Coaching at the highest level of sports is a tricky pursuit. We often try to control the uncontrollable, and the relentless quest for even the slightest edge can drive you crazy at times. Michael Silver takes us inside the madness, introducing us to a crew of ultracompetitive innovators who've challenged the tenets of their sport and pushed it forward while trying to retain their foundational essence. It's a wild ride, and it's not for the meek.--Steve Kerr, Golden State Warriors and USA Basketball head coach, nine-time NBA champion I knew something about how the Mike Shanahan tree remade offensive football in this century, but the genius of those inspired by him--Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Mike McDaniel, Raheem Morris, Matt LaFleur--is delineated in fascinating, oft-profane, always-real detail. Detail after detail, story after story. You'll get to know Kyle Shanahan, for my money the most interesting man in the NFL today, better than anyone's ever portrayed him. New stuff about the RG3-Dan Snyder fiasco in Washington, the recent Shanahan and McVay Super Bowl foibles, the Spy vs.

Spy chess matches with Bill Belichick . Just riveting. In all, this book will enlighten you about the modern game like nothing you've ever read.--Peter King Michael Silver has written a beautiful study about a group of men who started out on a journey with a shared goal of being one of the handful of people each generation who revolutionize their craft, seen by millions and measured by championships but recognized by only a select few. It's not only an insightful and entertaining read on the sport America cares about most and knows about least. It's a reminder that the validation of work is in the work itself.--Seth Wickersham, New York Times best-selling author of It's Better to Be Feared If football is the ultimate team game, then football coaching is the ultimate obsessive's vocation. The new generation of innovative NFL play callers portrayed in Michael Silver's The Why Is Everything are competitive, combative, and at times monomaniacal in their dedication to the craft, often at the expense of everything else in their lives.

And yet in this intimate chronicle of how and why the game compels, their humanity and vulnerability keep pushing through.--Michael MacCambridge, author of America's Game.