Preview
  • The Perfect Pass

  • American Genius and the Reinvention of Football
  • By: S. C. Gwynne
  • Narrated by: Santino Fontana
  • Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (370 ratings)

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The Perfect Pass

By: S. C. Gwynne
Narrated by: Santino Fontana
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Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling, award-winning historian S. C. Gwynne tells the incredible story of how Hal Mumme and Mike Leach - two unknown coaches who revolutionized American football in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s - changed the way the game is played at every level, from high school to the NFL.

Hal Mumme is one of a handful of authentic offensive geniuses in the history of American football. In 2015 ESPN Magazine, the nation's leading sports magazine, called him the single most influential football coach in the last quarter century.

Mumme spent 14 mostly losing seasons coaching football before inventing a potent passing offense strategy that would revolutionize the game. That transformation began at a tiny college called Iowa Wesleyan, where Mumme was head coach and Mike Leach his assistant. It was there that Mumme invented the purest and most extreme passing game in the 145-year history of football, where his quarterback once completed 61 of 86 passes (both national records). His teams played blazingly fast - faster than any team ever had before. They rarely punted on a fourth down and routinely beat teams with 10 or 20 times Iowa Wesleyan's students. Mumme did it all with average athletes and without even a playbook.

In The Perfect Pass, S. C. Gwynne explores Mumme's genius and the stunning performance of his teams as well as his leading role in changing football from a run-dominated sport to a pass-dominated sport. He also shares the history of a moment in American football when the game changed fundamentally and transformed itself into what tens of millions of Americans now watch on television every weekend. Whether you're a casual or ravenous football fan, this is a truly compelling story of American ingenuity and innovation and how a set of revolutionary ideas made their way into the mainstream of sports culture that we celebrate today.

©2016 Samuel C. Gwynne. All rights reserved. (P)2016 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
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What listeners say about The Perfect Pass

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5 Star

Interesting book. SC Gwynn is an excellent storyteller. His book about the Comanches is one of my all time favorites.

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Great story

A very good story about the rise of passing football and Hal Mumme. I throughly enjoyed it.

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Quick read for me!

Thoroughly enjoyed this audible. Any football person will enjoy this glimpse of the Air Raid offense and its development!

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AIR RAID!

Thoroughly enjoyed this book! History of Hal Mumme and Mike Leach and their wonderful friendship that led to the creation of the Air Raid offense.

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Perfect Pass is for the die hard fan

If you love the game at every level, you will love this book! I grew up in Texas and Oklahoma, where I’m pretty sure there must be schools where you can’t graduate until you can diagram a reasonable offense and defense on a white board. A great story of people, programs, personality, and the life of a coach and his family. It was beautifully written and narrated, and I loved every bit of it.

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Fascinating.

A must read for college football and NFL fans alike. good narration performance as well.

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Excellent

what are the best books about football that I've ever read I liked it so much I'm going to read it again right now!

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we get to go behind the curtain with the air raid

S. C. Gwynne is a talented writer and this particular subject matter suffers from a lack of exploration. There are lots of sports stories but this is a virtually unique look behind the curtain at the development of the air raid offense .... a monumental event in football. I hated for it to be over could listen to this red another 8 hours with stories about Coach Leach Coach Mumme their passion for football and more specifically for throwing the football. This is a great sport story well told and thoroughly enjoyable. If you love football or you love history and you love great stories this one's not to be missed.

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Mumme and Leach

Having been a high school coach now for 36 years. I also had contacts that opened doors for me to go and visit with Hal Mumme and Mike Leach and Chris Hatcher and Tony Franklin. Part of this revolution I got to see up close and experienced it. This is a well written book and super insightful

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What every football fan wants to listen to!

Incredibly well-written. Great story & character portrayal! This book informs us how the football landscape that we love today was created.

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