Randy Walker left his alma mater to take over the joke of the Big Ten – and for some reason he was happy about it. Seven seasons later, teams don’t treat Northwestern like a bye week anymore.
Walker hasn’t taken the Purple to Pasadena, but the program is closer to “Expecting Victory” than it was during most of Gary Barnett’s tenure, even though Barnett invented the slogan.
NU officially announced that the school had signed Walker to a contract extension through the 2011 season on Monday, and here’s hoping for another extension in a few years to allow Walker to finish his career in Evanston.
Walker is the perfect fit for NU. He graduates players, he isn’t controversial and as an added bonus, he wins.
A 37-46 overall record is mediocre at best. A 19-18 record the last three years isn’t impressive in normal circumstances. But coaching in Evanston isn’t a normal job.
No one wins at Northwestern.
Hall of Famer Ara Parseghian was one game over .500 in his eight seasons at NU before bolting for the Golden Dome. Current St. Louis Rams assistant head coach Rick Venturi only lasted three seasons in Evanston and won just a single game. Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green followed Venturi and managed 10 wins in his five seasons at the stadium formerly known as Dyche.
Then there was Gary Barnett, who became the first coach since Dick Hanley to coach NU to back-to-back Big Ten titles (Hanley accomplished the feat in the early ’30s). But Barnett followed his miraculous run with a 3-5 conference season followed by a winless Big Ten slate. That led Barnett to bolt to Colorado.
But now that Walker has made it through his turmoil (three seasons with four wins or fewer and the Rashidi Wheeler “situation”), he is poised to keep NU consistently decent. With Walker at the helm, the roller coaster years are over.
This season Walker became first coach in more than 70 years to coach NU to at least six wins in three-straight seasons. This streak will probably continue for a while. NU isn’t set up to be a great team or compete for a Big Ten championship unless everything goes its way (like not having Michigan or Ohio State on the schedule in 2009 and 2010), but Walker has the program ready to play in a bowl game every season.
Walker is Northwestern. When you see him walking his dog Magic on the lakefill or roaming the sidelines of Ryan Field, you can tell how well he fits here. He admits he still doesn’t know Chicago and Miami (Ohio) will always be his alma mater, but when he is through, Walker will be synonymous with NU.
Who knows who will take the burden (or honor, depending on who you ask) of running the Cats’ football program after Walker, but that person will be in his shadow. People will compare the next coach’s first year to Walker’s, his graduation rate to Walker’s, his demeanor to Walker’s – and unless this next coach’s name is Pat Fitzgerald, he probably won’t stack up.
Walker is the best person for this program and will continue to be for years to come. A Rose Bowl appearance may not be in NU’s future, but for now at least until 2011, neither is 0-12 – or even 4-8.
Spring football editor Abe Rakov is a Medill sophomore. He can be reached at [email protected].
