Football Dreams is a novel by the American writer . Set in the 1960s, it tells the coming-of-age story of Dan Keith as he negotiates the demands of American football culture at Arnold Academy, a fictional all-boys prep school in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Largely autobiographical, the novel's depiction of life at Arnold Academy thinly veils the author's real-life experiences at his own alma mater, Shady Side Academy, in suburban Fox Chapel.