Read the First Two Chapters of Gene Chizik’s “All In”

Gene Chizik’s book, All In: What it Takes to Be the Best, will hit bookstores on July 5th. Advance copies were sent out to more important people this week and there are already a bevy of early reviews. From what I’ve seen, it looks like it’s going to be the first book I’ve read since college.

I wasn’t lucky enough to get one of those advance copies, but I was lucky enough to be to able to learn of the whereabouts of the first few chapters of the book. I can’t let you see it, though. I was sworn to secrecy, and I have values and stuff. Nah, I’m just kidding. Go ahead and read the beginning right here. There’s a link to the rest below the excerpt.

1. THE JOURNEY BEGINS

As soon as the interview was over, I stepped outside to call Jonna.

“Baby, I think I got it.”

It was 2006. Iowa State University was looking for a head coach, and I was looking for my first head coaching job.

The biggest question facing me was, if Iowa State did offer me the job, should I take it?

The biggest question that friends, colleagues, and members of the media would be asking me in the weeks ahead was, “Gene, why did you take that job?”

Back when I first interviewed with Iowa State, I was considered one of the hottest head coaching prospects in college football. I was one game away from finishing my second season as assistant head coach, co–defensive coordinator, and linebackers coach at the University of Texas, where we had just won a national championship the year before and were now poised to finish the 2006 regular season with a 9–3 record and to earn the program’s ninth consecutive postseason bowl appearance.

Prior to that, I had spent three years as defensive coordinator at Auburn, where in my final season we compiled a perfect 13–0 record, won the Southeastern Conference Championship, and went on to defeat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl. That same year I received the Broyles Award, presented annually to the nation’s top assistant coach.

General consensus was that I was going to land my first head coaching job, and soon. General consensus also held that Iowa State was not the best place for that to happen.

You can read the foreword (written by the Mack Brown), the best prologue I’ve ever read (believe me, I’ve read a lot of prologues), the first two chapters, and for some reason the last page of the book here. I was always taught to never skip to the end of the book because you’ll ruin the experience. Oh well, I think we already know how it ends.