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

The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty review:
5 stars (best sports book i ever read) - what a great book. Bob Hurley is not a perfect human being but the good he does is incredible. By far the best and most moving sports book I ever read.
5 stars (Can't Wait for the Movie) - 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!
4 stars (Great Story - Cumbersome Writing) - Anyone who's read John Feinstein's "A Season on the Brink" will find this story very familiar. Just as Feinstein chronicled a year with Bob Knight at Indiana, Adrian Wojnarowski spent a year with the basketball team of St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, NJ. The result is a very compelling story of a small band of sincere and dedicated educators using basketball to teach character and life lessons to a group of kids from the tough streets of Jersey City. For many of these young men, Coach Bob Hurley is the only authority figure they know and his tough style provides them with a standard to reach for on the court, perhaps the only time in their lives they've been pushed out of their comfort zones. Mixed in with these products of the inner city is Sean McCurdy from suburban Connecticut whose mother moves him to Jersey City in the belief that Hurley can attract the Division I college scholarship that she seems to think is Sean's birthright. Cindy McCurdy is every youth coach's nightmare, the quintessential little league parent.



My only criticism of "The Miracle of St. Anthony" is in Wojnarowski's annoying pattern of giving a mini life story of every secondary character in the story. Of course, as a sports columnist, Wojnarowski makes a living going off on tangents, so this shouldn't be a surprise. But it too often interrupts the essential story and breaks up the flow of the book. But for anyone interested in sports, especially at the high school or college level, this is a very worthwile read.