Book by William Jewell basketball coaching legend was finished posthumously

My last conversation with William Jewell basketball coaching legend Larry Holley came less than three months before he died last May at age 76.

We were discussing the book he was writing when he asked about my grandparents.

Holley had remembered a conversation we had had years earlier when I mentioned my mother’s parents came from Massachusetts to attend Jewell and often spoke fondly of their few years in Liberty. Holley invited me to campus so we could check out yearbooks from that era.

That was Holley. Gracious and considerate with a skill for connecting, like most successful coaches. And that comes through in his book, “My First Name is ‘Coach,’ Stories from a Life Well-Lived,” co-written by Holley’s wife Linda and Kansas City author David Smale.

The work required overtime.

Smale was working on some chapters and heard the report of Holley’s death while watching the late local news. He immediately called Linda.

“On that call she said we were going to finish the book,” Smale said.

Holley had said he didn’t want his first book to be about coaching methods or even read like an autobiography. He originally planned to describe his life and career with hundreds of vignettes.

But like a team making a halftime adjustment, he reorganized to a narrative form, and more than half of the book is devoted to his William Jewell career, where he spent 40 of his 48 years in the business.

Along the way, Holley passed the likes of Adolph Rupp, Bob Knight, Dean Smith and Roy Williams on the list of career coaching victories. Holley’s 918 ranked 10th when he retired in 2019 and is the most by any coach who spent most of his career in Missouri or Kansas.

There were 12 conference-title teams, 25 that won at least 20 games and four that won at least 30. His Cardinals teams went to 14 NAIA Tournaments, including three Elite Eights and four Final Fours, and he led the program’s transition from the NAIA to NCAA Division II.

“My first name is ‘Coach,’” is available on LarryHolleyBook.com and in area bookstores.