When the Men Were Gone

August 1, 2018
In 1944, a Texas town gets its first female football coach.Brownwood, Texas, is a town that loves football. But with World War II raging and all the potential coaches off fighting, it's looking like the high school team may have to call it quits. That is, until Tylene Wilson steps up. She spent her childhood watching games with her father, and she's the closest thing to a football expert the town has. Brownwood has lost so many young men to the war, and Tylene knows that football has the power to bring the whole town together. She understands the game inside and out, but will the town--and the team--actually accept a woman as coach? Although she has the support of her husband, almost everyone else is in opposition. Men in town yell at her from car windows, friends desert her, and even the football players are wary of playing for a woman. Tylene knows she has to be a perfect coach if she wants anyone in town to respect her, but with limited time and limited support, the odds are against her. At just over 200 pages, the story feels thin in parts--many side characters who seem interesting are never quite fully developed. Tylene herself, though, is a complex and engaging character. Although she does love football, most of her desire to coach comes from the protectiveness she feels toward the high school seniors. If there's no football team, then most of them are likely to enlist early, and Tylene wants to save them from that fate. Based on a true story that most people probably don't know, readers will find plenty to love in Herrera Lewis' debut.A feel-good story about one woman's persistence, strength, and love of the game.

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October 8, 2018
This WWII home front novel, sportswriter Lewis’s debut, lacks the drama that features in the Friday night games at the story’s core. In September 1944, the denizens of tiny Brownwood, Tex., lose their high school football coach to the Army when he reenlists after finding out his brother has been taken as a POW. Tylene Wilson, the school’s assistant principal, who knows the game inside and out, worries that if the Lions don’t take the field, bored young men will enlist early in the military. Still reeling from the death of her godson in the war, Tylene believes that she can protect other boys from the horrors of the battlefield and provide the community with a welcome diversion from the war by ensuring the season goes on. When no other suitable coach can be found, Tylene predictably takes on the task, facing strong opposition from those who believe coaching isn’t women’s work. Undaunted, and backed by her husband, Tylene strives to prove her detractors wrong. The woman’s empowerment angle is inspiring (Lewis’s book is based on true events), but the story ends where football fans would want it to start, at the beginning of the playing season, leaving the story feeling incomplete.

September 1, 2018
In Brownwood, Texas, in 1944, most of the men are in the armed forces. That includes anyone who could coach the high-school football team. Assistant principal Tylene Wilson runs through a list of possibles but comes up empty; then it hits her: I'll do it myself. She knows the game as well as any man (she was diagramming plays in grade school). She convinces the skeptical principal and wins over the team captain and star player. She's the head coach. What she doesn't anticipate is the animosity of the Brownwood citizenry to a woman who dares step outside of her traditional role. Tylene's struggles, on and off the field, form the core of this satisfying historical novel based on a true story. There's plenty of football, but the book also offers a vivid look at small-town life during WWII, from dealing with rationing to the constant fear of hearing the worst about family members in the service. Appended is information on the real Tylene Wilson. The author's note also reveals that Lewis, inspired by Tylene, is now an assistant football coach.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018

Brownwood, TX, 1944. The men are at war, and the Friday night high school football games look to be canceled for the fall--who's going to coach?--until assistant principal Tylene Wilson talks herself into the job. Big-time Texas sportscaster Lewis bases her debut novel on actual events; with a 25,000-copy hardcover and 100,000-copy paperback first printing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2018

Sports writer Lewis's (Sportsday Bound) debut novel about a woman coaching a high school football team in 1940s Texas demonstrates the importance of timing--not only Friday nights on the field, but also in the moments when we let our children stay children for just a little longer, if we can. Against all odds, Coach Miss Tylene uses her wits and passion to guide these young men through one more season, before adulthood--and war--claims them. Tylene has moments of struggle and success, and fear forces even her closest loved ones' support to wax and wane as her foes cruelly undermine her. Through it all, Tylene's grace and dignity proudly serve her authoritative command of football strategy. Fans of Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding will appreciate Lewis's understanding that sports are about so much more than what happens at a game. VERDICT Readers looking for stories about decent people doing their best or a good cry won't do much better than this heartrending read, which is sure to be a fall favorite of book clubs anywhere near a football stadium. [See Prepub Alert, 4/9/18.]--Nicole Steeves, Fox River Valley P.L. Dist., IL

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.