Randy J. Walker
Title	Head coach
Sport	Football
Born	May 29, 1954(1954-05-29)
Place of birth	Troy, Ohio
Died	June 29, 2006 (aged 52)
Career highlights
Overall	96-81-5
Bowls	0-3
Coaching stats
College Football DataWarehouse
Championships
1 Big Ten (2000)
Awards
Big Ten Coach of the Year (2000)
Playing career
1973-1975	Miami University
Position	Fullback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1976-1977 1978-1981 1982-1985 1985-1987 1988-1989 1990-1998 1999-2005	Miami RedHawks (RB) North Carolina (RB) North Carolina (QB) North Carolina (OC & QB) Northwestern (RB) Miami University Northwestern University

Randy J. Walker (May 29, 1954 – June 29, 2006) was an American football player and coach. His overall record as a collegiate head coach was 96-81-5. Walker won more games than any head coach at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, ahead of legendary coaches such as Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Bill Mallory and Ara Parseghian.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Coaching career 2.1 Miami University 2.2 Northwestern University 3 Head coaching record 4 Death 5 Personal life 6 References 6.1 Footnotes 7 External links

[edit] Playing career

Walker had a standout season his last year in high school for the Troy Trojans, he received recruiting offers from Big Ten schools like Northwestern University and Ohio State University, but choose instead to follow his high school sweetheart, Tammy, to Miami University (Tammy was a year older and already there).^[1]

He played three season at fullback for the Miami University RedHawks in Oxford under head coaches Bill Mallory and Dick Crum. His teammates included current Illinois coach Ron Zook and NFL standouts Rob Carpenter and Sherman Smith. In his three years the team went 32-1-1 and was ranked #15 in 1973, #10 in 1974 and #12 in 1975. Miami won the Mid-American Conference in all three years. Miami also went to the Tangerine Bowl (presently the Capital One Bowl) where they beat Florida in 1973, Georgia in 1974 and South Carolina in 1975. In his senior year Walker was named the team's most valuable player. For his career he ran for 1757 yards.

He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals (1976; 13th round),^[2] but chose to become an assistant coach instead.^[3][4]

[edit] Coaching career

Walker was an assistant coach for the Miami University RedHawks (1976-1977; running backs), then the University of North Carolina Tar Heels (running backs coach 1978-1981; quarterbacks coach 1982-1985; offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach 1985-1987), and finally the Northwestern Wildcats (1988-1989; running backs).^[2][4]

[edit] Miami University

Walker became Miami's 30th head coach, succeeding Tim Rose whose contract was not renewed. In his first year the RedHawks posted a 5-5-1 record, which was a vast improvement for a team that had only won two games in the two previous years. Walker made steady improvement in his nine years, culminating with a 10-1 record in his last year with the RedHawks. This team was led by record-breaking running back Travis Prentice. Walker finished with 59-35-5 record including several victories over ranked opponents form major conference such as #25 Northwestern in 1995, #12 Virginia Tech in 1998 and #12 North Carolina in 1999. However, he never won the Mid-American Conference Championship.

[edit] Northwestern University

Randy Walker had a 37-46 career record at Northwestern. In 2000, Walker overhauled the offense and introduced the spread formation. Unlike most other spread offenses, Walker's featured a very strong running game. His run game was so strong, in fact, that only one season in Walker's entire time at Northwestern did he fail to coach a 1000-yard rusher. This offense helped the Wildcats share the Big Ten title in his second year. He is second behind Pappy Waldorf in career victories. Walker also was the first Wildcat coach to lead three different teams to bowl games. In addition, he became the first Wildcat coach ever to guide three straight teams to four or more Big Ten wins.

[edit] Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl	Coaches#	AP°
Miami RedHawks (Mid-American Conference) (1990–1998)
1990	Miami	5-5-1	4-3-1	5th
1991	Miami	6-4-1	4-3-1	T-3rd
1992	Miami	6-4-1	5-3	T-3rd
1993	Miami	4-7	3-6	9th
1994	Miami	6-4-1	5-3	3rd
1995	Miami	8-2-1	6-1-1	2nd
1996	Miami	6-5	6-2	T-2nd
1997	Miami	8-3	6-2	T-2nd (East)
1998	Miami	10-1	7-1	T-1st (East)
Miami:		59-36-5	46-24-3
Northwestern Wildcats (Big Ten Conference) (1999–2005)
1999	Northwestern	3-8	1-7	10th
2000	Northwestern	8-4	6-2	T-1st	L Alamo
2001	Northwestern	4-7	2-6	T-10th
2002	Northwestern	3-9	1-7	T-10th
2003	Northwestern	6-7	4-4	T-7th	L Motor City
2004	Northwestern	6-6	5-3	4th
2005	Northwestern	7-5	5-3	T-3rd	L Sun
Northwestern:		37-45	24-32
Total:		96-81-5
National Championship         Conference Title         Conference Division Title
†Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll.

[edit] Death

On June 29, 2006, Walker, who was only 52, died suddenly of an apparent heart attack, leaving the Northwestern community stunned. He had battled a viral heart infection in the fall of 2004.^[2] On July 7, 2006 Pat Fitzgerald was named to replace him as head coach of the Wildcats.

[edit] Personal life

Born to Jim (an accountant with Hobart Corporation ^[1]) and Ruth Ann Walker,^[5] he grew up in Troy, Ohio, and graduated from Troy High School where he played fullback and defensive back on the 1971 team that was picked by the Dayton Daily News as the area's best team over the past 50 years. As a student, he sang the lead in school musicals (including Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof),^[1] played the violin, and was active in student government. He graduated from Miami University in 1976 with a B.A. in social studies education and, in 1981, earned his master's degree in education administration. He is survived by his wife and high-school sweetheart, Tammy (aka "Tamara"; née Weikert), and two children, daughter Abbey and son Jamie.^[3][4][5]

He met Tammy when he was on student council his junior year in high school. They were both put on a committee to plan a Thanksgiving dance in 1970. She was a senior and after she choose to attend Miami University he followed her there. They were married in 1975.^[1]

In an interview in 2000, Walker told Skip Myslenski of the Chicago Tribune that the defining moment in his life came in 1969. On a high school team that was rebuilding and lead by undersized sophomores like himself, they were having a terrible season (they went 2-7-1). On the last play of the last game of the season, with the game tied 22-22 against powerful rival Dayton Wayne, the pass went to the 165-pound Walker. He was tackled 18-inches from the end zone. After the game his coach, James "Jim" Conard, made the entire team walk around with a piece of cloth that was 18-inches long, until the start of the 1970 season.^[6] He gave up his first love, baseball, joined the track team for speed and stamina, and started lifting weights-gaining 30 pounds. Reporting to fall practice at 195-pounds, Walker would not lose another game the remaining two seasons, going 20-0, on a team that dominated opponents.^[1][7]

[edit] References

• NU profile
• Miami 2005 media guide
• nusports.com Story regarding Walker's death
• MSNBC "Northwestern's Walker dead at 52" June 30, 2006

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Randy Walker (football coach) at Find a Grave

Sporting positions
Preceded by Tim Rose	Miami University Head Football Coach 1990–1998	Succeeded by Terry Hoeppner
Preceded by Gary Barnett	Northwesten University Head Football Coach 1999–2006	Succeeded by Pat Fitzgerald

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