Since the time of Knute Rockne, fans have been drawn to Notre Dame for reasons that go far beyond the normal allegiances. Just as Ohioans root for Ohio State, Los Angelenos for UCLA, Catholics everywhere root for Notre Dame. Over the decades their devotion to team and institution has become a religion in ways that exceed metaphor. Millions in number, these modern-day fans treat the Notre Dame campus as a pilgrimage site, and six times a year, for each home game, the action moves from the profane to the sacred. For the fans, Notre Dame has become a symbol of the American immigrant bootstrap ethos of hard work, of the Catholic faith, and of the notion that the two entwined can only produce the good life. Touchdown Jesus is the intimate chronicle of Notre Dame's 2004 football season as seen through the eyes of a fan base unlike any other.

A tapestry of vivid character portraits and descriptive narrative, Touchdown Jesus explores this phenomenon and reveals the story behind one of the highest-profile head coach firings in the history of college football. When the story begins in September 2004, it had been sixteen years since the Fighting Irish had won a national championship, and eleven years since the team had even been a contender. The Irish were coming off their third losing season in five years, a span of failure that had sparked fears of permanent decline. Over the course of the season, the target of the fans' angst grew to include not only head coach Tyrone Willingham, but also the caretakers of the university, whom many fans believed were sacrificing football to the prerogatives of an elite academe. As the losses piled up, the arguments for and against Willingham went to the very core of the identity of the university and its fan base: the pressure to win, the Christian ideal, and the uniquely American role of big-time athletics in higher education — Notre Dame football at the center of it all.

Borrowing its title from the celebrated mosaic of Christ the Teacher that adorns the south facade of the university library and overlooks the football field, Touchdown Jesus is the story of faith and fanaticism and a university struggling to maintain elite football, elite academics, and traditional Catholicism — each an imperative, without any room for compromise.

"In his nuanced account of the 2004 Notre Dame football season that saw the firing of head coach Ty Willingham, Eden, a class of '97 Irish alumni, weaves a story staggering in breadth: the culture at the relatively small university where religion and football have all but merged, the team's expansive and dedicated fanbase, and the relationship of spirituality and sheckels. By visiting tailgate parties where Irish fans-between beers-celebrate Mass, and using postings from Notre Dame fan websites and chatrooms, Eden captures the Notre Dame community's dwindling enthusiasm for Willingham, who, upon his 2002 hiring, was viewed as a 'messiah coach.' But as the 2004 season progressed and a championship slid farther away with each game, fans, benefactors and trustees made clear their unhappiness, and Willingham was fired. Eden plays several interesting angles on the controversial decision, including the impact of the team's successes on merchandising revenue-so lucrative an income that the school has trademarked the word 'Irish.' Neither a love letter to his Alma Mater nor a dirge for the glory that was, this is one of the rare football books that will appeal even to those who've never touched a pigskin." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

This riveting chronicle of faith and fandom at Notre Dame during the 2004 football season--15 years since the Fighting Irish's last national championship--reveals the inside story of Coach Tyrone Willingham's firing and the hiring of Charlie Weis. Photos.