Keeping the Faith: In the Trenches with College Football's Worst Team [Hardcover]

Shawn Fury (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2005

Every loser has a story. And few teams have lost quite like the Trinity Bible College football team. Located in Ellendale, North Dakota-population 1,559-Trinity produces preachers
and missionaries, but with an enrollment of only 310 students, struggles to find quality athletes. Keeping the Faith tells the remarkable story of the 2004 Trinity Bible College Lions, the worst college team in the country-a team fighting for victory and, more importantly, dignity.

Countless sports books have been written about championship teams and grand traditions. But what about teams on the other side of the scoreboard? How do those players and coaches fight
through ridicule, adversity, and defeat? This account is told through the eyes of a colorful group of characters, including Trinity's head coach, Rusty Bentley, a native Texan and former car salesman who says he moved his family to North Dakota because it was God's will. In his first game, Trinity lost 105-0.

Assistant coach Eric Slivoskey has traveled throughout the world, but he came to Ellendale seeking answers to his spiritual questions. A former high school star, he struggles to coexist with the Scriptures-quoting Bentley, whose knowledge of the Bible seems to dwarf his knowledge of football. Trinity's players, who number fewer than thirty, include Lee Odell, an all-conference center on the offensive line who's surrounded by teammates who didn't even play high school football. Wide receiver Andy Brower is training to be a pastor, but he doesn't
think the Lions should be relying on Jesus to help them on the field. Trinity's players keep taking the field week after week, loss after loss. They keep playing, always believing the next game will bring victory. Keeping the Faith is about football, faith, and finding small victories amidst big defeats.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Trinity Bible College, of Ellendale, N.Dak., made national headlines in fall 2003 when the school's football team lost its season opener 105–0. It would be easy to romanticize the Lions as lovable losers; many of the players, scraped together from the college's 300 students, have never played organized football before, and officially the school is more concerned with saving souls than winning games. But while this story has its share of offbeat moments—including a practice session so disorganized no one can find any footballs—Fury usually avoids the easy route. Following the team for the 2004 season, the freelance reporter winds up chronicling the mounting frustration among the players and assistant coaches with the hands-off management style of head coach Rusty Bentley, and suspense is generated not by wondering if the Lions will be able to pull out a victory, but whether the team will make it to the end of the season intact. In between games, Fury ably sets the scene around the small campus, which is so remote, people there can't even get cell phone service. By refusing to caricature or sentimentalize the players, Fury delivers a heartfelt tale. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Trinity Bible College in Ellendale, North Dakota, has a total enrollment of 310 students, most of whom become preachers and missionaries. Amazingly, it also fields a football team. The head coach is Rusty Bentley, a native Texan whose first season, 2003, was notable for its stunning lack of success. In his first game, Trinity was beaten by Rockford College of Illinois 105-0, the most lopsided defeat in college-football history. The rest of the season wasn't much better. Trinity was outscored 585-12. Journalist Fury followed the team through the 2004 season. Trinity wasn't much more successful in 2004, prompting dissension in the ranks as the players began to tune Bentley out, eventually causing his postseason resignation. The lesson readers will be left with is this: faith will carry one through many difficult situations in life, but in football an occasional win is important, too. An intriguing counterpoint to the numerous accounts of championship teams and coaches. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Lyons Press (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592287646
• ISBN-13: 978-1592287642
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #586,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keeping the Faith, October 5, 2005

By 

Jerry L. Fury - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keeping the Faith: In the Trenches with College Football's Worst Team (Hardcover)

This is more than a book about football - it is a character study. It tells the in-week struggle of the Trinity Bible College football team, as well as their struggles on Saturdays. The author does an excellent job of telling the players stories; their lives away from the game as well as some of their inner conflicts. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Moral victories amidst defeat", October 25, 2005

By 

T. Ulmer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Keeping the Faith: In the Trenches with College Football's Worst Team (Hardcover)

As a resident of Ellendale, ND, the home of the college football team that's been ranked 697th out of 697 for years, I can attest that the picture painted in "Keeping the Faith" is so accurate, it's frightening.

Most sports novels focus on a team's rise to championships or the heartache after losing the big game. This takes the opposite perspective, looking at the team that's struggling to score 30 points a season, let alone win a championship, and the only victories they can find are the "moral victories." Yet somehow, in a season in which every single player on the team suffered an injury, each game averaging a 0-50 loss, they manage to keep fighting and trying their hardest despite.

Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting look at the anatomy of a losing program, February 20, 2009

By 

BasinBictory "Mister Basin to You" (Nowhere in particular) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Keeping the Faith: In the Trenches with College Football's Worst Team (Paperback)

Ellendale, North Dakota, is a tiny, rural town just north of the South Dakota border that is home to Trinity Bible College. Trinity Bible College has just a tad over 300 students, making it the smallest 4-year institution of higher learning that fields a collegiate football team. Predictably, the Lions have found success on the field highly elusive. Coming into the 2004 season, the Lions are trying to improve on a winless 2003 campaign that included a 105-0 pasting at the hands of the Rockford Regents. The Lions are so outmanned that many of their players are forced to play both offense and defense in a game, and many of the players have never even played high school football. The head coach's main qualification is that he's a devout Christian who is a huge football fan. He has never been a head coach of any program at any level, and his inexperience shows on every level. Worse, he openly admits he "wasn't brought to the school to win football games.(!)"

It's a recipe for disaster, and disaster is what ensues - in epic proportions. The 2004 Lions, while marginally better than their 2003 edition, are still woefully outclassed, outmanned, and outcoached at virtually every facet of the game of football. They routinely lose games by 40 and 50 point margins. They consider it a victory if they escape a game without injury or if they manage to score a touchdown or even get a first down. Throughout the season, the Trinity Lions are lucky to be able to put more than 25 healthy players in uniform, and injuries inevitably take their vicious toll.

Personnel problems, however, are the least of the Lions' worries. The head coach, Rusty Bentley, is a loud-talking Texan whose aptitude for coaching (or even leading) is highly suspect. His practices are inconsistent, have no apparent direction, and his instruction to the players is nearly non-existent. The players all look up to assistant coach Slivoskey for their real leadership. This understandably causes tension in the locker room, since few of the players respect Bentley. Some of the players who have played successfully in high school are incredulous at the utter lack of discipline in the squad. Players who miss practice or team meetings are rarely, if ever punished, and Bentley simultaneously shifts blame for the blowout losses and maintains that the players shouldn't be looking to win games but rather preach God's word.

While every student and player at Trinity hopes to go on a Christian mission someday, most of the players are astounded that a football coach, any football coach, even a football coach where religion takes priority over everything else, could be so blase about the team's execution and performance on the field.

Lack of manpower, lack of talent, lack of coaching, lack of leadership, and lack of discipline. Those are the hallmarks of a losing program, and Trinity had these in spades. This book is a very interesting dissection of just such a season for one unfortunate team.