Morgan Wootten is probably THE most successful high school basketball coach, and his book is one that I believe coaches at all levels can benefit from. I have found that the principles, plays and strategies he has written to be very beneficial in my own development as a coach. Plays and diagrams are simple and complete, and his focus on developing his kids as both individuals and players is great reading. This book is one you will want to take your coaching and your team to "the next level."

This book does much more than just teach the game of basketball, it shows coaches how to prepare their kids to be successful in life. And does an excellent job at both. His experience and record speak for themselves, the man definitely knows the game. But I feel his expertise at the X's and O's is just icing on the cake. I first discovered Mr. Wootten's masterpiece about five years ago while preparing to coach a Y.M.C.A. travel team (my first gig). It was the main source I used to develop my program. I recieved rave reviews from both the parents and the Y.M.C.A. Over the past five years I have endorsed the book in social settings(when the subject arose) but hadn't seen the book since then. In the meantime I've had an increased yearning to coach basketball, which I've gone back to school to accomplish. Today I found out, it was Mr. Wootten's book that caused me to believe I was born to coach.I recently landed an Assistant Coaching job for the Varsity Women's basketball team at the Div.III school I'm attending. Preparing for the upcoming season I deciced "Coaching Basketball Successfully" was the first book I'd reread. Very quickly I realized where my passion to coach came from. The coaching philosophy paper I had to write the previous semester was eerily similar to many of the ideas in Coach Wootten's book. Since the copy I'm reading now is from the library, I intend to buy my own copy and one each for both the Men's and Women's Head Coach here at my school. Coach Wootten's wonderful book optimizes the true meaning of the word COACH..,and sparked a fire in my soul, to be the positive influence and guide that a coach is supposed to be. Exactly what our children deserve.

Morgan Wootten's book,Coaching Basketball Successfully, is a blue print for running a championship program and is a must have for any high school basketball coach. He reveals his secrets to organizing practices, player development, evaluating programs, and teaching methods.

I just want to comment that everything in the book about Mr. Wootten is absolutely true. I attend DeMatha and have the pleasure of knowing Mr.Wootten and can personally say that he is a great coach, teacher, and human being. I think the book does a great job of pointing that out and I would recommend it to anyone interested in basketball and Mr.Wootten's life story,or who is just looking for an interesting and well-written book.

Great story about a great program. Morgan coaches at the infamous Dematha High in Maryland. He is a history teacher their as well. He started there with nothing. For the past 40 years they have something like a 90% win loss ratio. Yet Coach Wooten supposedly keeps it all in perspective. He first stresses God, family, and education. His players include Adrian Dantley, Danny Ferry, Sidney Lowe, Joseph Forte, etc. His most famous win was over Lew Alcindor and Power Memorial in the early 60's.

Many times, it's amazing how much "color" can be seen in a black & white photograph - the smile of a child peeking out from under a tattered hand-me-down hat, the knowing look from the eyes of a man who's lived a century and has seen more than he can bear. New Bern, NC born Bayard Wootten, captured this sort of color throughout the 1920s South, creating an artistic record that's both beautiful and many times heartbreaking.

In his book "Light and Air," Jerry Cotten, photographic archivist at the North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina Library at Chapel Hill, shares the story of Wootten, a determined and independent woman who illustrated local color in a variety of ways, all on black & white film.

Wootten was a trailblazer for women photographers and a true artist behind the lens. She excelled at portraits and landscapes, photographed gardens and architecture, but is best known for capturing the true soul of the 1930's south - the hard working people in the lower reaches of society whom other photographers of the day for the most part ignored.

To our advantage, Cotten stumbled upon two envelopes of Wootten's photography in an out-of-the-way cabinet when he first started working at the North Carolina Collection in 1972. He was, as many are when they first see a Wootten photograph, taken with the artistry of the photos, as well as the subject matter. Since that time he has researched and collected Wootten's work, and lucky for us has produced a book that not only tells about the pioneering lady photographer, but lets the reader see first hand the amazing ability and vision of one of NC's own.

In "Light and Air," Cotten details Wootten's personal and professional life, her early struggle for acceptance in a field dominated by men, as well as Wootten's later involvement in helping herself and other female photographers gain an equal footing in the profession. Many of his sources are family and friends of Wootten who provide personal insight and quotations that add a special touch to the work. But moreover, Cotten lends a great portion of his book to the photographs themselves - pictures that show the true beauty of black and white photography and the amazing ability of Wootten to create a work of art from a subject as simple as a man or woman sitting in a chair.

"Light and Air" features 190 illustrations, including 136 duotone reproductions of Wootten's photographs - many of which have never before been published. These images of Southerners in the lower reaches of society during the 1930s will many times tug at your heart, yet one will quickly notice the dignity and charm in their eyes that inspired Wootten to stop along the road or walk down a dirt path to photograph an otherwise unlikely subject.

"Wootten's artistic skills, her success as an early woman photographer, and a career spanning half a century," Cotten tells us, "have secured her place as a dominant figure in the photographic history of North Carolina."

For a look at the life and work of this talented photographer and independent and inspiring woman, "Light and Air" is a brilliant combination of written text and illustrations. Whether you call North Carolina or New York home, the photo collection alone will make this a book you'll want to own - there's something special and naturally beautiful about each image that will have you looking through the pages again and again.