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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: And I'm Robert Siegel. The late John Wooden coached college basketball and was more successful at it than any other coach. And it's at least arguable that he was more successful than any college coach of any sport.

He took over the hapless basketball program at UCLA in 1948 and by 1964, he led the Bruins to a NCAA championship. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JOHN WOODEN: Somebody asked me - you know, how come it took you so long to win a national championship? And I said, I'm a slow learner; but you notice when I learn something, I have it down pretty good. SIEGEL: He repeated in 1965 and then, from 1967 through '73, UCLA won the national championship every year.

In 1975, the year that he retired, John Wooden led his team to one more national title. Ten championships for UCLA under the Indiana native who was himself an all-American player at Purdue. The one-time high school English teacher was so famous as a coach that he became a popular speaker on success and leadership during his very long retirement. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) WOODEN: Now, Dad had tried to teach me and my brothers, never try to be better than somebody else. Just try to be the best you can be; never cease trying to be the best you can be.

That's in your power. The other isn't. SIEGEL: John Wooden died a few months shy of his 100th birthday, in 2010; and he's now the subject of a biography by Seth Davis, who covers college hoops for 'Sports Illustrated' and CBS Sports. It's called 'Wooden: A Coach's Life.'

Seth Davis, welcome to the program. SETH DAVIS: Thank you, Robert. SIEGEL: And let's start - first, how good a coach was John Wooden? Download Free Software Oregon Trail 2 The Pirate Bay Browse. DAVIS: Well, you made the comment that he was the best college basketball coach of all time. I think that's pretty definitive. I would actually go further, Robert, and argue that John Wooden is the best coach in the history of American sports.

In fact, 'The Sporting News,' several years ago - right before he died - did a mass survey of writers and coaches and athletes, and asked them to rank the all-time greatest coaches. And John Wooden came first, right ahead of Vince Lombardi.

I think the difference there is that he had to win all kinds of different ways. I mean, John Wooden, over the span of, you know, 12 years, coached very different teams. He had, you know - five of his championships, of course, were centered around great centers; then Lew Alcindor, now known as Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and Bill Walton.

But, you know, his first team - in 1964 - didn't have a starter over 6-foot-5. And then his last team, in 1975, didn't have any, you know, Hall of Fame - had some very good players on it - Marcus Johnson, Dave Meyers - but certainly, no one of an Alcindor and Bill Walton caliber. So he had to win a lot of different ways, and then he also had to coach through an incredibly volatile era on campus in Westwood, Calif.; late 1960s, early 1970s. For a conservative, Midwestern, older gentleman to have to manage all that and still come out on top - to me, was extraordinary. SIEGEL: Now, there is a sentiment, which - as I learned from your book - was not originally said by Vince Lombardi, of the Green Bay Packers, but by the old UCLA football coach Red Sanders: Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing.