Coaching Perspective – Northwestern

The Wildcats might be the most grab-bag team in this league when it comes to determining their best coach.  They have eight league titles which is respectable but they also own a 34 game losing streak.  Due to the nature of the small, private, academic university sustained success has always been hard.  As a result, even their bronze, silver, and gold medal winning coaches will all have some blemishes to their record.

Not In Considerations (Chronological Order)

• No Coach: 1882-1890, 9-6-1
• Knowlton Ames: 1891-1892, 7-5-5
• Paul Noyes: 1893, 2-5-3
• A.A. Ewing: 1894, 4-5

Football was goofy in the 1890s.  Ewing coached Northwestern, was a University of Chicago student and also played for the Maroons.  Per the NU media guide, Northwestern played Chicago twice that year (a home and home) and lost both games by a combined 81-0.  No conflict of interest there.

• Alvin H. Culver: 1895-1896, 12-6-2 (2-1-1)
• Jesse Van Doozer: 1897, 5-3 (0-2)
• W.H. Bannard: 1898, 9-4-1 (0-4)
• Charles M. Hollister: 1899-1902, 27-16-4 (7-9-2)
• Walter McCornack: 1903-1905, 26-5-4 (2-4-2)

The 1903 squad went 1-0-2 in league play, good enough for NU’s first co-championship.

• Alton Johnson: 1908, 2-2 (0-2)
• Bill Horr: 1909, 1-3-1 (1-3)
• Charles Hammett: 1910-1912, 6-10-2 (0-6)
• Dennis Grady: 1913, 1-6 (0-6)
• Fred J. Murphy: 1914-1918, 16-16-1 (8-15)
• Charlie Bachman: 1919, 2-5 (1-4)

In MSU’s Coaching Perspective I ranked Bachman the fifth best coach in Spartan history.

• Elmer McDevitt: 1920-1921, 4-10 (2-8)
• Glenn Thistlethwaite: 1922-1926, 21-17-1 (10-13-1)

Won the 1926 league title with a 7-1 (5-1) mark.  They allowed just 22 points all year and had 4 shutouts.  The lone loss was a 6-0 game to Notre Dame.

• Lou Saban: 1955, 0-8-1 (0-6-1)
• Ara Parseghian: 1956-1963, 36-35-1 (22-31-1)

Ara was a great coach and brought a lot of stability but he never guided NU to a bowl or a league title so he misses consideration – barely.  I’m sure he is resting on his Notre Dame national titles though.

• Alex Agase: 1964-1972, 32-58-1 (26-40-1)
• John Pont: 1973-1977, 12-43 (10-31)
• Rick Venturi: 1978-1980, 1-31-1 (0-26-1)

Yup, you read that correctly.  Not a surprise but the 34 game losing streak started under Venturi’s watch.

• Dennis Green: 1981-1985, 10-45 (7-37)
• Francis Peay: 1986-1991, 13-51-2 (9-38-1)

Did Not Place (6th to 4th)

• Bob Voigts: 1947-1954, 33-39-1 (18-32)

I had a hard time deciding if Voigts deserved this ranking.  All but one of his teams finished 5th or worse.  All this teams lost two or more games.  He had a winless league record in 1953 but he also guided one of NU’s finest clubs.  In 1948 the Wildcats went 7-2 (5-1), good enough for second place.  League rules barred teams from making consecutive Rose Bowl trips so Northwestern got to go as runner-ups.  Despite facing undefeated Cal the Wildcats earned the upset win to get to 8-2, finished 7th in the final AP (before the bowl game, would have been top 5 after) and this was the only bowl win until 2013 and to date remains the only Rose Bowl victory.

• Pat Fitzgerald: 2006-preseant, 61-53 (30-42)

Supports would be quick to point out he has the most wins in school history.  He also has a 8, 9 and 10 win seasons to his credit.  He has guided the ‘Cats to five bowl games and winning the Gator Bowl a few seasons ago.  I don’t have him cracking the top four yet due to never finishing better than third in the league, still double digit games under .500 in league, just 1-4 in those bowls and just one appearance in the final polls.  Having the most wins is great but the fact is the season is longer today than it was in the past.  For instance in 2011, NU went 6-7.  The season used to only be nine games so to tally six wins your club would be a pretty strong one finishing 6-3 rather than being under .500.  I do think that if Fitz coaches at Northwestern for another five or more years and gets back to that stretch he had in 08-12 that he will easily crack the podium, if not claim gold.

• Randy Walker: 1999-2005, 37-45 (24-32)

Walker has two more wins than Gary Barnett and one more league win…so what gives?  Well the fact is Walker only won the league once (2000) and did so with a worse record (6-2) than Barnett’s teams but managed to be co-champs that year.  Walker was a good coach and as much as his sudden and shocking death makes him a sympathetic figure, the fact is he cannot be ranked higher than 4th.  Of course regardless of who is ahead of him that 2000 team was so fun.  To me they are the true “Cardiac Cats” highlighted by the 54-51 win over Michigan in a rare basketball on grass game.

Bronze Medal

Gary Barnett: 1992-1998, 35-45-1 (23-33)

As good as Walker was, Barnett put Northwestern back on the map after the woeful 70s and 80s.  He won back-to-back titles in ’95 and ’96 going 10-2 (8-0) and backing it up with a 9-3 (7-1) year.  Sure they lost both bowl games – 1995 was the Rose – but they finished top 10 that year and top 20 the following season.  The knock against Barnett and totally justifiable if you want Walker or Fitz ahead of him is the tenure was short and outside those two magical seasons it was unremarkable.  In a testament to how up and down this program is, Barnett has two winless league marks to offset the insane 15-1 stretch.

Silver Medal

Dick Hanley: 1927-1934, 36-26-4 (22-19-4)

Tough call here between Hanley and his predecessor.  Do you award the man who laid the foundation or the coach with more consistent high finishes?  In this case the coach who put Northwestern on track to be successful unfortunately finishes second.  His 1930 and ’31 teams went a combined 14-2-1 (10-1-0) and brought home two league titles.  He also had three other 5th or better finishes.  In an era of just five to six league games he won enough in eight season to be fifth all time in league wins and third in all time victories.  Yes these figures are tied with Ara Parseghian but the hall of fame Notre Dame coach never took home chips like Hanley did.

Gold Medal

Pappy Waldorf: 1935-1946, 49-45-7 (34-31-7)

In an era of just six league wins Pappy racked up enough to still lead all Wildcat coaches in league wins.  His teams ended in the final polls 5 times with three top 10s.  One of the teams, 1943 ended 6-2 (5-1) but in the stacked Big Ten two teams went undefeated above them and they finished 9th.  A similar story in 1940 as a 6-2 (4-2) mark resulted in a third place finish and 8th ranking behind national champions Minnesota and top-5 Michigan.  The best of Pappy’s teams was his 1936 crew.  They ran the tables in the Big Ten only to lose on the final day to a good (6-2-1) Notre Dame team and finished 7th in the nation.  The AP poll champion, Minnesota, was one of the teams NU took down that year in a 6-0 grinder.  He finished 5th or better nine times in twelve season to be the most consistent winner.  Ironically he would take the Cal job in 1947 and lose three straight Rose Bowls, one of which to Bob Voigts’ Wildcat team.