My First Coach

Tom Brady's father is an estate planner. Aaron Rodgers' father is a chiropractor. Cam Newton's father tried to sell his son to Mississippi State when he was leaving junior college. Archie Manning played 14 years in the NFL and never made the playoffs, but his sons Peyton and Eli combined to win four Super Bowls. Joe Montana is considered by many to be the greatest quarterback of all time, but his two sons bounced around college football with limited success.

"Fathers and Sons," will go behind the scenes to explore the unique relationship between quarterbacks and their fathers. The book will appeal to two generations: Fathers and mothers and their sons and daughters. It will explore the various approaches to parenting through the stories of some of the best quarterbacks and their fathers and include the back stories of fathers who were successful quarterbacks with sons attempting to follow in their footsteps.

It will provide life lessons and a guide to what to do and what not to do raising children with special athletic skills. Can young athletes overcome helicopter parents? Todd Marinovich was basically bred by his father Marv to be an NFL quarterback and although he was a first-round pick and drafted ahead of Brett Favre, he turned out to be a bust with many off the field issues. What would have happened if he was allowed to live a normal childhood? Kerry Collins had an overbearing father who moved him out of his home and to a different highs school because he didn't like the way his son was being coached. It took an emotional toll on Kerry and destroyed family relationships.

Brady came from a family with an athletic mother and three older sisters who all played college sports. He had such a close relationship with his father that when he decided to play at Michigan rather than stay in the Bay Area and play at Cal, his father needed months of counseling to overcome the separation. Even so, he never tried to influence Tom where to attend college, not wanting to be blamed if it turned out to be the wrong choice.

How did the kids with NFL aspirations deal with fathers who made it in the NFL? What kind of pressure did they have to overcome? What kind of pressure did the father who succeeded put on their son to be an athlete? Would the expectations be lower and the results greater if the father was an attorney or doctor? Was it better for the fathers to be overbearing or border on disinterested?

"Fathers and Sons" will be the real-life compelling stories of quarterbacks growing up and how they took advantage or overcame the relationships with their fathers.