Book Review - Life Promises for Success by Jim Tressel

Before I give my review of Life Promises for Success: Promises from God on Achieving Your Best by Jim Tressel, I want to make two disclaimers. First, I’m a football coach and a fan of Coach Tressel.  Second, I received this book to review before Tressel’s current troubles with the NCAA.  I tried to read it without being too partial either way.  The book is a collection of Bible verses, quotes, and short anecdotes separated into three sections: The Essence of Success, The Elements of Success (the longest part), and The Epitome of Success.  It is set up like a devotional book, with 2-4 verses about a topic, and then an anecdote on the same topic; occasionally there is a quote to wrap things up.  It is a really quick read at under 200 pages of text.  While I read it in large chunks, I think it would be better digested in smaller readings, one or two topics at a time.  I found the content to be inspiring in as much as I like this type of book, although there wasn’t really anything new.  I often use quotes and anecdotes in communicating with my team, and it would be easy to use this book as a reference in that area.  Due to his recent troubles with the NCAA, I think that many people will scoff at the wisdom Coach Tressel passes on.  It’s somewhat hard to read about integrity from a man about whom it was just revealed kept information about rule breaking from his superiors at OSU and the NCAA.  If the reader can allow for the fact that people make mistakes, but the message is still relevant, then I believe this this book would be great for the following: football coaches (or coaches of any kind), Ohio State/Coach Tressel fans, or anyone who likes easy-to-read inspirational books.  It would make a great graduation-type gift.  I received this book as a preview copy from Tyndale House Publishers.