"In my 47 years as a college head basketball coach at West Point and Duke, I had the honor of competing against many of the best coaches in the country. There was no better coach, or a more genuine person, than Bobby Cremins." — Mike Krzyzewski, from the foreword
Relive the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) basketball golden era courtside with one of its winningest coaches. In From the Bronx to the Bench, Bobby Cremins tells the story of a life shaped by basketball—from his playing days with the South Carolina Gamecocks to rebuilding Appalachian State, transforming Georgia Tech into a national power, and returning to the sideline at the College of Charleston.
Cremins learned the game in the schoolyards of the South Bronx. Raised in an Irish immigrant family, he carried hard-won lessons from New York City playgrounds and spirited Catholic-school basketball to the University of South Carolina, where Hall of Fame coach Frank McGuire became his mentor, cultivating Cremins's passion for teaching the game.
He shares with readers tales of intense recruiting battles, locker room speeches, rivalries cultivated, and season-defining games won, including Georgia Tech's three ACC Tournament championships and their run to the 1990 Final Four. Cremins also remembers the players he recruited and coached—Mark Price, John Salley, Kenny Anderson, Dennis Scott, Stephon Marbury, and many others—and he recalls the legendary coaches he faced during the ACC's golden age, from Dean Smith and Jim Valvano to Mike Krzyzewski, who contributes the foreword.
More than a record of victories, From the Bronx to the Bench is a funny, candid, and deeply personal account of modern college basketball as well as the memoir of a gifted teacher and program builder who never lost the joy that first drew him to the game.
Bobby Cremins played at the University of South Carolina before serving as head coach at Appalachian State, Georgia Tech, and the College of Charleston. He won 586 career games and three ACC Tournament titles, and he led Georgia Tech to the 1990 Final Four. Cremins remains the leader of Georgia Tech's all-time coaching wins. Returning to his South Carolina basketball roots, he now lives on Hilton Head, South Carolina.
