Toughness: Developing True Strength On and Off the Court

by Jay Bilas, Coach K. (Foreword)

ESPN basketball analyst and former Duke player Jay Bilas looks at the true meaning of toughness in this New York Times bestselling book that features stories from basketball legends.

If anyone knows tough, it’s Jay Bilas. A four-year starter at Duke, he learned a strong work ethic under Coach Mike Krzyzewski. After playing professionally overseas, he returned to Duke, where he served as Krzyzewski’s assistant coach for three seasons, helping to guide the Blue Devils to two national championships. He has since become one of basketball’s most recognizable faces through his insightful analysis on ESPN’s SportsCenter and College GameDay .

Through his ups and downs on and off the court, Bilas learned the true meaning of toughness from coaches, teammates, and colleagues. Now, in Toughness , he examines this misunderstood—yet vital—attribute and how it contributes to winning in sports and in life. Featuring never-before-heard stories and personal philosophies on toughness from top players and coaches, including Coach K, Bob Knight, Grant Hill, Mia Hamm, Jon Gruden, Tom Izzo, Roy Williams, Bill Self, Curtis Strange, and many others—Bilas redefines what it takes to succeed.

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction, Leadership, Self Help, Audiobook, Memoir

272 pages, Hardcover

First published February 5, 2013

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overuse of the word, "toughness". Just an overall lame read.

[Sarah Boselovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Bilas has always been one of my favorite sports commentators because of his knowledge of the game and the personal approach he has to it. This book was a wonderful telling of his opinion on the matter - as a player, Coach, analyst, and lawyer. I highly recommend for really anybody!

[Ben Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Toughness isn’t physical...It has nothing to do with size, physical strength or athleticism…It’s an intangible, an attitude, a philosophy,” stated Jay Bilas in his book I recently read called Toughness. Bilas is an experienced basketball player and coach. He also has a law degree from Duke University. With this experience, he examines the idea of true toughness and its role in winning and succeeding in every aspect of life.

Being known as a sports fanatic, I was given this book by a neighbor of ours (and former coach), who lives next door to us at our lake
house in Michigan. Immediately, upon reading the blurb, I was intrigued. Jay Bilas does a remarkable job relating something as simple as “toughness” to every area of life. Bilas keeps the reader engaged by using specific stories and examples to illustrate his point. He frequently references lessons he learned from his father. “Every day my father got up and went to work. I learned about his work ethic, not from my father talking about it, but from watching him. He didn’t talk about it; he just did it.” In addition to examples of his family life, Bilas often calls upon his experiences as a coach and commentator. James Johnson, a college basketball player at the time, didn’t put forth the effort to snag a loose ball with the game on the line. The other team gained possession of the ball and tied the game. Johnson didn’t show toughness then, however he recovered to score the winning basket. Following the game, instead of basking in the glory, he stated “That was my responsibility – I should’ve had that ball.” Johnson shows true toughness by owning up to his mistakes and not making excuses.

I know this summer when I go to our lake house, our neighbor will ask what I thought of the book. First, I’d tell him I found the book very insightful and well written. I’d then tell him I learned two critical things. The first one is the concept of “the next play.” This concept focused on not dwelling on the past, but focusing on the present. It’s the idea of having a short memory on the field or on the court, not lingering on past mistakes, but moving forward in order to do something positive. The second critical lesson I learned was to step out of my comfort zone. I have to learn how to become comfortable in uncomfortable situations. As Bilas notes, “It isn’t how tough the situation is; it is how tough I am in the situation.”

[Justin Dahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone who wants to learn about becoming a better coach, team player, etc. this book is for you. While some of Bilas’ chapters have a lot of overlap and are repeated a fair amount, there’s a lot of useful insight to be gained. I read this book to prepare for a basketball coaching role and learned more about myself, my company role, and my marriage. Outside of the frequently repeated themes this book was a great read.

[Ben Lehman · Rating 5 out of 5]

My older brother, Joseph, purchased this book about 3 years ago and thought that it really helped him to have a more tough mindset. He encouraged me to read it after he had and I never really thought about it. Now that I have read it I wish that I had listened to him back then. Almost every day at basketball conditioning I think about this book when I am feeling tired and ready to quit. It really motivates me to keep pushing myself to be the greatest and toughest player I can be. I think it will help me throughout the season to keep striving to be the best in every aspect of basketball.This book is very much more than just being tough in sports. He talks about his dad and how hard he worked at his job every night even though he didn't have a "boss". He owned his own business so he had to keep himself on task even though he had no one telling him he had to. This really reminds me of my dad. He also owns his own Optometry business. He sees patients at his office all day and then goes back to work, almost every night, after dinner. Jay talks about his dad working hard at night so that he could get ahead on the next days work. This book helps me to be tougher and to see the inspirational people in my life who show toughness everyday. I would recommend this book to everyone (except mr. Pyles because he doesn't like Jay BIlas) to read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it and think that it will help me in many situations in my life.

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excellent message, but very repetitive.

[Ben Campopiano · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I played for Coach K at Duke, the players' trust of our coach was a crucial component of our team success. It allwed Coach K to speak openly and sometims harshly to our team, and to point out truths that softer, weaker players don't want to hear or might shrink from. p25

Most players believe that accountability means blame. It doesn't. Accouintabiliy is being held to the standard you have accepted as what you want, individually, and collectively. Trustworthy coaches and teammates can help you be at your best by challenging you to do your best, even when you thhnk you cant. For tough players and teams, accountability is an obligation coaches and teammates have to each other. p25

One thing that Coach K stressed was that he would never get on us for taking and missing a good shot, but he would get on us relentlessly for taking a bad short, or for missing an assignment. p28

Coach K's willingness to confront any issue at any time and get it out in the open before it becomes a bigger problem. p30

As teammates, it is imperative that we let our fellow teammates know how important their abilities and contributions are, and then we can hold each other accountable for them. As coaches, it is important to let your players know their importance to the success of the team and why, instead of only correcting them and emphasizing their weaknesses. If players know you believe in them, it is easier to then hold them accountable and expect them to meet high standards. Your believe allows you to push them harder, and have them respond positively. Your belief makes them tougher. p40

JON GRUDEN: "The challenge you provide to a player or a coworker can be tough and even harsh, but it has to be fair. I'm not out to embarrass or browbeat you. I'm focused on standards being high and expectations being high, to the point of soaring. If you want to soar, you hvae to put the work in." p41

My preparation leads to my confidence and allows me to react quickly under pressure. p51

North Carolina Coach ROY WILLIAMS: "Persistence prevails when all else fails" and agrees that preparation is an investment. "it is like the stock market. The orme you invest, the more it means to you. That's ownership. Everything important starts with your investment in it." p56

COACH K: "It's the most important game on our schedule because we are playing it, and everything we do is important." p61

Knight never worried about a player's confidence when he corrected his team's mistakes. If the correcting of a mistake caused a player to fear making a mistake and retreat from playing, Knight said, he didn't really want that player on his team. His style was to acknowledge when something was done correctly, and to correct it when it was done incorrectly, or not the way he wanted it done. He wanted players who could handle positive and negative feedback. p73

JON GRUDEN: "When we put in or designed a drill for our team, we focused on two things: What do our players need to improve upon? And what happens most often in a game?" p76

Roy Williams remembers that under Dean Smith, every drill had a winner and a loser; every drill was competitive and there was a price to be paid by the loser. Through that structure, Smith reminded his players "of the importance of winning without every stating the importance of winning. It was about competing," Williams said. p76

Attending a North Carolina practice under Roy Williams is very much the same. In every drill, whether it is a simple shooting drill or a three on three defensive drill, there is something on the line, something to compete for. At the end of practice, there is accountability. For every drill they were on the losing team, or missed a benchmark, the players had to run. Through that very simple teaching method, the players are acclimated to perform in the same environment in which they will be asked to play: with something important on the line. p76

In anything important, there will be pressure. Everybody feels it, but the toughest competitors react positively to that pressure. Competitors want to be at their best under pressure, and by putting yourself in pressure situations as often as possible, you are acclimating yourself to that pressure, and the pressure will be less likely to get in the way of your performance. In time, you will learn to seek out pressure. p76-77

Crean believes that in a fast paced, high energy game with great teams and players, there are going to be mistakes. But, Crean asks are they mistakes of omission, mental mistakes? He doesn't mind an occasional mistake. He minds what he calls "hero" plays, where a players tries to do something outside of the team concept, or outside of what that player is capable of doing. Crean doesnt want hero plays, because hero plays dont win. p77

Tom Crean: "We put our players in stressful situations all the time in practice, especially end of game situations. We put pressure on them, and we let them figure it out under great stress, together. Did we work to get and take the right shot. Did we do the tough things necessary to get the right shot?" p77

Coach K took it one step further by breaking the season down into segments. The first five games of the year were our first segment, and our goals was to be 5-0 for that sexgment. When that was over, we moved on to the next segment and did so for the rest of the season. We did not think of our season record; rather we concentrated on the short term, the present, the record only for that segment. Nothing else mattered but that segment. p80

You cannot be tough without being confident and you cannot be confident without working hard and preparing. p88

Mistakes will happen in stressful situations, especially against a quality opponent. The aim is to minimize mistakes while still striving to execute, but not to be paralyzed by concern about a negative outcome. "I want my players to have the license to excel without the fear of making a mistake. We play through mistakes all the time in practice and games. We strive to make the right play."

Bill Self drives his team to eliminate mistakes too, but believes that the more important trait is to keep fighting thru mistakes, with the focus on overcoming them and winning anyway. "I liken it to tennis. You can lose more than half of the points played and still win the match." p89

For Steve Kerr, a turning point was taking the focus off the result and deciding that he was willing to live with any result from the actions he took. "I had to free up my mind and say, 'Screw it; I don't care if I miss.' Fear of missing gets in the way of a lot of players."

Investments wins championships. p98

Talking on the floor is difficult and to some players seems unnatural. But when a player talks on defense, it is difficult if not impossible for that player not to be more engaged than he otherwise would be. The talking player is more likely to be down in a stance and ready, and more likely to be in the right position and prepared not only to cover his assignment but to help a teammate and still recover. p102

Coach K: "You're not talking Bilas! You are totally into yourself. Quit being selfish! Talk!" p105

Jon Gruden: "I challenge them to accept and embrace the urgency of what we are doing. If I stop pushing, if I stop demanding of you, if I stop getting on you, then I probably don't think you have very much to offer." p109

Tom Izzo: "People ask me all the time how I can get on my guys so hard. I spend the time to build trust. I can challenge them to get better, to push themselves to be their best every day, and not to expect anything less of themselves, because they know I want whats best for them, and I want them to expect it of themselves." p110

Izzo: "I have always been taught that discipline is the greatest form of love you can show. Part of discipline is accountability. What would we be as a team if we didn't hold each other accountable? I can't imagine it." p110

Tony DiCicco to Mia Hamm after she was taken down at her first practice after injury and got up slowly: "What's your problem? Look, if you don't want the contact, go play tennis. We're not goin to play with cones around you. Get off the field." p112

Coach K: "Christian! Are you too good to get fouled now? You're so good that defenses aren't going to play hard against you? Step to the line and hit your free throws." p112

July Foudy: "Challenging each other, that's not a negative. It's a positive, an incredible positive." p115

Foudy: "It could be a game or it could just be a practice. There's no difference. It gets heated. It's supposed to get heated. If you're competing really competing, isn't it supposed to get heated?" p115

When I asked Coach K what element of toughness he felt was underemphasized he had a quick and direct response: persistence. Persistence is your ability to keep going without giving up or giving in. If you can be persistent in your belief, preparation, communication, your willingness to endure, and all of the other elements of mental toughness, you will be tougher. Persistence is a mind set. p119

Foudy: "Knock me down and I will pop right back up. That's where my toughness comes in. I will get back up." p123

"Next Play" concept. p151

Coach K: "By moving on to the next play, concentrating and trying to move to the next thing, you have a better chance to be your best at that moment. You have to be tough enough to move on, whether the last play was good or crappy. It takes real toughness." p152

Coach K: "Next play is the absence of fear of failure. You have moved on." p153

Bill Self: "I want my players to have short memory on the court. I don't want them remembering their screwups; I want them moving on to make another positive play." p153

Acceptance and embracing of roles and the celebration of them, has to be valued and emphasized within the team, because it will not necessarily be celebrated outside of the team. p186

Coach K: "I am not accepting that it is too hard or that we're done. I accept that we didn't do a good enough job, or that we diddnt play as well as we were supposed to. But I do not accept where we are and I will not stay there." p224

Jon Gruden: "You have to look yourself straight in the mirror and ask yourself if you are doing the best you can do, if you are as self-disciplined and self-motivated as you possibly can be. You always have to evaluate yourself first." p225

Bill Self: "I don't screw around with the players' minds regarding their ability or skills. I want them confident in their abilities and believing that I believe in them. But I do challenge them on effort and concentration. what is more important than effort and concentration? Nothing." p226

Izzo: "It takes mental toughness to prepare every day, not just to win this game, but to do what it takes to be excellent, the best. If you prepare to be the best every day, the games will take care of themselves. Preparation to be excellent can be grueling, because you aren't rewarded right then, at the time. It is a tough hard thing to prepare yourself to be excellent." p228

[John Omer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The article was better than the book. Long drawn out story’s that didn’t add much to the principles of toughness made this book longer than it needed to be

[Glenn S]

Lots of great advice for life using sports as an analogy

[Ben Omer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toughness isn’t just “rah rah let’s run through a brick wall and eat raw eggs.” No, it’s much more than that. It’s a lifestyle. Jay lays out beautifully what it means to be “tough,” specifically on the basketball court.

Tough people do the little things. They communicate on defense, they know the offensive playbook, the help the managers put away the dirty towels, they take ice baths, they don’t miss school assignments, etc.

They come early, they stay late. They come prepared, they watch film, they uplift their teammates. Basically, tough people are tough not just on the basketball court, but off the court. They will compete relentlessly on the court, but toughness is a lifestyle, so they will compete in the classroom.

Jay Bilas does a great job at applying this to all areas of life. I won’t spoil the book, so I’ll encourage you to get a copy and dive in head first.

[Monica Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the stories of real life athletes that are given throughout this book. He did a good job on giving examples how I can apply this to situations in my own life. I do think though that the concepts he talks about can literally be the whole chapter the only reason why he is able to make it a chapter is because of how many stories he gives. Each chapter to me just feels too long. It was not a boring book he did well balancing out his chapters and it didn't feel like a blah blah blah book. Overall though I love this book.

[Greg Hickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Former Duke University basketball player and assistant coach, and current attorney and ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas offers his redefinition of "toughness," and it should come as no surprise that he does not view chest pounding, trash talking or picking a fight on the basketball court as markers of true toughness. Instead, Bilas uses lessons learned from his experiences and those of top athletes, coaches and colleagues to argue for his own value system centered around this word. The book reads a bit like a 254 page motivational speech, which is not entirely a bad thing given the richness of the stories provided by Bilas' interview subjects. Yet by using toughness to encompass a plethora of virtues like trust, preparation, courage, communication, persistence, commitment, acceptance, resilience, self-evaluation and hope, toughness verges on losing its meaning altogether. In reading this book, I was first struck by the obviousness of the qualities Bilas preaches. Preparation is clearly essential to success in sports or any other pursuit in life (so too for Bilas' other buzzwords). But as I progressed through Bilas' anecdotes, I began to realize how many people have no concept of the kind of toughness he espouses. Moreover, despite my general agreement with his assertions, I began to notice instances in my own life where I was not as tough as I thought I was. While those looking for a more straightforward ethical argument might wind up disappointed, Bilas is a fine storyteller and his insights ring true no matter which word he uses to name his philosophy.

[Brent Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

summary
Jay Bilas is one of the most successful ESPN commentators/ broadcasters of this time. He is known as the broadcaster that people can relate to. He often calls his feel and personality his “swagger”. In this book he pretty much goes through his life and the main events that have made him who he is, or his toughness. He follows his life through high school, to playing college basketball, to being an attorney, to his quest to be the best sports analyst there is. He says that he has learned most of what he has done by watching his parents and mentors. His college coach, Mike Krzyzewski, turned into being a mentor. Jay also teaches you like lessons of patience, courage, and not letting life go through your hands. I can’t tell you the actual events because it will give the book away but I think it’s a must read. It makes me look at life differently.

[Lance Cornell · Rating 2 out of 5]

The blog that Bilas wrote on Toughness that was specific to basketball was fantastic. A must read for any basketball player or coach, even parents of players.

As good as the blog was, the book was the opposite. It was very repetitive, examples from earlier in the book retold later on. After reading a paragraph towards the end of the book I found myself thinking that I had read that paragraph almost word for word previously in the book. I'm sure it wasn't word for word but that is how repetitive the book was.

I coach youth basketball and I was also hoping for some nuggets of wisdom / inspiration / motivation to use with my kids during the season. I only found one thing I will use from the book and that idea centered on teamwork and togetherness.

Personally I would save yourself some time and skip the book and just read the original blog.

[Miles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the Jay Bilas article that inspired this book was fantastic. It is definitely worth reading - http://www.mdbball.com/Documents/Toug... Unfortunately, for me this book felt too much like an attempt to add filler through interviews to turn the article into something long enough to be sold as a book. Some of the quotes were interesting and inspirational (especially from Coach K), but others left me flat. Unless this topic fascinates you, I would suggest saving yourself the time and just read the article to get the gist of Bilas' important thoughts about what it truly means to be tough as a competitor and in life.

[Blake Buchanan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Made some good points but with repetitive stories, and examples. Can tell he tried to lengthen an article into a book and had to stretch by being wordy. Did take away some good quotes and one liners.

[David Kovalchik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very motivational and I would recommend it to anyone who is currently playing a sport.

[Cooper Rons · Rating 2 out of 5]

The nonfiction novel Toughness written by Jay Bilas, explores a different older perspective of what the word “toughness” means. On March 4, 2014 Bilas introduced a book meant for readers who aspire to be tough athletes. Bilas is known for being a tough athlete when he played which makes him more than qualified to write a book on the true meaning of being tough. For any young athletes, or even adults who like sports the book Toughness is a great read to understand the evolution of athletes.
Bilas was a former basketball player in the NBA and at Duke and he provides phenomenal inside information on the game of basketball at the highest level. Bilas is still great friends with the legendary basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke and explains stories of what playing at that level is like. He explains the change in level of toughness from athletes in his generation to the athletes that play today. The text reaches the intended audience very well. This novel was intended for high school to college athletes to expose the level of little toughness there is versus the enormous amount in his time. Bilas has connections all over basketball so this book features some really incredible stories about impressive people in the basketball world. People who do not play sports, or are not fans of sports will be lost in this book and will not enjoy the reading of this book. Advanced English majors or English teachers will find this text very easy because it is meant for kids to enjoy.
Bilas touches on the fact that the word “toughness” is being falsely portrayed by athletes of today’s generation. He makes the argument that when he played at Duke his team was tough and all they cared about winning. He gives specific details about why they were tougher back then compared to today’s athletes and I completely agree with his points. The author is now an ESPN analysts for college basketball, so he has first hand knowledge on the level of toughness when he played versus the level of toughness now. My evaluation of the book was good. I liked the book a lot, but I did not love it, nor was I attached to it. In my opinion it was too long to the point where he was repeating himself a lot. I recommend athletes read it, so they can be aware of how we are being portrayed today. The world has gotten softer over the years, which is leading to us athletes being played off as soft and not tough. This book appealed to me in an emotional way rather than physical because it is about mindset. Finally the book created a feeling in my head that athletes in this generation need to make a change, so we are not portrayed weakly anymore.

[Reagan Guthrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toughness, an inspirational nonfiction novel by Jay Bilas, is a novel that was written to inspire athletes of all ages and backgrounds. It is a novel that humbles those athletes who think that they are tough just because they are strong. It examines the importance of being tough mentally and what Jay Bilas’ meaning of the word “toughness” is. Bilas was always known as a tough athlete throughout his career and now he is taking his knowledge from those days and sharing it with the next generation. Toughness is a fantastic read for both athletes, and sports enthusiasts and it will change your perspective on the true meaning and importance of being tough.
Jay Bilas, a former basketball player at Duke, and in the NBA argues that the true meaning of toughness is badly misconceived in today’s world. Bilas argues that the word ”toughness” is often misinterpreted today. Bilas believes that true toughness is not being tough on the outside, but being tough in the mind especially. Bilas, having experience with high level athletics, is able to share his insight as well as insight from his teammates, and even some coaches. He provides a foreword from Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, as well as many stories and quotes from Bob Knight, Roy Williams, Tom Izzo, Jon Gruden, Grant Hill, Mark Alarie, and Tommy Amaker. They all were able to stress the importance of toughness. The common theme was that today’s world is much less tough than it was when they were professional athletes. The message will go through nice and easily to the audience. It is a very straight forward book that is perfect for athletes and sports enthusiasts to enjoy.
Bilas is correct when he says that athletes today have a false interpretation of toughness. They have this arrogant attitude to them when they are ranked highly. College basketball is much softer than it has been in the past. Not only was Bilas able to experience college basketball when he played for Duke, but he is also currently an ESPN analyst, so he is still surrounded by todays culture. The way he portrayed that todays athletes should take from past athletes is something that I took to heart. This novel was a great read for me and was something that I plan on applying to my own life and in baseball as it has encouraged me to focus on my mental toughness. I would recommend it especially to anyone that is an athlete, but also to those very interested in sports. The only complaint I would have about the book is that it begins to become repetitive towards the end and it felt like he was just trying to fill more pages. But overall it was a really good read.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was outstanding. It taught me everything that I needed to know about toughness. Toughness isn't just a physical thing, but it's more of a mental thing. People often think that toughness comes from your physical nature, but that isn't the case. Jay Bilas is an exceptional writer and he gives his points and views across by using examples of people that he encountered over his life. Each chapter you learn something different about toughness, and it all relates to the main subject. In the chapter Resilience, I learned that you have to push through adversity that hits you in your life, but the people that are the most resilient are the people that are the most tough. This book will make you want to go out and practice every way of being tough. It gives great detail throughout the book of what toughness really is. Each chapter brings something different that you can take out of it and it makes you want to imply these principles into your daily life. I have used some of the methods that he teaches throughout the book in my own personal life and it has worked. This book completely changed the way I viewed the word toughness. It isn't someone that has been battling all game long in the post, or on the football field, but it is someone that has a mental edge on an opponent. You can be physically tough and be a solid player, but the great players are the ones that have the mental edge on other opponents. I feel like this book is for people that play sports (mainly basketball). This is especially a great book for people who are team captains on any team. It gives great insight on what it takes to be a leader and it gives information on how to be a leader along with being a leader that can be tough. Jay Bilas uses lots of examples throughout the book of former coaches or colleagues giving him there definition of toughness. This brings another perspective of the word toughness that mainly just solidifies the words of Jay Bilas. They agree with a lot of the principles that Jay Bilas discusses and give there own take on each principle and give their own personal experiences with each principle. Listening to the words of coaching legends is enjoyable to listen to, and there are plenty of examples in this book of coaching legends teaching about toughness to their players. I definitely recommend this book to people that are into basketball and people who are interested in coaching.

[George Mulder]

We have all witnessed the word “toughness” get thrown around so much it has lost its meaning. In Jay Bilas’s book Toughness, published in 2013, he not only defines the common definition of the word “toughness” but fully breaks down the characteristics and qualities one must have in order to achieve true and complete toughness. Jay Bilas, being a collegiate basketball national champion with the university of duke as well as a professional career, has a lot of wisdom when it comes to playing the game of basketball. After his professional career was over in Italy, he decided to return to the staff of Duke and coach there, trying to absorb as much knowledge as he could from Coach K( a well known coach). Jay writes in great detail of how much Coach K impacted his life on and off the court and seems to always come back to that as the main reason for various successes in his life. He talks about how as a young duke player, he did not know what so ever have a clue what it meant to be tough even though at the time he might have thought so. Although jay would get bloody noses and play through them or push a kid who was talking to him rudely, he still could not even conceive the true nature of toughness. Throughout the book, Jay relays his experiences and feats to the audience and brutally dissects it. His incredible memory can recall specific plays within a basketball game and can explain what he did and how it could have been better. However, even though he knows all the ins and outs about basketball, I truly feel that he does a fantastic job of connecting basketball principles to everyday life. Even if the reader is not a basketball player, or even an athlete for that matter, there is so much wisdom and true meaning behind what Jay is saying, that is everyone can learn from it. From an athlete to a doctor to a construction worker, everyone can further develop their toughness.

[Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This was definitely more of an informal novel. It talked a lot about the team and what is best for the team to win. It talked about supporting each other in order to succeed and I really like that. Overall, the book was great. A part that resonated with me was when it talked about how belief in each other through adversity is paramount, because it really hit me how it's easy to believe when everything is going good, but it's not so easy when the hard times come.

I think that this book helps to answer the question of how do individuals develop values and beliefs.
It answers that question because this book is from the point of view of Jay Bilas, a successful player and announcer that played at Duke. He definitely knows what he is talking about because he played for one of the greatest coaches of all time, Mike Krzyzewski. He has formed certain beliefs in how basketball should be played, especially from a team perspective. His core values in basketball were built to make him think team first, and I think that that is a great value to have.

There is a quote made by Mike Krzyzewski, the coach of the Duke basketball team, that emphasizes the aspect of team first. It is simple yet powerful. He said, "You are not tough alone." This meaning that one player is not tough by himself, it is a team effort on toughness. It could also mean that one player being tough by himself would not do anything, but a tough team is hard to beat.

I would probably recommend this book to any basketball fan or sports fan at all. It has principles they can apply to their game and to their own team. There is so much to learn in life, and I think this would help a lot in sports.

[Sam Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toughness is a book written by and about the experiences of former college basketball player Jay Bilas. Jay played at Duke University for four years before becoming a sports writer. He played under arguably the best college basketball coach ever in Mike Krzyzewski before becoming his assistant coach.

Toughness brought up a lot of good and interesting topics. The main one is being mentally as tough if not tougher than you are physically. If you can have a strong mind and be resilient, than you will be able to do anything you put your mind to. You have to be willing to sacrifice something to gain something, and that takes mental toughness. This book was exceptional in my opinion. It was hard to find a flaw for me, considering the book is about my favorite thing in the world, basketball. The only criticism I could give is that the word toughness was overused, but the more you think about it, the more you realize this could have been by design to get the message across. This book really effected me. It made me realize that all the weightlifting, all the training, all the sports exercise and preparation in the world means nothing unless you are mentally tough enough to endure and rise above the challenges that you face.

This is a really good book that I would recommend to anyone and everyone. Even if you are not a basketball fan, or even a sports fan, you will find that this book helps you because even though the experiences he shares are about basketball, the messages that you can take can be applied anywhere and everywhere in your life.

[Justin Goldman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went back and forth on the rating for this book as I really enjoyed it (reading it along with my brother who is based some 4,00 miles away). Although first published in 2013, we came to this book together as the final season of Coach K's over four decades of leading the Duke Men's Basketball program comes to an end. As great fans of college basketball, we had the foundation to enjoy this book and as a result what Mr. Bilas had to say really resonated with both of us. The book is clearly structured which makes it accessible and his use of sub-headings throughout the book creates natural points to pause. I really liked that after presenting his definition of toughness in the introduction, his first chapter focuses on "Trust." He described the brutal honesty that defined playing (as well as coaching alongside) Coach K and how that challenged players to process, handle, and act upon that aspect of the culture within the Duke program. The idea of "next play" ingrained from his time with Coach K is relevant to broad audience and so essential in basketball where the transition from offense to defense happens in an instant and players can not afford to dwell on mistakes from bad shot selection to a missed defensive assignment. While he makes clear that players must move on in the course of the game, his later chapter "Self-evaluation" conveys the importance of learning from games, practices, and all experiences. Reading this book reminds me of the excitement of the NCAA Tournament that looms just a few weeks from now.

[Juan Chavez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book! I am a basketball coach so I found alot of what he said very relate able. I even bought the book for my kids. Alot of great stories and quotes on what toughness is. Toughness goes more than what people think it is. Most will think it is physical toughness but Bilas does a great job of noting the little things that make people tough.
1- “Toughness is the ability not to rationalize. Rationalization is to make an excuse for not achieving more than you have to that point.”
2- “Knight has always said that there are many more mental mistakes in games than physical mistakes. “I always say, ‘Dumb loses more games than smart wins.’ That’s about concentration, discipline, understanding the game and your impact on it. That’s toughness.”
3 - “Life isn’t easy, but you never quit. Never. I may not have been the best, but I can always give my best. That’s how you demonstrate toughness.”
4 - “Failing doesn’t make you a failure. Failing makes you a competitor. Every competitor fails. If you lay it on the line, you will come up short at times. Failure is a part of competing, and embracing that fact is an important component of toughness. Tough people fail, but tough people are not failures. The only failures are those who give up, or give in.”

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book 3.5 stars.

Being a former student-athlete, I felt like I went back to my college days reading this. I felt the pep talks, I felt the team aspect, I felt this whole book.

Also working in sports television, Bilas narrows in on how similar the job is compared to being a student-athlete. I could not agree more with taking the lessons we learned in sport and applying them to our day to day lives.

This book tailors to a niche audience, which is why I don’t think this is for everyone. You’ve got to be a basketball fan, or have some sort of sports frame of mind to truly understand the message of this novel.

While I enjoyed this story by reliving basketball memories (since March Madness was cancelled due to COVID-19), it was very repetitive. With nonfiction books, I don’t mind the repetition, but knowing some readers do have that issue, this is my warning.

If you love NCAA basketball or Duke basketball, I would add this to your reading list.

[Thomas Garlick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jay has long been one of my favorite college basketball personalities and you can tell he is someone that thinks about, appreciates, and understands the game. He takes the same workmanship approach to this book and it shows. He picks the minds of many of the best to do it (Coach K, Izzo, Bob Knight, Grant Hill, etc.) I absolutely love the "Preparation" chapter.

One of the best elements of this book is Bilas discussing the moments where he executed on the toughness fundamentals he has come to know. The other great element is how he gives his coworkers (such as Sage Steele and Doris Burke) their flowers and elevates the hard work they have done for readers who may not be aware.

The Coach K Brian Zoubek story in the Butler v. Duke National Championship story was wild. I absolutely ate it up as a college basketball fan.

There's plenty to be learned here about the different elements of toughness, not just in sport, but in life.

[Doug Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was close to being a four star book in my opinion. But I blame Bilas's editor's inability to avoid redundancies in his repeated references to the same athletes and coaches by using their full names and titles. After a couple of chapters we can pretty much remember who they are. Each chapter seems tight and exclusive of the others, as if he has prepared speeches for different audiences. Having said all that, Bilas is a talented communicator and is to be admired for his own work ethic, driven diligence to achieve high standards of excellence and the ability to handle dual careers of national ESPN basketball game analyst and practicing trial attorney. I'd say in that sense alone, he earns the right to be heard.

[Trot · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, the popular ESPN sports analyst, Jay Bilas talks about what it takes to have toughness in life and in sports. He includes examples from great athletes like Grant Hill and Mia Hamm, and great coaches like Mike Krysewski and Bob Knight. Through the book he has about 10 things you need to be tough and each chapter explains one. This book was a great and very interesting read and enjoyed it very thoroughly. I have learned on how to be tough and the true meaning of toughness. I loved how his book wasn’t just empty words, he has experience as an athlete and shared many other athletes experiences. If you love sports and find yourself playing them this is a great book. There are many relatable and helpful things that can help you in life and in sports.

[Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Toughness. At first the title kind of threw me off and I judged the book by its cover. The cover wasn’t that appealing to me, but once when I started reading, the book was very informative and inspiring. When I was reading, I saw myself in the same situations of many people that he talked about. It truly explained the what, why, and how of the meaning of toughness. I learned that being tough isn’t trying to get past an injury or being strong physically but the little things like saying no to something that isn’t going to help you in the long run. This book talked about the importance of persistence and courage in any situation. (Book: Page 99) The book Toughness is not just for athletes, I encourage everyone to read this book.

-Garrett Rogers P.7