This book is much more than just a book about football or about Texas Tech (for full disclosure, I am a Kansas alum and a Jayhawk fan through and through).It is, fundamentally, a book of life philosophy.When I grew up, I was not one of the "cool kids". Other than good skills in math, I really didn't have much in the way of natural abilities. I can't hold a tune to save my life, nor can I play an instrument. I was a below average reader (in fact, I suffer from mild dyslexia like my father). I was always kind of awkward and shy. I have zero mechanical or construction skills. I'm average looking at best. And athletically, I was like Rudy - "five feet nothing, one hundred nothing, with barely a speck of athletic ability".Similarly, Mike Leach is the last person you would think of who would become a successful major college football coach, and frankly, in a lot of ways, Texas Tech is the last school you would think of to light up the scoreboard, make bowl games, and regularly beat teams with superior raw talent. Leach was a law school graduate who happened to have a passion for X's and O's of football, and happened to have an open mind. But instead of taking the path of least resistance and becoming an associate at a law firm for a nice salary, he chose to follow his passion for coaching and football. So clearly, Texas Tech is not one of the "cool kids" of college football (like Texas or OU or Alabama or USC or Notre Dame), and Mike Leach is definitely not one of the "cool kids" as far as being a coach.But he succeeds anyway. In spite of others having more experience, more pedigree, better connections, better recruits, better facilities, more money, you name it. He was able to beat the "cool kids" at their own game. And he did it his way. I have so much respect for that. Because I feel in some ways I've had to do the same in my own life.Leach actually talks about how he is considered an "outside the box" thinker, but hates that term, as he feels that outside the box thinking is really just a product of not limiting one's self to the dogma of "that's how it's always done". The philosophy of his offense, viewed as so complex and gimmicky, is neither complex nor a gimmick. It's first and foremost about attacking the whole field and all available players, utilizing all the space and opportunity available, and secondarily, about out-working and out-executing people.To succeed in anything, that's really the foundation you need. Be passionate about what you do. Be willing to exhaust every possible solution, don't limit yourself to "that's how it's always been done". And don't forget to out-work the next guy and execute better and better all the time.When I went away to MBA school at a top 25 school, there was no reason in the world that I, with a Psych degree from a state school plus two years of experience as a bank teller, should be able to score better grades and do better in interviews than someone from an Ivy League school with five or more years of experience at Goldman Sachs or GE or McKinsey or Arthur Andersen. It was a silent goal of mine, but even I had my doubts that I could really do it. It's hard to fathom what a relatively small-time, awkward and shy guy like myself can bring to a dynamic global organization like the one I work for today, and it's really hard to imagine how on earth I can succeed here. I have my own doubts sometimes even today. There's no reason why a guy with marginal athletic talents like me should ever be able to run a 5-minute mile or bench press close to 300 pounds. And yet I've been able to achieve all these things. And while God has blessed me in my life in many ways, I am actually quite proud to brag to you a bit that I didn't do any of these things with superior natural talent. I did it by working my tail off - outworking the other guy - and being more innovative and open-minded in my approach to attacking problems.Leach preaches that you have to ask "why not me?" At every step along the way, from his first coaching job at Cal Poly paying him $3,000 per year to his head coaching job at Texas Tech, there were detractors. "No way that gimmick offense can succeed at this level." "The defenses are so much better here, it will never work." And yet at every step, Leach's offenses set records and became the envy of offensive coordinators everywhere. And he constantly challenged his players to ask "why not me?" in the context of significant roles on the team and all-conference and other honors. And as a result, he got countless guys who were not big-time recruits - not the "cool kids" coming out of the high school ranks - to overachieve big time. Of all the college coaches in the past 20 years or so, Leach has had a greater impact on the way the college game is played than anyone, bar none. Spreading the field was viewed as a gimmick offense just 10 short years ago. Today, it's very common.Moreover, Leach significantly increased the graduation rate of football players at Texas Tech. Several players in the book recount how much better they are in their lives today because Leach challenged them and inspired them so much with his open-minded and creative yet hard-working approach to coaching and molding young men at Tech.Leach describes his approach to discipline, which is highly insightful. He says that discipline is not just about punishing and getting onto someone when they do something wrong. Discipline is also about supporting someone through a positive regimen of hard work, personal growth, self-esteem, self-respect, and ultimately, pursuit of a goal and reward. Succeeding in MBA school and in my current job have taken a ton of discipline. Discipline is not the enemy of enthusiasm - in fact, the two go hand-in-hand. Leach personifies this perhaps better than anyone I've ever seen.Leach argues that there are too many non-tryers and not enough tryers in this world. I couldn't agree more. It is so easy to figure out the cost of trying something and failing. That's why we fear trying things so much. It puts your skills and your credibility on the line. But what is so hard to measure, and what we so often miss, is the cost of not trying something that we maybe, just maybe, could have been very successful at. There is a cost of action, but there is also a cost of inaction. Count the cost of inaction. Be a tryer.Leach also explains how he came to be known as "the pirate". He was always curious about things intellectually. He was always reading, always learning. What another great life lesson - don't ever stop learning, don't ever squash your innate curiosity. Leach had a fascination with pirates because while English society had many social mores and barriers, there were no such things on pirate ships. They were the first example of a functioning multi-racial society. When you're fighting for survival, as pirates were, social mores went out the window and it didn't matter if you were white, black, red, brown, or purple. If you could contribute, you did, and you all worked together. Pirate ships were one of the first examples of democracy, as they did elect leaders. And as a leader, you were 100% accountable, because if the shipmates didn't like you, they would throw you overboard. So as a pirate, you always behaved as if your life depended on it. An exec of my company recently told us that there is a key difference between just being passionate and being hungry. To be passionate is to want badly to achieve something. To be hungry is to act as if your very survival depends on it. Pirates were hungry, always. We must stay hungry in our careers and our lives, too, otherwise we will find ourselves marginalized and pushed to the side.Pirates had to swing their swords without fear. We need to live our lives this way. Don't be afraid to try something new. Ask "why not me?" all the time. All the time. Use the whole field and every resource that is available to you - and don't limit yourself to what society or other people are going to think. And swing your sword with some hunger - act as if failure is not an option.I saw a lot of myself in this book, and I find myself with a much deeper respect for Coach Leach than I had before reading the book. I also take a lot of comfort in the fact that you can succeed as the underdog, you can succeed without being one of the "cool kids". You just have to be willing to work harder, innovate with every resource you have at your disposal, continuously learn and get better, have a positive attitude, and more than anything, just don't be afraid to try. Don't be paralyzed by your own fear. We're all human, we all have fear. Let fear be the other guy's problem.The book has challenged me to re-evaluate what has made me successful in the past, and recalibrate what I need to do in my career and my life to be successful in the future. In a strange way, it gave me new hope for myself and for underdogs and uncool kids everywhere.Leach also provides plenty of other nuggets about managing and motivating people to do their best, and plenty of insight on football strategy in the book. Lastly, he talks about the Adam James "situation" and how the powers that be at Texas Tech conspired to have him fired before they had to pay him a bonus that he was owed. Without going into the details of that, all I can say is that it's sickening how Craig James and some of the other "cool kids" went to such lengths to smear a guy who they didn't like. If there is a downside to the way Leach handles things and handled this situation, it's that he seemed largely ignorant of how to manage the politics of a big-time university. Then again, as someone who is not a "cool kid", politics are not natural to you. "Cool kids" can win by playing politics. Non-cool kids have to win by doing the things I mentioned above, and the only tactic non-cool kids know is being genuine and sticking to their guns. And Leach certainly did that. I give him kudos for that. Of course, the Tech administration fired him for the same. Oh well - life is not always fair. In the end, all you can do is just believe in your heart that what you are doing is right. Approach each day and each challenge with clear eyes and a full heart. If you do that, who cares what the "cool kids" or anyone else thinks about you.And I have no doubt that Leach will surface again as head coach of a BCS program, and he will once again light up scoreboards and be one of the most entertaining and interesting coaches anywhere. I doubt KU will be smart enough to hire him, but I hope that they do. A guy can dream, can't he?Coach Leach - loved your book, it is beyond 100% clear that the cool kids at Tech screwed you over royally. Come swing your sword for my Jayhawks, pirate ...