Author Chris Warner Releases Tell-All Book of 17 Years INSIDE the LSU Athletic Department...The Memoirs of a Maverick...Former Hall of Fame Tennis Coach, Jerry Simmons:
“Inside the Eye of the Tiger”
“In 2003 I was introduced to Coach Jerel “Jerry” Simmons by Coach Dale Brown. I helped Coach Brown write speeches waging war against NCAA abuses, and I presume, in retrospect, that Coach Simmons, like Coach Brown, saw something of a story teller in me.” Warner said. The book (128 pp.) is available for $1.99 Apple Books (Itunes) and Google Play Books, making it available on all cell phones, tablets and devices. A dead tree version will follow on November 18th.
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Hall of Fame LSU Tennis Coach Jerry Simmons’ memoirs of 17 years at LSU is an engaging and sometimes startling read that will once and for all set the record straight on how business was conducted inside the LSU Athletic Department during its roller coaster ride from 1981 to 1998. As told to author Chris Warner by Jerry Simmons in a straightforward, provocative style characteristic of his maverick personality, this is a must-read for anyone hoping to enter the big business of college athletics, whether coaching or administratively; as it is the tell-all sports book that will for the better forever alter the stereotype of the modern, big-time Southern athletic department.
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“Simmons and I worked on the book on and off for a decade. In the summer of 2013, when we presented it to Coach Dale Brown, his long-time neighbor in the LSU Athletic Department Offices, as well as trusted friend, mentor and confidante, Coach Brown told me “every bit of it was true.” Coach Brown also stated he felt its publishing would “kill Joe Dean,” and for that reason he urged Jerry not to. Jerry took Dale’s advice and did not. Joe Dean, already in poor health, died a few weeks later, on November 17, 2013.
Coach Simmons, above all, wanted induction to the LSU Hall of Fame. Knowing if he published his memoirs it would hurt his Hall of Fame induction chances, Coach Simmons declined, waiting
instead for the recognition that never came.
Coach Simmons and I had a gentlemen's agreement. If he was inducted into the LSU Sports Hall of Fame, we would together print his book. If not, I was to publish it, as it was written to be read, digested, and revisited in time by Louisiana taxpayers, LSU alumni and fans; today's and tomorrow's.” Warner said. “History, after all, repeats itself.”
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Written for the serious observer, alumni or fan struggling to realize how the system works, or often fails to work, Inside the Eye of the Tiger is an introspective snapshot of what it’s like to coach in a big-time athletic department where campus politics and winning are regularly at odds.
Often what you see from the outside looking in to the athletic department is not always a true picture of what actually happens. Inside the Eye of the Tiger is the story of what really went on behind the scenes of the LSU Athletic Department during its rise, its fall and rise over two tumultuous decades in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This tome builds on former A.D. Bob Brodhead's SACKED narrative, providing a surprising, often confounding, introspective look into an otherwise insulated, clandestine world. This is a politically-correct book. - Chris Warner -30-