Don’t Put Me In Coach Book Review

I just finished “Don’t Put Me In, Coach: My Incredible NCAA Journey from the end of the bench to the end of the bench” by Ohio State walk on Mark Titus. Mark was a bench warmer on the Ohio State basketball team from 2006 to 2010. His Club Trillion blog launched him into the media spotlight and his career took off from there. The book is a funny journey into the locker room of the Buckeye basketball team. You will learn things you never knew about some of the most famous Ohio State basketball players of all time. I’ll never look at college basketball coach Thad Matta the same way ever again (the part where Mark describes the first time he met Thad is unforgettable). Get the inside scoop on the personality of players like Greg Oden and Evan “the Villain” Turner. Find out what really goes on in practice and overnight away game trips. 


The book, while a fun and easy read, is far from perfect. The beginning was laugh out loud funny and quite refreshing. However, the same style of humor and very similar jokes throughout make it increasingly not as funny the further you read into it. Also, a majority of the jokes are bathroom style humor, so if that’s not your thing then I recommend not reading. It’s very hard to tell what is true and what was fabricated for entertainment purposes. You find out how to earn a trillion in basketball stats but I found that segment of the book rather uninspiring (but maybe you other walk ons and benchwarmers will find it inspirational).


Regardless, if you’re a fan of OSU basketball I highly recommend you read  “Don’t Put me in, Coach.” The insight into how past Buckeye team’s chemistry was is something all hardcore fans crave and on that front Mark delivers in delicious doses.


Embedded below is a video Mark “The shark” (yes, that is the nickname he gave himself) Titus created and uploaded to YouTube. As he likes to say, he is “making it rain.” If you do decide to read you should watch Mark’s YouTube videos because he does refer to them in the book.