The Perfect Pass: American Genius and the Reinvention of Football

by S. C. Gwynne

Overview

An “excellent sports history” (Publishers Weekly) in the tradition of Michael Lewis’s Moneyball, award-winning historian S.C. Gwynne tells the incredible story of how two unknown coaches revolutionized American football at every level, from high school to the NFL.

Hal Mumme spent fourteen mostly losing seasons coaching football before inventing a potent passing offense that would soon shock players, delight fans, and terrify opposing coaches. It all began at a tiny, overlooked college called Iowa Wesleyan, where Mumme was head coach and Mike Leach, a lawyer who had never played college football, was hired as his offensive line coach. In the cornfields of Iowa these two mad inventors, drawn together by a shared disregard for conventionalism and a love for Jimmy Buffett, began to engineer the purest, most extreme passing game in the 145-year history of football. Implementing their “Air Raid” offense, their teams—at Iowa Wesleyan and later at Valdosta State and the University of Kentucky—played blazingly fast—faster than any team ever had before, and they routinely beat teams with far more talented athletes. And Mumme and Leach did it all without even a playbook.

“A superb treat for all gridiron fans” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), The Perfect Pass S.C. Gwynne explores Mumme’s leading role in changing football from a run-dominated sport to a pass-dominated one, the game that tens of millions of Americans now watch every fall weekend. Whether you’re a casual or ravenous football fan, this is “a rousing tale of innovation” (Booklist), and “Gwynne’s book ably relates the story of that innovation and the successes of the man who devised it” (New York Journal of Books).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501116209
Publisher:	Scribner
Publication date:	09/05/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

S.C. Gwynne is the author of His Majesty’s Airship, Hymns of the Republic, and the New York Times bestsellers Rebel Yell and Empire of the Summer Moon, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He spent most of his career as a journalist, including stints with Time as bureau chief, national correspondent, and senior editor, and with Texas Monthly as executive editor. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife.

Table of Contents

1 The Mad Pirate's Revenge 1

2 A Job You Wouldn't Want 9

3 A Brief History of Men Throwing Balls 19

4 Secrets of the Air 33

5 Ballad of the Lonesome Polecat 47

6 Of Mouse and Mormons 61

7 Maybe the Worst Team in America 75

8 The Future Does Not Exist 85

9 A Convocation of Rejects 91

10 Hal's Theory of Relativity 101

11 The Air Show Comes to Town 117

12 The One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Pass 135

13 No Good Deed Unpunished 149

14 Bumps in the Road 157

15 Pilgrimage to Margaritaville 165

16 Rise of a Great American Offense 175

17 The Street Value of an Aerial Circus 189

18 Air Raid 197

19 High, Wide, and Handsome 219

20 Stars in Their Courses 239

Epilogue: The Game Changes 249

A Note on Sources and Methods 269

Bibliography 273

Index 277

Editorial Reviews

"The most entertaining book on football this decade."
—Allen Barra, The Dallas Morning News

"A thrill-a-minute book...Along with his protégé Mike Leach, now the head coach at Washington State University, Mr. Mumme revolutionized their sport in ways that, frankly, dwarf the legacy of Billy Beane and his gang from 'Moneyball.'"
—The Wall Street Journal

“Excellent sports history . . . an inspiring reminder that great ideas don't automatically permeate the existing ideology. Sometimes a devoted few must pursue their principles with diligence, even if they don't get the glory.”
—Publishers Weekly

“It is undeniable that the Air Raid, the fast passing game, and the frequency of the forward pass are now imprinted on football, especially, as Gwynne notes, on the college level though also in the NFL. That makes his subtitle all the more fitting, for undeniably, the two coaches changed the game—and brought glory to their institutions. A superb treat for all gridiron fans.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A rousing tale of innovation finding success in the face of the gale-force winds of convention."
—Booklist

"The Perfect Pass is a perfect book about football—and the transformative power of innovation. S.C. Gwynne brings the same remarkable reporting and storytelling skills he used in Empire of the Summer Moon and Rebel Yell to reveal the dramatic history behind the passing revolution that disrupted and forever changed America’s favorite sport. His portrait of Hal Mumme, the unknown underdog coach who unleashed the Air Raid offense on the modern game, is superb, at once capturing the passion and genius that made him an unsung hero of his generation."
—Brian D. Sweany, editor in chief, Texas Monthly

"When we played against a Hal Mumme offense, our defense had to be changed dramatically. You had to throw away everything you knew or you were going to get beat. Every offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator in football better study this book to find out why."
—Jerry Glanville, former NFL and college head coach

“Being a football coach who innovates against the way the game has long been played is deeply challenging. S.C. Gwynne captures perfectly how Hal Mumme's Air Raid offense helped change the landscape of college football forever. It's a great story.”
—Bruce Arians, head coach, Arizona Cardinals

"Hal Mumme has always been a true American genius, and every year teams running his offense are among the tops in yards and points. I know, because I would've liked to have hired him. He has a brilliant football mind, and here at last is his amazing story, told in full."
—Bob Stoops, head coach, University of Oklahoma

"If you are a coach, a manager, an entrepreneur, an executive, an MBA student, etc. looking for a real life example of thinking way outside the box and changing your industry or field completely, then The Perfect Pass is the book for you. Read it, digest it, and then apply it to your life’s work."
—Texas History Page

"The tale of Hal Mumme and how he changed American football is a David and Goliath story with similarities to Michael Lewis's Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its number-crunching general manager, Billy Beane. That was a different sport and era, but both Beane and Mumme found themselves in underdog positions and used creative, out-of-the-box thinking to level the playing field."
—Houston Press

"Informative and entertaining and a must read for anyone interested in the inner game of football strategy....If you are a football coach, football fan or simply a guy who likes a good story, S.C. Gwynne scored a touchdown."
—Tony DeMeo, American Football Monthly

From the Publisher

07/11/2016
Even into the 1980s, passing was an almost exotic element in all levels of football, while the safe and steady running game aligned with the sport’s macho ethos. Coach Hal Mumme had other ideas, as Gwynne (Empire of the Summer Moon) writes in this excellent sports history. Mumme was fascinated with the possibilities of constantly passing and embarked on a quest to build a perfect offense, borrowing concepts from coaches and tinkering with them to fit the dream plays he scribbled on scraps of paper. His laboratories were a variety of small, overlooked high schools and colleges in Texas, Iowa, and Georgia, where a variety of small, overlooked players became statistical superstars thanks to a system that preached simplicity and repetition in a world of dictionary-sized playbooks with endless wrinkles. This offense, nicknamed “Air Raid,” made its way to big-time college ball; now, the relentlessly airborne approach has found its way to the likes of Tom Brady. Gwynne serves up an intriguing parallel history to football’s pass-dominated renovation, with Mumme playing the role of overlooked (and overworked) forefather. The author also provides an inspiring reminder that great ideas don’t automatically permeate the existing ideology. Sometimes, a devoted few must pursue their principles with diligence, even if they don’t get the glory. Agent: Amy Hughes, Dunow, Carson & Lerner. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

08/01/2016
This book by Pulitzer Prize finalist Gwynne (Empire of the Summer Moon) is not only about the evolution of football strategy, particularly in the passing game, it also illuminates the challenges and rigors of college football coaching and its effect on family life. The story is told through the experiences of itinerant football coach Hal Mumme, who rose from high school assistant coach in Texas to head coach of University of Kentucky in the vaunted Southeastern Conference to his current position as head coach of Belhaven University after four tumultuous years in Lexington. Mumme, along with his chief assistant Mike Leach who has forged his own nomadic college coaching career, developed the Air Raid offense that is prominent in the present game. Mumme's simple, fast-paced, pass-oriented attack draws inspirations from plays such as the run and shoot offense, the single-back offense, and legendary football coach Bill Walsh's West Coast offense. Diagrams make the technical aspects clear and understandable. Despite his innovative role in the sport, Mumme now languishes in the lower depths of NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) football, a prophet without honor in his own country. VERDICT This interesting amalgamation of football strategy and biography will interest all fans of the sport.

Library Journal

★ 2016-07-04
Think baseball is slow? Then imagine football without a passing offense, which, as historian/journalist Gwynne (Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion, and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson, 2014, etc.) ably shows, is no mere thought experiment.In the early days of American football, quarterbacks did not have to pass the ball. The rules allowed them to, but, as the author writes, “overwhelmingly, they chose not to.” Of course, this meant it was mostly a running game. There were exceptions—Carlisle Indian School coach Pop Warner’s passing game being the textbook case—but it wasn’t until recent years that the passing game came into its own, courtesy of Gwynne’s coach heroes. Hal Mumme and his assistant Mike Leach led the small, not terribly distinguished school of Iowa Wesleyan to legendary status by developing a fast passing game that admitted only a few variations: “Hal’s ultra-minimal playbook,” writes the author, “allowed the quarterback and receivers to repeat it hundreds of times in practice.” The explanation that follows is a touch geeky, with mathematical variants based on man-to-man coverage in the classic Y-cross formation, and so forth, but that makes this book just the thing for the true football aficionado in the house. What makes the narrative more generally invaluable is its portrait of how football politics can bring down even the winningest coach. Although every team on the planet now emulates the playbook developed by the two coaches—a playbook that of course has a genealogy stretching back into football history—their own careers went into a downward spiral (beg pardon) when their numbers didn’t post well. Still, it is undeniable that the Air Raid, the fast passing game, and the frequency of the forward pass are now imprinted on football, especially, as Gwynne notes, on the college level though also in the NFL. That makes his subtitle all the more fitting, for undeniably, the two coaches changed the game—and brought glory to their institutions. A superb treat for all gridiron fans.

Kirkus Reviews