Not only was John Wooden a great basketball coach, he was a master teacher. In fact, he was a great coach because he was a master teacher. What Wooden has learned from others in the classroom and perfected on the practice court are fundamental principles of effective teaching, which are conveyed in the book. Co-author Swen Nater, one of Wooden's former players at UCLA, provides insightful first-hand accounts on the many life lessons he learned from Wooden that he has applied to his life since becoming a teacher himself. These principles have a timeless and universal quality, applicable to all teaching situations: the classroom, the home, the workplace, and everywhere that a person has the responsibility for helping others learn and excel.

Swen Nater, BS, is an assistant sporting goods buyer for Costco Wholesale. Along with his wife, Marlene Nater, he is a Phono-Graphix reading therapist and trainer. They have a private practice in which they teach children to grasp the concepts and fluency of reading, spelling, and mathematics at all levels. From 1997-2003, he directed the Costco Wholesale corporate Employee Outreach Program, training Costco volunteers to help struggling readers in elementary schools across the United States and Canada catch up to their required grade level of reading. As a basketball player, Swen was a community college All-American in 1970 before playing behind NCAA Player of the Year Bill Walton under Coach John Wooden at UCLA, where he was a member of two UCLA national championship squads. He went on to become an NBA first-round draft pick in 1973 and the ABA Rookie of the Year in 1974. He led the ABA in rebounding in 1975, the NBA in 1980, and the Italian League in 1985. He still holds the NBA record for defensive rebounds in a half with 18. After his playing days, Swen taught algebra, sports psychology, and exercise psychology at Christian Heritage College while also serving as the school's athletic director and men's basketball coach from 1985-1995. In 1990, he and co-head coach Ray Slagle led Christian Heritage to its first NCCAA national championship. Swen and Wooden are co-authors of John Wooden's UCLA Offense (to be published in March 2006). He and James A. Peterson co-authored The Complete Handbook of Rebounding Fundamentals and Drills. He has also produced three instructional basketball videos, Rebounding: Simple and Effective, Unstoppable, and Not in My House. Swen and Marlene, his wife of 32 years, reside in Enumclaw, Washington, and have two daughters: Alisha Yvonne and Valerie Ann.

Ronald Gallimore,PhD is Chief Scientist for LessonLab Research Institute and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at UCLA. He earned his BA from the University of Arizona and his PhD from Northwestern University. He taught psychology at California State University, Long Beach, and the University of Hawaii before joining the psychiatry faculty at UCLA in 1971. In 1966, he was appointed Research Psychologist at Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum to co-direct a five-year field study in a native Hawaiian community. In 1970, he and Roland Tharp designed a laboratory school (Kamehameha Elementary Education Project), which they co-directed for 10 years. For this work and their book Rousing Minds to Life, he and Tharp were presented the 1993 Grawemeyer Award in Education. In collaboration with Leslie Reese, Claude Goldenberg, and Estela Zarate, Ronald directed a 17-year study of immigrant Latino students and their families. He has collaborated with Goldenberg and Saunders on longitudinal studies of school and teaching improvement from 1985 to present. In 1992, he received a University of California Presidential Award for research contributing to the improvement of public schools. In 1993, the International Reading Association presented he and Goldenberg the Albert J. Harris Award. In 1998, he and Jim Stigler founded LessonLab, which is devoted to the improvement of teaching through research and direct action in schools. Ronald co-directed the 1999 TIMSS Video Study and currently oversees research conducted at LessonLab (a Pearson Education Company). He has published five research monographs and more than 120 scholarly and scientific papers. Ronald and Sharon Gallimore were married in 1963, and have lived in Santa Monica since 1973. They have two daughters, Christine and Andrea, and two grandchildren, Julien and Cate.