Return to Glory : Inside Tyrone Willingham's Amazing First Season at Notre Dame

by Grant, Alan

• ISBN13: 9780316607650
• ISBN10: 0316607657
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-02
• Publisher: Little Brown & Co

Summary

Notre Dame's Football Program, for decades the most celebrated in the nation, was in disarray. After a lamentable five wins in 2001, the team was dispirited and desperately in need of leadership. Facing one of their toughest schedules ever in 2002, the players had little to look forward to -- until Tyrone Willingham showed up. This stoic and mysterious new coach, who shunned the glare of media attention, wasted no time reclaiming the national spotlight for his team. Set on recapturing the glory of earlier eras in his very first season at Notre Dame, Willingham proved from the very first game that he had transformed a struggling group of players into the most exciting team in the country. By the season's end, he had doubled the team's victories from the year before and earned himself the distinction of winning more games in his first year than any other coach in Irish history.

Author Biography

Alan Grant played football under Tyrone Willingham at Stanford in the late eighties, was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts, and played five seasons as a defensive back for the 49ers, Bengals, and Redskins. He spent the 2002 football season with Notre Dame, attending practices, team meetings, strategy sessions, and games. He writes for ESPN's Web site and ESPN The Magazine

Table of Contents

Prologue	3	(2)
1. Rock Bottom	5	(15)
2. Waking Up Echoes	20	(12)
3. Training Camp	32	(13)
4. "Something's Happening Here!"	45	(14)
5. Maryland	59	(18)
6. Purdue and the Media	77	(20)
7. Michigan	97	(13)
8. Michigan State	110	(19)
9. Stanford	129	(17)
10. Pittsburgh	146	(13)
11. Air Force	159	(12)
12. Florida State	171	(14)
13. Boston College	185	(22)
14. Navy	207	(11)
15. Rutgers	218	(12)
16. USC	230	(12)
17. Season of Change?	242	(10)
18. Validation	252	(7)
19. The Gator Bowl	259	(13)
20. Return to Glory	272	(9)
Acknowledgments	281	(2)
Index	283