High Hopes: Taking the Purple to Pasadena

by Gary Barnett

This is the inspiring story of how, against all odds, Gary Barnett took on a losing tradition and led the Wildcats to the Rose Bowl. In an extraordinarily candid account of the 1995 season, Barnett takes you into the locker room, onto the sidelines, and out onto the playing field as the perpetual underdog Wildcats stunned their opponents, amazed the world, and slowly convinced themselves that they could play with - and beat - the best.
Barnett relives the agonizing setbacks of his first few years with the team, such as the game Northwestern lost due to his own inept timekeepers and devastating defeats to Notre Dame and Wisconsin. He chronicles his struggles with Northwestern's highly academic-oriented administration in his quest to show that a team of true student-athletes could compete as a national football power. He describes his painful conflicts with players recruited by Northwestern's previous coaching staff, and his realization that he could not go forward until his own recruits became starting players and shareholders in his improbable vision of excellence.
One of the most moving stories in modern sports history, High Hopes not only takes us on a remarkable odyssey of success, but delves into what it means to be human to strive, to fear, to pick yourself up, and to bring winning into your heart and your life.

Genres: Sports, Football

210 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1996

Reviews

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book was like taking a step back in time (literally) as I could remember the excitement surrounding this Northwestern football team in 1995 and 1996 (I got to watch them in the Citrus bowl following the 1996 season. They lost against Tennessee with Peyton Manning as a junior).

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

My rating may not be objective.

[Jacqueline · Rating 3 out of 5]

"When we began our workouts at Northwestern, many of the players were in disbelief at what we expected from them in our workouts [this sounds... familiar]. They were nowhere near ready for the physical practices we wanted. I guess we knew that in the spring, though. They hadn't even done live contact drills in the previous few springs. [Barnett wrote in his journal] 'A beer sounds real good right now, but I'm afraid I've alienated all my coaches and none of them will ask me to go out with them. I'm probably as low as I've ever been. . . .'

[Doug Stotland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let's face it, this is a mediocre at best book about the greatest football season of all time (depending on how big a fan you are of the Northwestern Wildcats).