Walker Takes Over Northwestern

Wearing a Northwestern-purple tie and a wide grin, Randy Walker called himself the luckiest guy in the world. Again.

The coach at Miami of Ohio the past nine seasons was introduced as the Wildcats' new coach Wednesday afternoon. He replaces Gary Barnett, who was hired as Colorado's coach earlier in the day.

"I just keep having good things happen to me," he said. "You're looking at an old farm boy from Troy, Ohio, who didn't have a whole lot of resources going for him when he came out of high school. I thank God every night I'm alive that football is a game I could play."

"It gave me a chance to do the things I want to do in life," he added. "... And that's coach football."

Barnett's departure and Walker's hiring puts an end to a tumultuous few weeks for the Wildcats. Barnett, who returned the Wildcats to glory in 1995 and 1996 with a trip to the Rose Bowl and consecutive Big Ten championships, has flirted with leaving almost since he arrived in Evanston in late 1991.

He was a candidate for jobs at UCLA and Notre Dame, and linked to jobs at Georgia, Oklahoma and Texas.

"We were all sad coach Barnett left, but what can you do?" sophomore offensive lineman Lance Clelland said. "I'm excited for a fresh start."

And Walker is excited to give his new players one. The former Northwestern assistant is Miami's winningest coach, compiling a record of 59-35-5 in the past nine seasons, including a 10-1 mark last year. His 59 victories are best in school history.

It was Miami which handed Northwestern its only loss in the regular season during its 1995 Rose Bowl year, a 30-28 victory.

"We wanted someone with Division I experience who had demonstrated a record of winning," athletic director Rick Taylor said. "We got the person we were after."

Walker is the latest in a long line of coaches to come out of Miami. Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and Bill Mallory all coached there, as did former Northwestern coach Ara Parseghian.

"Randy is for real, and we've said that to the people who have asked about him," said Joel Maturi, Miami's athletic director. "Northwestern is very fortunate to get a person of his character and work ethic and passion for kids. Not to mention his ability to win games."

Walker isn't walking into an easy job. After years of permanent residence in the Big Ten basement - just two teams won four games after 1971 - Barnett had the Wildcats in the Rose Bowl after his fourth season.

But Northwestern has faltered the past two seasons. The Wildcats went 5-7 in 1997 and 3-8 last season. The school was rocked by a sports betting scandal that saw four former football players indicted Dec. 3 for allegedly lying about their gambling activities.

"I, for one, don't tend to dwell on the past," Walker said. ``Let's talk about going forward, where are we going tomorrow. Let' worry about getting one day better as a football team. That's kind of how I start."

Walker has only two weeks before national signing day for recruits. Aside from putting together a new staff and getting familiar with his new players, he has to find a way to keep recruits who might have been scared off by Barnett's impending departure.

"I'll get my feet on the ground and hit it running," said Walker, who met with his new players for the first time after the news conference. "Trust me, once I hit it running, I'm going to go real fast."

Walker played at Miami and was the team's MVP in 1975. Drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals, he chose to stay at Miami as a graduate assistant under coach Dick Crum. He accompanied Crum to North Carolina and spent 10 years there as an assistant. He then spent two years at Northwestern, where he coached the first back-to-back 1,000-yard rushers in school history - Byron Sanders and Bob Christian.

When he was named coach at Miami on Dec. 1, 1989, he inherited a program that had won two games over the two previous seasons and went 5-5-1 in 1990. He had a winning record every season thereafter except 1993, when Miami went 4-7.

"I want to coach at the highest level and I want to coach in the national championship," he said. "I believe Northwestern is that kind of program.

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