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Author Emerick takes on a prodigious task in this thought-provoking treatise. He questions what makes a good coach the best and how the qualifications for that role compare in scope and purpose with the life and work of Jesus Christ. The coaching example chosen for the designation “best coach” is Bill Belichick. Belichick, as head coach and manager of the New England Patriots football team and, earlier, as defensive coordinator for the New York Giants, has garnered many possibly unduplicable records in his career, including leading his teams to a total of eight Super Bowl wins. He is both a practitioner and a “student” of the game, who continually learns and imparts what he has garnered from hard experience to his team members. He has been known to succeed with innovative yet unconventional strategies, always willing to try new ideas when his head, hand, and heart are in synchronicity.
These three qualities are examined in detail in Emerick’s development of the book’s thesis. The hand represents a leader’s personal player skills. The head is the coach’s intellect, planning outcomes by combining his wide understanding of the game with the abilities of each of his players. But deepest of all is the heart quality—the determination to succeed, or what the author calls the “drive of the soul.” All three are possessed by Belichick, as they were, notably, by Jesus of Nazareth. Born of a humble station, Jesus would have to work to accomplish his goals. Yet, as the greatest coach of humanity, he took on the tasks that were his destiny, up to and including his painful death, in order to achieve the highest goal: salvation for his companions and all those who would come after.
Emerick, with a career in marketing and business consultation to his credit, has taken on roles in church and government, as well as devoting himself to writing on this significant subject matter. His case is logical and well organized, with simple but intellectually stimulating paradigms. He insightfully notes that the decision-making required in coaching will include information, humility, perspective, culture, and plan, all of which both protagonists cited possess in abundance. Emerick consistently proves his mastery of analogy in his text. For example, he uses lessons about the properties of water to craft an apt comparison. Water is a solvent, “powerful yet gentle,” and a source of life at its most basic level. And water is polar; it adjusts to climates and situations. The consummate coach needs to be able to change with changing situations, as both Belichick and Jesus Christ have done.
Taking wisdom from the Holy Bible directly, Emerick effectively reminds readers of the role of the Master in saving the sheep, just as a sports coach may need to generate saving tactics when all seems lost. Comparing the football coach’s role with the scope of Christ’s work on earth is an unusual but fascinating approach that opens the reader’s mind both to the challenges that a true sports leader like Belichick demonstrates and to the possibilities for adherence to the teachings of Jesus, the “best coach” in a spiritual context. Both assertions are proven here with cogent examples. As Emerick clearly and consistently demonstrates, Belichick has brought the Patriots to victory when it seemed impossible, and through His God-infused life, Jesus has brought millions to belief. Emerick has written an engaging and inspiring work that should appeal to both football fans and readers of Christian nonfiction.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review