A provocative assessment of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden by the best-selling author of When March Went Mad draws on hundreds of interviews from all periods of his career to offer insight into his driving ambition, divided relationships and hard-won lessons.

Prologue: The den -- Spring. Hugh ; The artesians ; Nell ; Piggy ; John Wooden, All-American ; An English teacher ; The Kautskys ; The hurryin' Sycamores ; Clarence -- Summer. Unwelcome ; The nonconformist ; L.A. story ; Willie the whale ; The Dons ; Pete ; Walt ; "Don't be a Homer!" ; Gail ; Perfect -- Autumn. J.D. ; Lewis ; Stallball ; Game of the century ; Kareem ; The last banquet ; The redhead ; Sam ; Streaking ; Intolerable ; Farewell -- Winter. Clean Gene ; The shadow ; The hardest loss ; Andy ; Yonder -- Epilogue: The poet -- John Wooden's coaching record, 1946-1975.