heels into Providence, RI to play the Friars during my undergraduate days and PC pulling out an upset win just after a 35 inch blizzard had paralyzed the city. Just a year ago I was in the press conference at which Coach K won his 1000th game and I asked the last question. Coach Valvano I watched at Iona but did not meet him, everyone who knew him had a story to tell. Lots to learn from our friend John Feinstein who has another winner to add to his extraordinary career. I read off my Kindle a couple of chapters at a time, will be an enjoyable read for basketball fans this summer.

I started following NCAA basketball when Magic Johnson played against Larry Bird I remember 1983 I was living in Southwestern New Mexico when they had the final four in Albuquerque and in my opinion this is what truly set what we they call march madness. From that time I moving forward I have had an utter dislike for both Duke and North Carolina the same way people now dislike New England or Alabama. Even while reading this book and knowing some of the out come of games I still hoped Duke had lost.This is a great in looking at the history of Jim Valvano, Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski where they had started and how they have progressed all the way upto were Mike is through the 2015 season. Like I said I was not nor I am now of Mike and Dean but this book gave me a whole new respect especially for Mike and the relationship that he had with Jim Valvano when Jim was going to pass away. If you were watching college ball in the beginning of the 1980's you should appreciate this book in my opinion it has to be one of John Feinstein's finest pieces of writing.

i took a chance on this book. i had to replace "a march to madness." i always reread it during march madness. i saw "the legends club" and took a chance. this is the best biography(?) i have ever read - i am a voracious reader and acc fanatic.i started watching acc basketball when charlie scott integrated the unc roster. billy packer, jim thacker, and bones mckinney taught me the game. i had a scrapbook of david thompson's career at nc state and had his pictures on my bedroom wall while my friends plastered the jackson five. i introduced my son to phil ford - as the man who brought the shot clock to college hoops. i loved ralph sampson and tim duncan for loving college, i warmed to coach k so now i'm a confirmed duke fan. i've cheered for every acc team."the legends club" is something special. maybe because these three coaches intersected at a time when i can remember the games, celebrated and cried with them all. but these three coaches are something special. extraordinary men in an extraordinary era. just read the book y'all. made me proud to call tobacco road my basketball home.great job john feinstein!

John Feinstein who has written some of the best sports books in the last 30 years, has topped himself in nearly every way with his latest, The Legends Club. It follows the story of Dean Smith, the legendary basketball coach at UNC, who in the early 1980's began a professional and personal relationship with the two new young hotshot coaches on Tobacco Road, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, and NC State's Jim Valvano. The two young guns could not have been more different. Krzyzewski was a West Point grad who was serious, strong willed, and committed to excellence. Valvano was the brash, wisecracking and deceptively smart northerner who could inspire his players to achieve the seemingly impossible. Smith was the "Dean" of college basketball coaches and the undisputed king of ACC basketball. Through a decade of intense, ultra competitive and highly successful seasons, these 3 coaches became, at times, bitter rivals. Yet the bitterness eventually turns to mutual admiration, and then eventually love for one another and all they accomplished. Yes, Feinstein has written a love story of three men that were inextricably tied to each other against the backdrop of the the 1980's, the greatest decade in the history of college basketball.

If you've read one John Feinstein book, you've read them all -- which I say as a compliment, not an insult. Though no one will mistake "The Legends Club" with high literature, Feinstein's easy, familiar writing makes his books fly by. Basically a collection of stories about Dean Smith, Jim Valvano and Mike Krzyzewski, TLC is a great, quick read (perfect for the beach) and really a must-read for ACC basketball fans. Some of the stories (like what Coach K said to his assistants after an argument with Dean) have been written in Feinstein books before, but are so good you don't mind. Though the Jimmy V stuff has been covered in Feinstein's "A March to Madness," there's plenty new to enjoy.

I have always enjoyed sports author John Feinstein's writing. He's easy to read - funny, tells a good story, writes about subjects I really like, and has a great perspective. "The Legends Club" is no exception. He tells the story of the three ACC basketball coaches' national accomplishments in an enjoyable and interesting way. His sources are many, knowledgable, and very credible. He weaves in entertaining side stories, and in general, paints a good picture of them and ACC championship basketball during the last 50 years.The minuses are that he is sometimes a bit repetitive. Also, this book should not be viewed as taking a critical look at big-time college basketball - it doesn't, and I don't think Feinstein would ever claim that it does. The money issues, 'amateur' athlete issues, and sometimes dubious scholastic issues are not addressed. (There are other good books that do delve into college sports problems, if one is interested.) If you're looking for an easy, enjoyable read about three remarkable coaches, however, this is the book for you. I liked it.

The leadership and friendship between these great rivals is unmatched in modern times.

considero que hace fal

Good story and informative.

Appassionante

Da es ein Geschenk war, kann ich nur die Lieferung und den Zustand des Buches beurteilen.Beides war einwandfrei.Die Person (Basketballcoach) hat sich sehr über das Buch gefreut.

I am a massive NCAA basketball fan, and also a local basketball club coach in England. I have always been a big fan of Coach K and Dean Smith and rivalry between them. Add in Coach Jimmy V (If you have not seen his speech he made at the ESPIES, watch it on You Tube) and you have the story of one of the greatest basketball coaching rivalries in the USA.Coach K is the most winningest coach in NCAA history now and to read his story was fascinating. He has coached many great players but of course we all know that Coach Smith coached the GOAT Michael Jordan.John Feinstein is a great author and you know that he loves this subject because of the time and effort he has put into researching the book. The fact that he also knew the coaches probably helped too.