Walker lands new assistant; O-line coach leaves for NFL
He had the nation’s fourth-best offense, 10 returning starters and a Heisman trophy frontrunner in tow. But with spring practice approaching, Northwestern football coach Randy Walker had one more void to fill.
After nine years as a Walker assistant, offensive line coach Aaron Kromer left for the Oakland Raiders in February, leaving Walker to scramble for a replacement. He found one in Northern Iowa head coach Mike Dunbar, who was hired March 15 as an assistant. Like most of Walker’s staff, Dunbar will take on multiple jobs – he will coach the Wildcats’ tight ends, fullbacks and special teams unit.
Dunbar carries a career mark of 81-24-1 as a head coach, including a 29-15 record over his four years at Northern Iowa. Prior to his stint in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Dunbar served as offensive coordinator and assistant coach at Toledo, where he helped the Rockets to an 11-0-1 season, a Mid-American Conference title and a Las Vegas Bowl win in 1995.
Kromer’s departure sparked a title shuffle among NU’s coaching staff. Walker moved former tight ends and H-backs coach James Patton to the offensive line and promoted offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson to assistant head coach. Wilson will remain the Cats’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Dunbar’s most pressing task could be reforming NU’s special teams, which committed costly penalties and conceded lengthy kickoff and punt returns throughout last season. The spotty special teams performances were a major concern for Walker, but the Cats did not have a special teams coordinator to coach the unit.
Prior to the NU offer, Dunbar had been mentioned as a candidate for the vacant head coaching position at Toledo, which went 10-1 in 2000.
NU hires Lafayette coach to turn around soccer program
Tim Lenahan, one of the winningest young coaches in Division I, was hired one week ago to replace Michael Kunert as the Northwestern men’s soccer coach.
Lenahan comes to NU from Lafayette College (Pa.), where in three seasons his team won two Patriot League titles and earned a berth in the 1999 NCAA Tournament. Lenahan’s career record stands at 126-68-20 and his Division I career winning percentage ranks fourth-highest among coaches with fewer than five years of experience.
Armed with a history of turning around poor programs, Lenahan is charged with improving last season’s 0-17-1 record at NU. Lenahan inherited a 4-12 team his first season at Lafayette and guided the Leopards to a 16-5 mark.
Lenahan takes over for Kunert, who resigned this winter after 19 years at the helm for NU.
The Cats also signed five players to letters of intent for next season, led by midfielder/defender Derek Schneider of Menomonee Falls, Wis., a 2000 National Soccer Coaches Association Midwest All-American.
Men’s swimming threesome sets three school records
Northwestern’s trio of All-American hopefuls rode into College Station, Texas, for the NCAA Championships on Thursday with lofty expectations and left with three honors, three school records and three bright futures.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats earned a 23rd-place finish at the three-day tournament.
Freshman Tony Swanson was the first NU All-American of the tournament, with a seventh-place time of 1:46.56 – a school record – in the 200-yard individual medley.
Swanson was one of the Cats’ top performers all year and the only NU swimmer to qualify for the NCAAs in two events.
“It was nice to know that I’m at a level to compete with that caliber of swimmer,” Swanson said.
Swanson also finished 16th with a personal best in the 200 backstroke (1:46.13) on Saturday – fast enough to be named an Honorable Mention All-American in the event.
“(Backstroke) was my weakest stroke coming into college,” said Swanson, who filled in after team co-captain Todd Capen suffered a season-ending groin injury. “I worked on it so much just because it was so much worse. I ended up doing a lot more with it than I ever expected.”
Sophomore Kellan O’Connor added an All-American finish in the 200 butterfly with a fifth-place time of 1:44.40 in the finals.
During the preliminaries O’Connor broke his own 200-fly school record for the fourth time this season. He then broke that record the next day in the finals.
The Wildcats rounded out the meet with freshman Aaron McCracken placing 20th in the 200 breaststroke at 1:59.16, breaking the third school record of the weekend.
Cats’ late-season burst ends with loss to Iowa at Big Tens
The Northwestern men’s basketball team went 3-3 in its last six Big Ten basketball games, but wasn’t able to translate that success into a win at the conference tournament.
Iowa topped NU 72-55 on March 8 at the United Center in Chicago before a listed full-day crowd of 20,003. The No. 11 seed Wildcats never had the lead against the sixth-seeded Hawkeyes, who eventually went on to win three more games in three days to claim the tournament title. The loss ended the Cats’ season, head coach Bill Carmody’s first in Evanston.
The Cats (11-19, 3-13 Big Ten) had beaten the Hawkeyes 69-61 in their only previous meeting this season, a contest that snapped the Cats’ 32-game Big Ten losing streak.
NU trailed 30-15 at the half at the Big Tens, and the score wasn’t the only reason Carmody cringed for much of the game. The Hawkeyes (19-11, 7-9 after beating NU) played a 1-3-1 zone for most of the half, and NU couldn’t find any open shots from the floor.
The Cats shot 26 percent from the field in the first half, and Iowa power forward Reggie Evans was tied 13-13 with NU just seconds before the halftime buzzer. Evans finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
NU guard Ben Johnson scored 21 of his game-high 24 points in the second half, but even his scoring burst during a late 22-6 NU run couldn’t pull the Cats any closer than three. Iowa’s rock-solid free-throw shooting down the stretch – the Hawkeyes were 21 for 29 at the charity stripe for the game – helped seal the victory.
The Hawkeyes went on to win one game in the NCAA tournament before losing in the second round to Kentucky.
Women’s swimmers earn All-American honors in 3 events
At the NCAA women’s swimming and diving championships, one Northwestern veteran went out in style while a few young Wildcats ended the season with a bang.
NU placed 35th at the NCAAs thanks to the mixture of new and old, even though it sent only five swimmers to the meet.
In her final meet for the Cats, senior Tashy Bohm set a school record in the 200-yard backstroke (1:57.34), placing 12th in the event. Although Bohm missed qualifying for the finals, NU coach Jimmy Tierney said her presence will be missed next season.
“She was our staple in the backstroke, which is critical for a lot of things,” Tierney said. “She was (also) one of our captains and leaders, and she put a lot into the program the last four years.”
The Cats’ top finisher at the championships was freshman Vicky West. The California native placed 11th in the 1,650 freestyle and was followed by fellow freshman Erica Rose, who finished 14th.
“They held up to the pressure real well,” Tierney said of his rookies. “So much has to come together in that mile, (and) on that day, in that performance, they did well.”
Sophomores Susie Sample and Rachel Johnson teamed with Bohm and West to place 16th in the 800 freestyle relay. The four swimmers, along with Rose, were named Honorable Mention All-Americans.
Looking beyond the 35th-place finish, all of Tierney’s NCAA qualifiers except for Bohm will return next season. Tierney said one of those swimmers will be expected to fill Bohm’s shoes as the team’s leader.
