Sign-In
Cart
American Ubuntu: A Team That Refused to Break
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: May 8 2026
Pages: 220
Weight: 0.66
Height: 0.50 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
From Dan Wagner, the winningest coach in Centennial Conference men's soccer history, comes a raw, unflinching story about leadership, loss, community, and what happens when the culture you spent decades building is suddenly put on trial.
In the fall of 2019, a single night nearly broke everything Dan Wagner had built.
A handful of photographs posted online. A campus-wide reckoning on race and accountability. And a program forced to navigate national scrutiny, internal division, and consequences in real time-with no clear answer.
But to understand 2019, you have to go back to 2007.
It was then that Wagner's star player, Chris Campbell, died suddenly at age 21-one day before the season opener.
What followed became a collision between American individualism and the African philosophy of Ubuntu-I am because we are.
In the wake of Campbell's death, Wagner and his players helped spark a global sport-for-development movement rooted in Ubuntu-using soccer as a vehicle for community development, violence prevention, and belonging across South Africa, Germany, the United States, India, and Côte d'Ivoire.
Then came Halloween 2019.
Suddenly, everything Wagner had built-the culture, the Ubuntu principles, the program's identity-was tested in ways he never imagined.
In American Ubuntu, Wagner weaves together the death of Chris Campbell-which sparked the work in Africa and a global community rooted in Ubuntu-with the events of Halloween 2019, which pulled his program into a campus-wide reckoning.
This is a book about leading in the gray-through grief, conflict, and moments when there is no clear answer. Wagner confronts the parts of leadership coaches rarely discuss publicly: doubt, fear, responsibility, and the emotional cost of carrying a team through crisis.
Woven throughout is the reality of building a Division III program at Franklin & Marshall-where culture is not a slogan, but a daily standard. Wagner pulls back the curtain not just on building culture, but on the emotional and moral burden of trying to sustain it when everything around it begins to fracture. It's a culture built on ownership, discipline, and the expectation that everyone carries their share-and what happens when those standards are tested beyond the field.
For readers of The Boys in the Boat, Friday Night Lights, and The Blind Side-but looking for a story forged in today's cultural and social fault lines.
Wagner is still coaching. Still leading. Still inside the story.
Can a team-and the life you've built around it-hold together when everything fractures?
Some stories don't end with a final whistle. This is one of them.
Also in
Soccer
We Are the World (Cup): A Personal History of the World's Greatest Sporting Event
Bennett, Roger
Hardcover
The Messi Effect: How the Global Legend Changed the Future of American Soccer
Tenorio, Paul
Hardcover
The Long Game: U.S. Men's Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts
Schaerlaeckens, Leander
Hardcover
Soccernomics (2026 World Cup Edition): Why European Men and American Women Usually Win--And American Men Don't (Yet)
Szymanski, Stefan
Kuper, Simon
Paperback
The Shortest History of Soccer: From Ancient Kicking Games to the World's Most Popular Sport
Bunk, Brian D.
Paperback
Relegated: One American's Pints-And-Pies Journey from the Top to the Bottom of English Football
Smith, Todd
Hardcover
Compete: Developing a Mental Playbook for Performance Under Pressure in Sport
Abrahams, Dan
Paperback
The Ultimate Soccer Jersey Collection: Iconic Kits from the World's Greatest Game
Football Shirts, Classic
Hardcover
Your Guide to the 2026 World Cup: Everything You Need to Know about the Players and Teams
Stay, Shane
Paperback
It's a Numbers Game! Soccer: The Math Behind the Perfect Goal, the Game-Winning Save, and So Much More!
National Geographic Kids
Buckley
Hardcover
The World Cup: A History of the Planet's Biggest Sporting Event, 2026 Edition
Lisi, Clemente A.
Paperback
The Girls of Summer: The U.S. Women's Soccer Team and How It Changed the World
Longman, Jere
Paperback
Every Moment Matters: How the World's Best Coaches Inspire Their Athletes and Build Championship Teams
O'Sullivan, John
Paperback
More Than a Shirt: How Football Shirts Explain Global Politics, Money and Power
D'Urso, Joey
Paperback
The Miracle of Castel di Sangro: A Tale of Passion and Folly in the Heart of Italy
McGinniss, Joe
Paperback
La Historia del Fã°tbol En 500 Partidos / The History of Soccer in 500 Matches
Wernicke, Luciano
Paperback
That World Cup Guy: Forty Years, Nine World Cups and One Fan's Incredible Journey
Milne, Andy
Paperback
The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports
Clegg, Jonathan
Robinson, Joshua
Paperback
American Soccer Nation: The Remarkable 150-Year History of Yanks on a Roll, from Mob Football to the Modern Game
Franek, Mark C.
Paperback
La Apasionante Historia de Los Mundiales / The Exciting History of the World Cups
Lati, Alberto
Paperback
Los Héroes Numerados (Crónica Y Ensayo) / The Numbered Heroes (Chronicles and Essays)
Villoro, Juan
Paperback
1000 Football Shirts Revised and Updated: From Vintage Classics to the Latest Releases
Lions, Bernard
Paperback
A Home on the Field: How One Championship Team Inspires Hope for the Revival of Small Town America
Cuadros, Paul
Paperback
The Soccer Book of Why: The Answers to Questions You've Always Wondered about
Cuttone, Charles
Paperback
Messi vs. Ronaldo: One Rivalry, Two Goats, and the Era That Remade the World's Game
Clegg, Jonathan
Robinson, Joshua
Paperback
Angels with Dirty Faces: How Argentinian Soccer Defined a Nation and Changed the Game Forever
Wilson, Jonathan
Paperback
Play With Your Brain: A Guide to Smarter Soccer for Players, Coaches, and Parents
Norsen, Travis
Paperback
The Game of Their Lives: The Untold Story of the World Cup's Biggest Upset
Douglas, Geoffrey
Paperback
Men in Blazers Present Gods of Soccer: The Pantheon of the 100 Greatest Soccer Players (According to Us)
Davies, Michael
Davis, Miranda
Bennett, Roger
Hardcover
World Football Club Crests: The Design, Meaning and Symbolism of World Football's Most Famous Club Badges
Nilsson, Leonard Jägerskiöld
Hardcover
Jurgen Klopp - 102 Passing, Counter-pressing Possession Games, Speed & Warm-ups Direct from Klopp's Training Sessions
Soccertutor Com
Paperback
The Vision Of A Champion: Advice And Inspiration From The World's Most Successful Women's Soccer Coach (Latest Edition)
Dorrance, Anson
Averbuch, Gloria
Paperback
Pep Guardiola Attacking Tactics - Tactical Analysis and Sessions from Manchester City's 4-3-3
Terzis, Athanasios
Paperback
The Great Game: A Tale of Two Footballs and America's Quest to Conquer Global Sport
Martinez, Andrés
Hardcover
It's Not about the Bra: Play Hard, Play Fair, and Put the Fun Back Into Competitive Sports
Chastain, Brandi
Paperback
Soccer Analytics with Machine Learning: Learning Predictive Modeling Techniques with Sports Data
Joury, Ari
Gao, Haipeng
Shen, Weining
Paperback
Coaching Positional Play - ''Expansive Football'' Attacking Tactics & Practices
Basile, Pasquale Casà
Paperback
How to Win the World Cup: Secrets and Insights from International Football's Top Managers
Evans, Chris
Paperback
When Nobody Was Watching: My Hard-Fought Journey to the Top of the Soccer World
Lloyd, Carli
Coffey, Wayne
Paperback
Pep Guardiola - Coaching High Pressing Tactics & Sessions Against Different Formations
Terzis, Athanasios
Paperback
Arsenal Quiz Book: 101 Questions That Will Test Your Knowledge of the Gunners.
Carpenter, Chris
Paperback
My Beautiful Sisters: A Memoir of Courage, Hope, and the Afghan Women's Soccer Team
Popal, Khalida
Hardcover
366 Historias del Fútbol Mundial Que Deberías Conocer / 366 Stories from World Football You Should Know
Relaño, Alfredo
Paperback
Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United
Moritz, Michael
Ferguson, Alex
Paperback
Saving Soccer: An insider's account of how the World Game went wrong - and how to set it right
Brennan, Mel
Paperback
American Huckster: How Chuck Blazer Got Rich From-And Sold Out-The Most Powerful Cabal in World Sports
Thompson, Teri
Papenfuss, Mary
Paperback
The Biography of Tottenham Hotspur: The Incredible Story of the World Famous Spurs
Welch, Julie
Hardcover
Lamine Yamal: A Soccer Book for Kids, Activity Book, and Guide to Working Hard and Dreaming Big
Bella Mente Press
Paperback
The Barcelona Complex: Lionel Messi and the Making--And Unmaking--Of the World's Greatest Soccer Club
Kuper, Simon
Paperback