Bruce Feldman is our guest this week on the College Football GameTime Podcast. Bruce is a best-selling author who you also see on TV as he is a part of Fox Sports coverage of College Football. Bruce also co-hosts his own college football podcast called, “The Audible” with Stewart Mandel. Bruce joined us this week to talk about his new book, “Flip the Script”. The book is about the 2019 LSU Tigers and their run through college football and Head Coach Ed Orgeron. If you’re an LSU fan or just a college football fan it’s worth the read.
Visiting with Bruce got me thinking this week about my favorite books on college football. It’s not uncommon for me to have 2-3 books going at the same time so I thought this might be a good week to share my favorite college football reads with you.
1. Meat Market by Bruce Feldman
This book came out 13 years ago and it’s still relevant today. If you want to know what recruiting is like in big time college football, here you go. Tag along with Ed Orgeron and his staff at Ole Miss as they go in search of future Rebels. Feldman had unprecedented access to the Ole Miss program. It’s a really good read and my favorite college football book.
2. Meat on the Hoof by Gary Shaw
Summer of 1987 in between 8th and 9th grades, I rode my ten-speed down to the local thrift store where I would always search for any sports related books that I could find. I paid a dime and left with a 16-year old paperback of “Meat on the Hoof”. At 13 years old this book had me hooked. I think I read it twice, maybe three times that summer. I eventually found a hard back copy of the book that I have managed to save to this day. The book is about football in the late 60’s at the University of Texas under Coach Darrell Royal. The highlights of the book include the rigors that Royal allegedly put players through to try and weed them out. I say allegedly because many spoke out about this book when it was released (including Darrell Royal) claiming that what was recorded here was false. Shaw ended up homeless and living on the streets in Dallas. It’s still a great read.
3. The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big Time College Football by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian
College football books are only good if they include a little bit of scandal. This book is nothing but scandals from sexual assault coverups to illegal recruiting, from the PAC 12 to the SEC…it’s all there. You want to know how college football works…this is the book.
4. Death to the BCS by Dan Wetzel
Okay so this is one of those books that may not be as relevant today as it was at the time of it’s release. The fact is Wetzel was right. College football needed a playoff system and Wetzel wrote about all the flaws in the old BCS system which determined our national champion for a number of years until it was replaced by the current college football playoff system. If you didn’t follow college football in the late 90’s or early 00’s, or maybe you just want to relive that era. Wetzel turned the college football world on it’s head when this book was released, It’s on my list to go back and re-read. It should be fun to see just how far college football has come.
5. Swing your Sword by Mike Leach
The Mike Leach Experience at Mississippi State is off to a shaky start. But you have to admit the Pirate is one entertaining guy. You want to laugh or just shake your head in amazement this book will cause you to do both. I won’t give too much away but the story that Leach tells about the neighbors dog that urinated on his sleeping bag when he was a kid is hysterical. Leach also details the allegations from the James family over the treatment of their son that eventually led to his ouster at Texas Tech. It’s all here, the good, the funny and the ugly.
Other Notables:
On Rocky Top by Clay Travis
It’s a great insider look at the firing of Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee and the eventual hiring of Lane Kiffen. Travis had great access. Regardless of what you think of Travis now this book was written before he burst on to the national scene and it’s a great, well written story.
The Perfect Pass by S.C. Gwynne
Gwynne is better known for writing historical biographies but in The Perfect Pass he tells the story of how football became the pass happy game that it is today. Hal Mumme (the former Kentucky coach) is at the heart of the story but Mike Leach, Bill Walsh and other famous names are in there too.
Hopefully this may serve as your holiday wish list. Check out some of these books and remember to shop local and visit your local bookstores. Make sure you join Jon Chuckery, Randy McMichael and me Saturday mornings at 9am for College Football Gametime.