Barnett, Gary

▪ 1996

      Gary Barnett in 1995 played the fairy godmother in the most compelling Cinderella story to come along in years. As head coach he guided the Northwestern University football team, longtime lovable losers of the Big Ten Conference, to a national top-10 ranking.

      When Barnett arrived on the campus of Northwestern in Evanston, Ill., in 1992, the Wildcats had not had a winning season since 1971. Between 1979 and 1982 they lost 34 consecutive games, setting the all-time futility mark in the history of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-A football. Northwestern had not won a Big Ten title since 1936, and in its entire football history the team had played in only one bowl game, the 1949 Rose Bowl. During Barnett's first three seasons, the Wildcats turned in typically poor performances, winning only 8 games while losing 24 and tying one. Through those years, however, he recruited a high calibre of student-athlete and built the confidence of the coaching staff and players. The results of his patience and dedication shone through in the very first game of the 1995 season, when Northwestern surprised Notre Dame 17-15; it was its first win there in 34 years. A disappointing loss to Miami (Ohio) the next week seemed to erase all the promise of the Notre Dame victory. But, playing rugged and fundamentally sound football, the Wildcats won the next nine games, including victories over two national powerhouses, Michigan and Penn State.

      Barnett's squad finished the Big Ten schedule without a loss, and after Michigan defeated Ohio State in the last week of the regular season, Northwestern claimed sole possession of the conference title and a trip to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Though Northwestern lost 41-32 to Southern California in the Rose Bowl, it was ranked eighth in the final national poll and had captured the nation's attention as the biggest story of the year in NCAA football.

      Barnett was born May 23, 1946, in Lakeland, Fla. He attended the University of Missouri at Columbia, where he played wide receiver on the football team and earned a bachelor's degree in 1969. He remained at Missouri, taking a master's degree in education in 1971 and working as a graduate assistant coach for the football team. After a decade as a successful high-school coach, Barnett became head coach at Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colo., in 1982. He moved in 1984 to the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he served as an assistant coach and was offensive coordinator of the 1990 national championship team. After Northwestern's success Barnett received many different Coach of the Year honours, including the Bear Bryant Award.

      (JAMES HENNELLY)

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