The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty

As a coach, I like to read about what makes a program successful. I love to look inside the pro or college programs and see what makes them tick. But books are few and far between that give you a look into a high school program. Particularly one as successful as St. Anthony's in New Jersey. As you read the book you cannot help but appreciate everything Hurley and his players must overcome to be a success. Gangs, poverty, low expectations, negative peer pressure, a school constantly on the brink of going under financially. Hurley lets you see his program warts and all. His famous temper. His battle with apathetic players. How he handles parents with unrealistic expectations. How he pushes, pleads, drives his players. It is all there for us to see and be either repelled or amazed. I've heard Hurley lecture. This let me know more about the man. I really enjoyed this book. If you are a high school coach or just a basketball fan, I think you will too.

As a high school baseball and basketball coach, this book is a must read. I could't put the book down. It is an easy read which gives those in suburbia a glimpse of America not often seen. Bob Hurley, the man,the father, the husband, the coach is a true American hero. Coaches, parents, administrators, and athletes can learn much from this well told story. I can't wait to see the movie!

This book is really engaging on a number of levels. I love hoops and especially high school and college hoops. I picked this boook up and found in reading it that it's not really about basketball at all. Coach Hurley happens to invest his life in basketball and the players are playing the game but basketball is only the sub-plot to the larger play of Hurley's desire to see these kids make something of themselves. In the end basketball is simply the vehicle used to propel these ragamuffin kids to something better. Hurley could have used anything but it just happens to be basketball. It's a great read for anyone concerned about today's youth. Also, it has an amazing storyline about the inability of some to leave what they've known even if it's killing them or going to.

Coach Bob Hurley is an old fashioned basketball coach. He does not massage egos...he does not compromise...he demands a strong dedication to excellence...and if you don't give it...you will be asked to turn in your uniform. In other words...only hard work works. "The Miracle of St. Anthony; A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty," should be required reading for all AAU basketball coaches across the nation. Many AAU programs do not teach the fundamentals of basketball...they showcase...and use players as trophies. Many AAU programs are also factories who spit out players regularly when other more talented players come along. Coach Hurley teaches his kids how to play as a team and sticks with them for a lifetime. He also introduces a culture of refreshing honesty and does not engage in the dark world of under the table payments to, "street agents." Admittedly, Coach Hurley would not get away with the harsh screaming and cursing of players in most affluent suburban basketball communities. However, it appears to be the right forumla in Jersey City an inner city low-income community just across the Hudson River in the shadows of New York City. The kids who play for St. Anthony use basketball as an escape from the demons of drugs and violence on the streets. They use the academic and basketball education at St. Anthony's to get free rides to college. Coach Hurley shows them the path. He does so by teaching them discipline...the discipline to keep your mouth shut and play ball. It is amazing that Coach Hurley's teams rarely get called for technical fouls. They play the game on the court and are prohibited to "trash talk" to opposing players, coaches or officials. But it is hardly a piece of cake...Coach Hurley is demanding. He expects a "total," commitment. Some pages of this book are harsh. However, this is a national high school powerhouse with a long tradition of championships and it is hard to argue with the genius of Coach Hurley. Recommended. Bert Ruiz

Sub-Title: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty I once went to a play in a Jersey City High School and I wondered how anyone could live in such a bleak, even dangerous environment. And this is a tale of not only learning, but excelling in an environment where most of us want to drive through quickly with the doors locked. This is a story about basketball. But more than that, it is a story of depressed urban areas with all the usual problems of race, drugs, poverty, and all the other problems. At the same time it is a story of hope and fulfillment. It's also the story of extraordinary people who are willing to spend their careers helping the people in such an area to get ahead. More than just a basketball story, this is a story of a small brick schoolhouse run by Felician nuns always at the edge of bankruptcy but somehow able to barely survive but to continue to turn out educated kids.