Undertaker's Son: Life Lessons From a Coach - Hardcover

Do it yesterday.
Tomorrow might not come.

Richard “Digger” Phelps, the winningest men’s basketball coach in Notre Dame’s storied athletic history and a renowned basketball analyst for ESPN, tells his game plan for success—not just in sports, but in life. From overcoming his humble background to becoming coach of one of the nation’s most elite sports teams at age 29, Phelps writes of setting goals and striving to reach them. He describes how his Notre Dame team came from behind to end mighty UCLA’s 88-game win streak in 1974. But he goes beyond basketball coaching in relating other events that helped shape his philosophy for the generations in life. As an undertaker’s son, he learned as a child how death can pay an unexpected visit at any time.

Phelps also recounts his efforts to confront the problems of gangs and drugs and kids dropping out of school. He describes his White House work as director of Operation Weed and Seed, a national effort to weed out violence and seed positive programs in the worst of neighborhoods.

Brutally honest, inspirational, and often humorous, Phelps presents a message that will appeal to everyone—not just Notre Dame fans and sports enthusiasts. Readers will be fascinated by his childhood experiences, his philosophy of life, and his relationships with former president George H. W. Bush, Dick Vitale, former vice president Dan Quayle, Bob Knight, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, John Wooden, and his friend Caesar.