Holiday gift idea for soccer fans on your list: ‘The Kickin’ Hoosiers’
“The Kickin’ Hoosiers” by Kathryn Knapp
The holidays are here, so now’s the perfect time to grab a gift for that soccer supporter friend or family member of yours. Over the course of the next few days, we’ll be featuring some books authored by our very own contributors here at Soc Takes.
“The Kickin’ Hoosiers” by Kathryn Knapp takes a look at one of the most decorated programs in the history of NCAA soccer: the Indiana Hoosiers. Published in 2004, the book focuses on legendary head coach Jerry Yeagley’s tenure. Yeagley’s son, Todd, now runs the show in Bloomington, carrying on the winning tradition started by his father. Todd took the Hoosiers to the NCAA title match earlier this month and won a championship of his own in 2012.
“I was told early on in my Indiana University career that there were two sports at IU that you wanted to cover: men’s basketball and men’s soccer,” Knapp recalled of the time she wrote the book. “I quickly understood why watching IU make and break records for the next few seasons. IU soccer, college soccer in general, has never gotten the coverage it deserved.
“When coach Jerry Yeagley announced his retirement, his 2003 season went from a 2-3-4 record to winning the national championship. Coach Yeagley (544-101-45) also became the all-time winningest coach. I was there. I already decided I was going to write a book. The timing was perfect. In 41 years, Coach Yeagley took the team from a club team to one of the elite teams in the country. His teams won six national championships. And that’s just the beginning…”
“The Kickin’ Hoosiers” is currently out of print, but used copies and even a few new ones are still available via Amazon and can be purchased here. Knapp hopes to offer the book on Amazon Kindle in the near future in addition to getting tangible copies republished.
Knapp received a BA in journalism while at Indiana and has been covering the beautiful game since 1995. She joined Soc Takes as a contributor this fall.
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