American Coach
The Triumph and Tragedy of Notre Dame Legend Frank Leahy
Contributors
By Ivan Maisel
Formats and Prices
- On Sale
- Sep 16, 2025
- Page Count
- 400 pages
- Publisher
- Grand Central Publishing
- ISBN-13
- 9780306835780
Price
$30.00Price
$40.00 CADFormat
Format:
- Hardcover $30.00 $40.00 CAD
- ebook $21.99 $28.99 CAD
- Audiobook Download (Unabridged) $31.99
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When Frank Leahy retired from Notre Dame after the 1953 season, he had the second‑best record in the history of the game (107‑13‑9, .864), second only to Knute Rockne, his college coach and mentor. Seven decades later, he still does. Rockne created the image of Notre Dame, then a small Catholic university in a remote town in northern Indiana, as the premier college football program in the nation. But it was Leahy who secured that image, with six undefeated seasons and four national championships in an 11-season span. By achievement alone, Leahy should be as beloved as Rockne, who nearly a century after his tragic death remains a legend. Yet Leahy is virtually forgotten today, in many ways a victim of his own insatiable need to compete and win.
The University of Notre Dame granted Ivan Maisel rare and complete access to its voluminous cache of historical material, and Maisel has the cooperation of Leahy’s family, enabling him to tell the rich story of an archetypal coach who was a celebrity in his day. Leahy made the cover of Time magazine and befriended presidents and movie stars alike. Leahy brought innovation to a program reluctant to change anything Rockne had done. But Leahy rankled opposing coaches and clashed with the priests at Notre Dame who sought to make the university as elite in academia as it had become on the field. These conflicts, coupled with the toll that Leahy’s innate drive demanded of his health, brought his career to a premature end, hampering his legacy in the years to come. And what a legacy: only Nick Saban and Bear Bryant have won more national titles. The records of iconic coaches such as Bobby Bowden, Woody Hayes, and Eddie Robinson pale in comparison. Not only the Notre Dame fanbase but all college football fans will be hungry to rediscover a man and an era, the story of how Frank Leahy cemented Notre Dame’s status as the defining program of college football.
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“If not for Frank Leahy, there would be no echoes to wake up at Notre Dame, and no fall-time North Star for generations of Irish-Catholic kids like me to cherish. American Coach is a perfect marriage of all-time great college football coach and all-time great college football writer. Ivan Maisel delivers a classic that's just like Leahy's 1970 Hall-of-Fame induction—long overdue.”Ian O’Connor, author of The Captain, Belichick, and Coach K
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"All great coaches are gifted teachers. But the lessons from Leahy’s own life transcend any field or score—in his drive for greatness, and the enormous price he paid to achieve it. Ivan Maisel’s research and reporting create a deeply human portrait of a man, famous and flawed, who graced the cover of Time, built a sporting dynasty, yet ended up sidelined by history and overlooked in memory. Until now, thanks to this remarkable and compelling book."Tom Rinaldi, Emmy award-winning Fox Sports reporter, NY Times bestselling author of The Red Bandanna
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“Frank Leahy rarely gets his due in the pantheon of Irish immortals and college football legends. American Coach rectifies that brilliantly and in fascinating detail. As the sport navigates one of its most tumultuous periods, it’s important to understand and appreciate figures like Leahy. His story is what modern college football is built on. Ivan Maisel is this generation’s foremost student and historian of college football. American Coach is a must read for anyone who loves stories of uncommon competitors driven to the brink in the pursuit of excellence.”Rece Davis, host of ESPN College Football Gameday
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