Furious George: My Forty Years Surviving NBA Divas, Clueless GMs, and Poor Shot Selection

The most outspoken and combative coach in NBA history—and one of the most successful, amassing more than 1,175 victories, the sixth best winning record ever—reflects on his life, his career, and his battles on and off the basketball court in this no-holds-barred memoir.

A man of deep passion and intensity, George Karl earned his bad boy reputation while playing at the University of North Carolina, a rap that continued through the five years he spent with the San Antonio Spurs—and long after he stopped playing.

Karl’s beery nights, fistfights, and barking followed him into a thirty-five-year coaching career. In a game defined by big stakes and bigger egos, rabid fans and an unforgiving media, Karl was hired and fired a dozen times. After leading a team beset by injuries and with no superstar to its best season of all time—an achievement that earned Karl the title NBA Coach of the Year—he was dumped by the Denver Nuggets in 2013. Less than a year and a half later, Karl was at the helm of the Sacramento Kings, snarling and bellowing on the sidelines before being cut loose in May 2016.

Intense, obstinate, and loud, Karl has never backed down from a confrontation, whether with management, officials, or star players, as NBA legends from Allan Iverson to Gary Payton to Carmelo Anthony to Demarcus Cousins can attest. Telling his story, Karl holds nothing back as he speaks out about the game that has defined his life, including the greed, selfishness, and ass-covering he believes are characteristic of the modern NBA player, and the rampant corruption that leads all the way to the office of the NBA commissioner, David Stern. Karl also reveals how he’s learned to deal with the personalities, the pressure, and the setbacks with a resilience he acquired from his three bouts with cancer.

Raw, hard-hitting, and brutally honest, Furious George is as thrilling, unpredictable, and entertaining as the game that has defined Karl’s life.

George Karl holds nothing back—on the players, the league, or himself.

• NBA Coaching Legends: Karl pulls back the curtain on his rivalries with Phil Jackson, squaring off against Michael Jordan’s Bulls, and the lessons learned from his mentor, Dean Smith.
• Clashing with Superstars: The brutally honest story of managing massive egos, from the locker room arguments with Gary Payton and Carmelo Anthony to navigating the drug scandals of the 1980s.
• A Coach’s Playbook: Go inside the huddle as Karl breaks down his coaching philosophy, the politics of getting hired and fired, and the shock of being let go by the Denver Nuggets after being named Coach of the Year.
• A Fight for Life: Discover the resilience and perspective Karl gained off the court during his three separate battles with cancer, a fight that redefined his approach to the game and his life.