About this item
AN EXPLOSIVE AND REVELATORY PORTRAIT REPORTED FROM DEEP BEHIND THE SCENES OF BIG-TIME NCAA COLLEGE FOOTBALL THE PASSION THE THRILLING ACTIONmdashAND THE SHOCKING REALITIES THAT LIE BENEATH THIS COLOSSAL MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESSCOLLEGE FOOTBALL has never been more popularmdashor more chaotic Millions fill -seat stadiums every Saturday tens of millions more watch on television every weekend The Discover BCS National Championship game between Notre Dame and Alabama had a viewership of million people second only to the Super Bowl Billions of dollars from television deals now flow into the game the average budget for a top-ten team is million top coaches make more than million a year the highest paid more than million But behind this glittering success are darker truths ldquoathlete-studentsrdquo working essentially full-time jobs with no share in the oceans of money players who often donrsquot graduate and end their careers with broken bodies ldquojanitorsrdquo who clean up player misconduct football ldquohostessesrdquo willing to do whatever it takes to land a top recruit seven-figure black box recruiting slush funds And this Despite the millions of dollars pouring into the game percent of major athletic departments still lose money Yet schools remain caught up in an ever-escalating ldquoarms racerdquomdashat the expense of academic scholarships facilities and faculty Celebrated investigative journalists Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian were granted unprecedented access during the season to programs at the highest levels across the country at a time of convulsive change in college football Through dogged reporting they explored every nook and cranny of this high-powered machine and reveal how it operates from the inside out The result the system through the eyes of athletic directors and coaches high-flying boosters and high-profile TV stars five-star recruits and tireless NCAA investigators and the kids on whom the whole vast enterprise depends Both a celebration of the power and pageantry of NCAA football and a groundbreaking thought-provoking critique of its excesses The System is the definitive book on the college game.
About the Author
Jeff Benedict is a New York Times best selling author, a special features writer for Sports Illustrated, and a television and film producer. He has written fifteen books on topics ranging from violence against women to a deadly E. coli outbreak to the discovery of a 10,000-year-0ld skeleton in North America. He has also written for the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, and his stories have been the basis of segments on 60 Minutes, 20/20, 48 Hours, Good Morning America, and the Discovery Channel.Jeff's most recent book - The System: The Glory and Scandal of Big-Time College Football - was a national best seller and is being developed into a television drama by STARZ Networks. Jeff is a producer and writer for the show. Jeff is also an Executive Producer on the forthcoming motion picture film "Little Pink House," starring Catherine Keener and Jeanne Tripplehorn. The movie is based on Jeff's book by the same title about the controversial Supreme Court decision on eminent domain. Jeff has also written numerous autobiographies, including My Name Used to be Muhammad by Muslim-turned-Christian Tito Momen. It was a Book of the Year finalist in 2013. Jeff also wrote the forthcoming autobiography by Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young (Houghton Mifflin/October 2016) . He is also a writer and creative consultant for NFL Films on a documentary based on Young's autobiography that will air on the NFL Network in the Fall of 2016. Currently, Jeff is writing a biography on Tiger Woods for Simon & Schuster. His popular blog is at www.jeffbenedict.com. Jeff is licensed to practice law in Connecticut and he's a Distinguished Professor of Writing and Mass Media at Southern Virginia University. He is represented by Richard Pine at InkWell Management in New York City.
