Three and Out - by John U Bacon (Paperback)

About the Book

The brilliant but star-crossed Rich Rodriguez led the young Wolverines through three of the program's toughest seasons. With the entire sports world watching, they enjoyed thrilling victories and suffered heartbreaking losses.

Book Synopsis

"Like the Moneyball of college football, Three and Out blows the lid off one of the sports world's most perplexing mysteries."--Entertainment Weekly

Three and Out tells the story of how college football's most influential coach, Rich Rodriguez, took over the nation's most successful program, only to produce three of the worst seasons in the University of Michigan's celebrated history. Coach Rich Rodriguez granted author and journalist John U. Bacon unrestricted access to the Michigan Wolverines' program. Bacon saw it all, from the meals and the meetings, to the practices and the games, to the sidelines and the locker rooms. Nothing and no one was off-limits.

John U. Bacon's Three and Out is the definitive account of a football marriage seemingly made in heaven that broke up after just three years, and exposes the best and the worst of college football.

From the Back Cover

Sports fans invest great hopes and dreams into their teams. College football fans invest even more, I think, because of the stronger connection they feel with the school and the players. But I've never seen any fans ask more of their teams than Michigan football fans ask of theirs. There are only two groups who are more devoted to the Wolverines, and demand more in return: the coaches and the players. They have the most to gain and the most to lose. They know the stakes. And they accept them--even embrace them. It's why all of them, from Rich Rodriguez to Tate Forcier to Denard Robinson, came to Ann Arbor. Not to be average, or even good, but "the leaders and best." Anything less would not do. This book explains how the coach and his team fell short--and what happened when they did.

Review Quotes

"John U. Bacon found himself with the kind of access unheard of in modern athletics. The result is a remarkable book . . . [If] you are simply a fan of college football, or interested in big-time college athletics more generally, it is a fascinating read." --The National Review

"A fascinating look inside the workings of a major-college football program. Rodriguez's failure was everyone's fault and no one's. Unreasonable expectations combined with bad decisions and bad luck led to three bad seasons. Not acceptable at Michigan. Fine reading for college-football fans." --ALA Booklist

"John U. Bacon's Three and Out [is] an epic piece of reporting behind the scenes of a college football program going to hell." --New York Magazine

"Rich Rodriguez never had a chance as coach of the Michigan Wolverines. He showed up with a glowing resume and got himself eaten alive. John Bacon's account of Rodriguez's epic failure is a cautionary tale for anyone who doesn't realize that being a major college football coach requires one to be part CEO, part psychologist, part carny barker, and all crazy." --Charles P. Pierce, author of Moving The Chains: Tom Brady and the Pursuit Of Everything

"College basketball has Season on the Brink. High school football has Friday Night Lights. Now college football has Three and Out, which takes you inside the locker room to show you what it's really like to be a college football coach and player. If it surprised me--and it did--I'm sure it will surprise even hardcore fans. If you care about college football, you'll want this book." --Adam Schefter, ESPN

"John U. Bacon is one of the best reporters/writers of my generation. Three and Out proves it. It's one of the most riveting non-fiction works I've read in years, in any genre. The eyewitness details from the locker room, the sidelines, and the most powerful offices on a college campus are breathtaking. Get this book. You will thank me." --David Shuster, Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist

"When, several millennia from now, archeologists excavate American ruins as archeologists have done those of Carthage, they may be mystified by the Big House in Ann Arbor, Michigan. How did this 109,901 seat football emporium come to be connected to an institution of higher education? Or was the connection the other way? Without waiting 2,000 years, readers can join John U. Bacon on his eye-opening, and occasionally jaw-dropping, report on the weird world of college football." --George F. Will

About the Author

John U. Bacon has written for Time, the New York Times, and ESPN Magazine, among other publications, earning national honors. He is the author of several books on sports and business, including Bo's Lasting Lessons (with Bo Schembechler), a New York Times and Wall Street Journal business bestseller. Bacon teaches at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan and is a popular public speaker.