Resurrection: The Miracle Season That Saved Notre Dame »

Jim Dent, a longtime award-winning journalist who covered the Dallas Cowboys for eleven years in Fort Worth and Dallas, including a stint at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, has written six books, including The Junction Boys, the New York Times bestseller that was the basis for an ESPN movie and remains a fan favorite. Dent lives in Texas.

Jim Dent, author of the New York Times bestselling The Junction Boys returns with the remarkable and inspiring story of one of the biggest comebacks in college football history.

Back in the 1960s, Notre Dame’s football program was in shambles. For five straight years, from 1958 through 1963, the home of Knute Rockne and Frank Leahy could not produce one winning season. Plagued by a series of bad coaching choices, inept management, and a loss of institutional support, no one could be sure if the Fighting Irish would ever return to glory. When “Touchdown Jesus” was erected in 1964, it presided over a team so hopeless that the entire football program was on the brink of collapse.

Little did anyone know, help was on its way in the form of Ara Parseghian, a controversial choice for head coach—-the first one outside of the Notre Dame “family”—-who had only set foot on Notre Dame soil when his football teams played (and won) there. It was now his responsibility to rebuild the once-proud program and teach the Fighting Irish how to win again. This was no small task.

The men of Notre Dame football were a bunch of unlikelies and oddballs, but Parseghian transformed them into a team: a senior quarterback who would win the Heisman Trophy two weeks before he picked up his first letter jacket; a five-foot-eight walk-on who would go on to make first team All-American; and an exceptionally rare black player, who would overcome much more than his quiet demeanor to rise to All-American, All-Pro, NFL Hall of Famer, and to justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Parseghian would change everything, from the uniforms and pads to the offensive strategy. He switched players from position to position like pieces on a chessboard, and just before the season opener, he hung a motto over the locker-room door:

What tho the odds

Be great or small

Notre Dame men

Will win over all

It would be a huge gamble against great obstacles, but Ara Parseghian had that look in his eye. . . .

New York Times bestselling author Jim Dent chronicles one of the greatest comeback seasons in the history of college football—-the first season in what is known as the “Era of Ara.” Once again confirming his position as one of the top sportswriters in the country, Dent writes with passion, humor, and incredible insight, bringing the legends of Notre Dame football to life in an unforgettable story of second chances, determination, and unwavering spirit.

Publishers Weekly

Ara Parseghian, Notre Dame's first "outsider" coach-non-Catholic, not a Notre Dame alum-turned around a failing football tradition when he joined the university in 1963. To capture the way it was and communicate the sense of immense anticipation that greeted the young, driven coach, author and journalist Dent (The Junction Boys), an avid fan, researched past programs led by the legendary Knute Rockne and others, a strategy that sets the stage for his nail-biting saga, but makes for a choppy first quarter. Once he settles into the season, Dent does a masterful job recreating games without ever forgetting the human details; for example, Parseghian's fierce integrity drove him to get rid of a remarkably promising player: "I hated to let a player like Dave go...but I could see the players walking a little taller. They knew that we were serious as we could be about turning the team around." Dent's characters take on the dimensions of true and winning people; by the time the where-are-the-now epilogue rolls around, readers will consider them something like old friends. 8 pages color photos.
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1 Tough Irish Kid 1

2 Blueprint for Defeat 4

3 "Joe Must Go" 13

4 Walk-On 26

5 Death in the Bronx 45

6 The Chase 65

7 The Second Coming 81

8 Ara the Beautiful 89

9 Chessboard 95

10 The Shepherd 105

11 The Comeback 110

12 Making of a Team 123

13 Turn out the Lights 129

14 Disaster 136

15 Wyoming Cowboy 143

16 The Underdog 155

17 A Hit of Confidence 170

18 Poker Face 174

19 Living the Dream 184

20 Shake Down the Thunder 193

21 Letter from Home 199

22 Crash Landing 201

23 Stevie Wonder 211

24 Woooo Pig Sooooie 217

25 Wake up the Echoes 221

26 Tough Irish Thief 224

27 No. 1 237

28 Haywire 241

29 Mister Heisman 254

30 The Trap 257

31 Coming Home 275

Epilogue 279

Author's Note 291

Bibliography 295

Index 297