Bounce Back: Overcoming Setbacks to Succeed in Business and in Life

Written by John Calipari

Narrated by John Calipari

If recent history has taught us anything, it’s that nobody goes through life unscathed—no matter how rich, how smart, how talented, or how fortunate they may be. White collar, blue collar, or no collar, there is an undeniable commonality to the raw emotion that strikes people when they are knocked down.

University of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari has experienced his share of public setbacks, but he has learned that bad situations are permanent only if you allow them to be. What Coach Cal—as players, peers, and his legion of fans that make up the Big Blue Nation call him—learned from his experiences was the importance of having the right attitude when dealing with life’s major impediments. On the court and off, he emphasizes to his players that a big part of success is being able to handle obstacles. Now he is offering you the chance to learn the same strategies that he teaches the young men who play for him. By becoming an active participant in your own resurrection—through practice exercises and tips from Coach Cal and his deep bench of highly successful people—you too will gain the tools and insight to understand that it’s never a matter of how far you have fallen, but instead it’s about how high you bounce back.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Sep 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9780743582360

John Calipari

John Calipari is the current head coach of the University of Kentucky’s men's basketball and a veteran of nearly 20 college seasons at the University of Memphis and the University of Massachusetts. Widely regarded as one of the greatest program builders in all of college basketball, Calipari's teams have earned 11 conference titles, 12 NCAA Tournament berths and two Final Fours. Of his past three point guards, two have been NBA Rookie of the Year and the third, John Wall, was Washington’s No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. He received the Naismith National Coach of the Year Award for the 1995-1996 and 2007-2008 seasons, as well as the Sports Illustrated National Coach of the Year honor for 2008-09.   Calipari’s first season in The Bluegrass State saw a complete rejuvenation of the program that had fallen from its perch atop college basketball. With the nation’s best freshman class entering for 2010-11, the Wildcats will again be in the thick of the race on the road to the Final Four. Calipari and his wife, Ellen, have three children, Erin, Megan, and Bradley. You can learn more about Coach Cal, “Bounce Back” and the Calipari Family Foundation for Chidlren (CFFC) on his website: www.coachcal.com and by following him on Twitter: @UKCoachCalipari and on Facebook at “John Calipari.”  

Reviews for Bounce Back

[justindtapp · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book is supposed to motivate you to overcome setbacks. Coach Cal has even set up a website for you to share your story and motivate others, as well as download his "practice plans," activities designed to help you bounce back.

If you can relate to a guy who's major setback in life was being fired from a multimillion dollar NBA coaching job only to go on to other multimillion dollar coaching jobs after being unemployed (or doing an ESPN gig) for a few months, then this book is for you.

If you can handle cliches like "PractiCAL point," and dialogue like "Put your faith in me, and I'll put my faith in you" then this book is for you.

If you can handle other...clever...phrases like "Let's bounce back, bounce forward, and bounce forever" (last sentence in the book) then this book is for you.

I'm glad Calipari overcame his setbacks and landed on his feet. He makes good practical step-by-step points about how to overcome being fired, or demoted, or divorced, or whatever. Much of it lines up with good scriptural teaching (accept God's will, don't be bitter, find good counselors, etc.). However, there's no mention of him bouncing back from having 2 trips to the Final Four being vacated by the NCAA or how he handles being called a "cheater" by every non-UK fan. The useful basketball knowledge I gained was how he recently decided to adopt the dribble-drive offense.

In all, I give this book 2.5 stars out of 5.