The Golden Dream
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- £7.99
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
Gerry Faust won more hearts than games. He came to Notre Dame as the high school coach from Cincinnati's Moeller High School, such a perfect fit for Notre Dame that it seemed almost too good to be true. It was. Faust admits his mistakes, which include the manner in which he put together his first coaching staff, changing Notre Dame's offense, even feeling sorry for himself. He explains how he could beat Southern Cal, but not Air Force and Purdue. An optimist to the end, Faust took on, if anything, an even greater challenge when he left Notre Dame. He became coach at the University of Akron, a program where, unlike at Notre Dame, not everyone wanted him to succeed.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his last eight seasons of his 18-year career as a high-school football coach in Cincinnati, Faust lost only one game. His dream was to become the football coach at Notre Dame, and that became reality in 1980. A devout Catholic and known to be kind and understanding, Faust seemed ideal for the job, but he failed to appreciate the importance the college placed on winning. So, while he made himself accessible and friendly to the Notre Dame community, his teams went 29-25-1 for the five years of his tenure, after which he "resigned." He went to the University of Akron, where he coached for nine years, compiled a record slightly under .500, was fired as coach and joined the university administration. Football fans widely considered Faust a loser as a coach, and what he and Akron Beacon Journal writer Love have composed is a sort of apologia pro vita sua, stressing that wherever Faust has lived and worked, he has been appreciated as an individual. Thus part of the inspirational message here is that there's more to sports than winning. Photos not seen by PW.
