Wayne Coffey has 8 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 8 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.7★ across 20 ratings. The most-rated is Above the Line.
Above the Line
Summary
Lessons on leadership and team building from Ohio State's head football coach, drawing heavily on the 2014 season and his team's remarkable run to the championship in the face of adversity. Since he took over at Bowling Green 14 years ago, Urban Frank Meyer III has established himself as one of the elite coaches in the annals of college football. With three national championships and a record of 142-26, he has achieved remarkable results with many teams. But it is Meyer's recent work at The Ohio State University that has elevated him into the realm of such iconic coaching names as Paul (Bear) Bryant, Knute Rockne, and OSU's own Woody Hayes. Never was that work more successful than in the 2014 season, which ended with Meyer's Buckeyes capturing the inaugural College Football Playoff Championship with a 42-20 victory over Oregon. That the triumph came with a third-string quarterback at the helm - and after OSU had suffered a brutal early season loss and endured the tragic loss of a teammate - only made the achievement that much more extraordinary. How did Ohio State, a school many thought did not even deserve to be in the playoffs, end up at the summit of college football? In Above the Line, Urban Meyer answers this question and many more. Pulling back the curtain on the high-profile, high-pressure world he operates in, he offers listeners a groundbreaking game plan for creating a culture of success that engages and inspires the people around them - the very game plan he followed every day in the Buckeyes' historic 2014 season. A student of psychology long before he became a coach, Meyer believes that trust is the bedrock of great achievements and healthy relationships and explains how to build it, step by step - whether in a team, a family, or a Fortune 500 company.
©2015 Urban Meyer (P)2015 Penguin Audio
Wherever I Wind Up
Summary
The Glass Castle meets Ball Four as Mets knuckleballer R. A. Dickey weaves searing honesty and baseball insight in this memoir about his unlikely journey to the big leagues. An English Lit major at the University of Tennessee, Dickey is as articulate and thoughtful as any professional athlete in any sport - and proves it page after page, as he provides fresh and honest insight into baseball and a career unlike any other. Fourteen years ago, Dickey was a heralded No. 1 draft choice of the Texas Rangers, only to have an $810,000 signing bonus, and his lifelong dream, ripped away by an X- ray - and the discovery that he did not have an ulna collateral ligament in his right elbow. Five years ago, he gave up a record six home runs in three innings to the Detroit Tigers - and was effectively consigned to the baseball scrap heap. Sustained by his profound Christian faith, the love of his wife and children, and a relentless quest for self-awareness and authenticity, the immensely likable Dickey details his transformation from a reckless, risk-taking loner to a grounded, life-affirming big leaguer. He emerged as one of the premier pitchers in the National League in 2010-and the knuckleballing embodiment of the wonders that perseverance and human wisdom can produce. Dickey views his story as one of redemption. Readers will come to see it as something more - a uniquely American story of beating back demons, listening to your heart, and overcoming extraordinary odds.
©2012 eChristian (P)2012 eChristian
The Boys of Winter
Summary
Once upon a time, they taught us to believe. They were the 1980 US Olympic hockey team, a blue-collar bunch led by an unconventional coach, and they engineered perhaps the greatest sports moment of the 20th century. Their "Miracle on Ice" has become a national fairy tale, but the real Cinderella story is even more remarkable. It is a legacy of hope, hard work, and homegrown triumph. It is a chronicle of everyday heroes who just wanted to play hockey happily ever after. It is still unbelievable. The Boys of Winter is an evocative account of the improbable American adventure in Lake Placid, New York. Drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews, Wayne Coffey explores the untold stories of the US upstarts, their Soviet opponents, and the forces that brought them together.
©2005 Wayne Coffey; foreword copyright 2005 by Jim Craig; afterword copyright 2005 by Wayne Coffey (P)2017 Tantor
When Nobody Was Watching
Summary
From the celebrated star of the US Women's National Soccer Team, an inspiring, uplifting, and candid memoir of how she got there. In 2015, the US Women's National Soccer Team won its first FIFA championship in 16 years, culminating in an epic final game that electrified soccer fans around the world. It featured a gutsy, brilliant performance by team captain and midfielder Carli Lloyd, who made history that day, scoring a hat trick - three goals in one game - during the first 16 minutes. But there was a time when Carli almost quit the sport. In 2003 she was struggling, her soccer career at a crossroads. Then she found a trusted trainer, James Galanis, who saw in Carli a player with raw talent, skill, and a great dedication to the game. What Carli lacked were fitness, mental toughness, and character. Together they set to work, training day and night, fighting, grinding it out. No one worked harder than Carli. And no one believed in her more than James. Despite all the naysayers, the times she was benched, moments when her self-confidence took a nosedive, she succeeded in becoming one of the best players in the world. This candid reflection on a remarkable turnaround will take listeners inside the women's national team and inside the head of an athlete who willed herself to perform at the highest levels of competition.
©2016 Carli Lloyd (P)2016 Random House Audio
The Closer
Summary
Mariano Rivera, the man who intimidated thousands of batters merely by opening a bullpen door, began his incredible journey as the son of a poor Panamanian fisherman. When first scouted by the Yankees, he didn't even own his own glove. He thought he might make a good mechanic. When discovered, he had never flown in an airplane, had never heard of Babe Ruth, spoke no English, and couldn't imagine Tampa, the city where he was headed to begin a career that would become one of baseball's most iconic. What he did know: that he loved his family and his then girlfriend, Clara, that he could trust in the Lord to guide him, and that he could throw a baseball exactly where he wanted to, every time. With astonishing candor, Rivera tells the story of the championships, the bosses (including The Boss), the rivalries, and the struggles of being a Latino baseball player in the United States and of maintaining Christian values in professional athletics. The thirteen-time All-Star discusses his drive to win; the secrets behind his legendary composure; the story of how he discovered his cut fastball; the untold, pitch-by-pitch account of the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 2001 World Series; and why the lowest moment of his career became one of his greatest blessings. In The Closer, Rivera takes readers into the Yankee clubhouse, where his teammates are his brothers. But he also takes us on that jog from the bullpen to the mound, where the game - or the season - rests squarely on his shoulders. We come to understand the laser-like focus that is his hallmark, and how his faith and his family kept his feet firmly on the pitching rubber. When Rivera retired, the whole world watched -- and cheered. In The Closer, we come to an even greater appreciation of a legend built from the ground up.
©2014 Mariano Rivera (P)2014 Hachette Audio
El Cerrador: Mi vida (The Closer)
Summary
The greatest relief pitcher of all time shares his extraordinary story of survival, love, and baseball. Mariano Rivera, the man who intimidated thousands of batters merely by opening a bullpen door, began his incredible journey as the son of a poor Panamanian fisherman. When first scouted by the Yankees, he didn't even own his own glove. He thought he might make a good mechanic. When discovered, he had never flown in an airplane, had never heard of Babe Ruth, spoke no English, and couldn't imagine Tampa, the city where he was headed to begin a career that would become one of baseball's most iconic. What he did know: that he loved his family and his then girlfriend, Clara, that he could trust in the Lord to guide him, and that he could throw a baseball exactly where he wanted to, every time. With astonishing candor, Rivera tells the story of the championships, the bosses (including The Boss), the rivalries, and the struggles of being a Latino baseball player in the United States and of maintaining Christian values in professional athletics. The 13-time All-Star discusses his drive to win; the secrets behind his legendary composure; the story of how he discovered his cut fastball; the untold, pitch-by-pitch account of the ninth inning of Game 7 in the 2001 World Series; and why the lowest moment of his career became one of his greatest blessings. In The Closer, Rivera takes listeners into the Yankee clubhouse, where his teammates are his brothers. But he also takes us on that jog from the bullpen to the mound, where the game - or the season - rests squarely on his shoulders. We come to understand the laserlike focus that is his hallmark, and how his faith and his family kept his feet firmly on the pitching rubber. Please note: This audiobook is in Spanish. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
©2014 Mariano Rivera (P)2014 Hachette Audio
All Heart
Summary
In the summer of 2015, the US women's national soccer team won the World Cup behind an epic performance by Carli Lloyd. Carli, a midfielder, scored three goals in the first 16 minutes - the greatest goal-scoring effort in the history of World Cup finals. But there was a time when Carli almost quit soccer. She struggled with doubts and low confidence. InAll Heart, adapted from When Nobody Was Watching specifically for younger listeners, Carli tells the full inspiring story of her journey to the top of the soccer world - an honest, action-packed account that takes listeners inside the mind of a hardworking athlete.
©2016 Carli Lloyd and Wayne Coffey (P)2016 Listening Library
They Said It Couldn't Be Done
Summary
“One of sports’ most storied championship teams gets its proper due” (Tom Verducci) in this definitive history of the 1969 Miracle Mets from the New York Times best-selling author of The Boys of Winter. “If you want to know what it was like to live and witness a baseball miracle in tumultuous times, this book is for you.” (Ron Darling, former New York Mets All-Star and best-selling author of Game 7, 1986) The story of the 1969 New York Mets’ season has long since entered sports lore as one of the most remarkable of all time. But beyond the “miracle” is a compelling narrative of an unlikely collection of players and the hallowed manager who inspired them to greatness. For the 50th anniversary, renowned sports journalist Wayne Coffey brings to life a moment when a championship could descend on a city like magic, and when a baseball legend was authored one inning at a time. Future Hall of Fame ace Tom Seaver snagged the biggest headlines, but the enduring richness of the story lies in the core of a team comprised of untested youngsters, lightly regarded veterans, and four Southern-born African-American stalwarts who came of age in the shadow of Jackie Robinson. Most of the Mets regulars were improbable candidates for baseball stardom. The number-two starting pitcher, Jerry Koosman, grew up on a Minnesota farm, never played high-school ball, and was only discovered because of a tip from a Mets usher. Outfielder Ron Swoboda was known for long home runs and piles of strikeouts, until he turned into a glove wizard when it mattered most. All of these men were galvanized by their manager: the sainted former Brooklyn Dodger Gil Hodges, whose fundamental belief in the power of every man on the roster, no matter his stats, helped backup players like Al Weis and J.C. Martin become October heroes. As the Mets powered through the season to reach a World Series against the best-in-a-generation Baltimore Orioles, Hodges's steady hand guided a team that had very recently been the league laughingstock to an improbable, electrifying shot at sports immortality. “A must-read for not just for Mets fans, but allbaseball fans who will appreciate what indeed was the most astounding season in baseball history.” (Ken Rosenthal, two-time Sports Emmy winner for Outstanding Sports Reporter)
©2019 Wayne Coffey (P)2019 Random House Audio