[NU Sports] Is this the Walker legacy? (fwd)

[Mike Nolan]

> Randy Walker's "legacy" is that his Northwestern teams have never won four
> in a row?  I hope that was said in the heat of the moment.  

No, it was said in the light of public opinion, since the comment came from
the announcers on ESPN.  Public opinion is where a legacy comes from, much 
though we might wish to define it among ourselves.

The good news is that it appears Walker is on the verge of moving beyond 
his legacy being the death of Rashidi Wheeler, I don't recall ESPN mentioning 
it even once tonight.  But it'll take more than a few 6 win seasons to write 
a brighter one.

> He has the best winning percentage of any football coach at Northwestern
> since Ara Parseghian. 

And a cumulative record that would probably get him fired at over half of
the schools in the conference.

After 9 years at Miami of Ohio, Walker was 59-35-5, he's not likely to 
eclipse that percentage anytime soon in Evanston, since he was 30-41 at 
the end of his 6th season.  

Gary Barnett raised expectations by showing that Northwestern COULD
compete, the challenge Walker has is in some respects much harder--to 
compete on a year-in and year-out basis, and we're not there yet.  

> He is on the verge of winning 6 games in a season for the third straight
> year, something the Cats have done exactly once in their 124 year history.

Let's not count that chicken quite yet.  I still think they could/should win 
2 more games, and a win in Columbus is not totally out of the question, but 
they could also finish 5-6.  In retrospect, next week's game is possibly 
more critical than this week's was (though perhaps on a more short-term scale.)

This wasn't a BAD game (ASU was), it just wasn't a very good one, especially 
after all the buildup on ESPN.  

However, it may still turn out to be good for recruiting.  The post-Basanez 
era is coming, and there were probably high school players watching tonight's 
game that liked what they saw happening in the purple uniforms even though 
the Cats lost.  We'll always have the quality of a Northwestern education 
on our side, but ESPN kept pointing out that there are players on this team 
who have the potential to play on Sundays, and that never hurts recruiting, 
either.  

> He runs a clean program.

Big deal, every coach is supposed to do that, and most do.  It's just that
we only remember the exceptions.

> He has won a Big Ten Title.

Big deal, so has nearly every other team in the conference in the last
12-15 years, including a few coaches who were subsequently fired.
I think the only exceptions are Indiana and Minnesota.  

> He has taken the Cats to two of the five bowl games in the school's history.

And lost both games.

> He is well-respected by his fellow coaches in the Big Ten.

That never keeps a coach from getting fired, does it?

> He is well-respected by the administration.

That hasn't kept a lot of coaches from getting fired, either.  There are 
probably only 2 people at Northwestern whose opinion matters in that
regard, and maybe really only one.  However, it appears he does have the
support that matters.

> He appears to be well-respected by his players.

I did not get that impression in the two seasons following Wheeler's death.
If that's changed, that's very good news, if it stays that way.  
 
> THAT's his legacy to date. 

Great coaches get their teams to bounce back from losses.  The Cats came up
one play short of a complete bounce-back from the pummelling in the desert, 
and then put together a nice string after the frustrating loss to Penn State, 
if they can do that again, THEN Walker will be starting to write his enduring
legacy.
--
Mike Nolan