Under The Tarnished Dome: How Notre Dame Betrayd Ideals For Football Glory
by Don Yaeger
Book Summary Information
Author: Don YaegerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1994-09-01
ISBN: 0671899384
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Fireside
Book Reviews of Under The Tarnished Dome: How Notre Dame Betrayd Ideals For Football Glory
Book Review: Poor objectivity
Summary: 1 Stars
First, it's important to note I am neither a Notre Dame fan nor a Notre Dame hater. I follow college football and picked up this book to enjoy a read of some of the behind the scenes of one of college football's more recent dynasties. However, I was extremely disappointed with the approach the authors used, especially Doug Looney, a veteran Sports Illustrated writer.
The actual writing itself was fine and easy enough to read, however the entire book consisted of little more than the character assassination of Lou Holtz with little to no actual basis for the vast majority of the claims. Although there are entire chapters devoted to attacking Holtz on injuries, steroids, academics, racism, etc., there is absolutely no evidence provided of any wrong doing other than hearsay. All too often the authors resort to simply saying "Holtz was the type of person who had to have total control, so how could he not know this and that was going on?" There is nothing in the entire book resembling anything convincing to a fair minded reader.
Also disappointing was the book's portrayal of Gerry Faust. Faust, not even the book's intended target for the mudslinging, comes across as a complete buffoon, although I am sure that is not the case. While he might have been in over his head as head coach at Notre Dame, if he was as incompetent as the book portrays him to be Notre Dame would surely have had five winless seasons under him.
Additionally, even if every word of the book were true, I still fail to see how Holtz is the monster they contend him to be. Perhaps the worst charge in terms of how he treated players is his spitting on one player. The book is written so unabashedly and unapologetically uneven against Holtz that I even question if the incident was portrayed truthfully or if the authors took advantage of the opportunity to sensationalize some inadvertent spatter from Holtz's famous lisp. Still, even if it were true, it pales in comparison to the description of Bear Bryant's treatment of Texas A&M players in Jim Dent's The Junction Boys and Holtz's callousness is no less than Bud Wilkinson's of his Oklahoma players in Dent's The Undefeated.
Perhaps the best evidence of the author's bias is shown when they describe the suspension of star players Tony Brooks and Ricky Watters for the 1988 USC game. Both were late for a team meeting and both were suspended the week of the game according to Holtz's rules. The book goes on seemingly forever about how Holtz should have just let them play since for the other players the game was a once in a lifetime chance; however if he had then surely the book would have gone the direction of criticizing Holtz for allowing an exception to the rules for star athletes.
All in all, I say skip the book since by the fourth or fifth chapter it is clear the authors have an agenda other than objective journalism and are not above making charges with little substance. View all the 1 and 2 star reviews here. They are all true.
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