“…The detail with which he recounts his story and the emotion that spills onto the page — the elation of a breakthrough race, the disappointment of a poor one — make it an interesting read…. Coe does a stellar job of recreating the past, immersing the reader in the emerging counterculture….. Coe’s entertaining style and the endless supply of amusing anecdotes (make the book engaging.)”

Jonathan Gault, letsrun.com

“Those looking for a ‘pure’ running book will find it in Jock: a memoir of the counterculture. With Robert Coe’s careful eye, you get a stunningly detailed look into the life of a competitive collegiate runner during one of the most tumultuous phases that the United States has endured. However, those looking for only a running book are in for a surprise as Coe takes us on a journey through the late-sixties and into the seventies… Set at Stanford from Coe’s first days entering the campus to his final year, the narrative winds through the cross country season to the classroom, out onto the track, and eventually as far away as Stanford-in-Britain. Coe’s journey is neither smooth nor straight, as befit the period in which he competed…Coe does not pull punches… Jock looks at the life of the athlete from an intimate perspective. Unlike the tightly controlled legend of [Steve] Prefontaine, Coe ranges far and wide in an authentic effort to provide sense to running as it related to the age. In this lies the meat of Coe memoir, a blatant openness that peels back the veneers to expose the vicissitudes of the protest generation…”

Paul Duffau, blogger and novelist, Finishing Kick and Trail of Second Chances