Ronald Andrew Zook is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the defensive coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL. He was the head football coach at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2004 and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 2005 to 2011.
Richard Alan Rodriguez, also known as Rich Rod, is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Jacksonville State University, a position he has held since the 2022 season. Rodriguez previously was the head football coach at Salem University (1988), Glenville State College (1990–1996), West Virginia University (2001–2007), the University of Michigan (2008–2010), and the University of Arizona (2012–2017). His career college football coaching record stands at 172–121–2. In 2011, Rodriguez worked as an analyst for CBS Sports.
The 2000 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the Oklahoma Sooners beating the defending national champion Florida State Seminoles to claim the Sooners' seventh national championship and their thirty-seventh conference championship, the first of each since the 1988 departure of head coach Barry Switzer.
The Northwestern Wildcats football team represents Northwestern University as an NCAA Division I college football team and member of the Big Ten Conference based near Chicago in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern began playing football in 1882. Its football mascot is the Wildcat, a term coined by a Chicago Tribune reporter in 1924, after reporting on a football game where the players appeared as "a wall of purple wildcats". Northwestern Football is also marketed as "Chicago's Big Ten Team" with its proximity and ties to Chicago.
Randy J. Walker was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1990 to 1998 and at Northwestern University from 1999 to 2005, compiling a career head coaching record of 96–81–5. Walker won 59 games at Miami, more than noted coaches who preceded him such as Sid Gillman, Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, Bill Mallory, and Ara Parseghian.
The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference. Northwestern has eight men's and eleven women's NCAA Division I sports teams and is marketed as "Chicago's Big Ten Team". The mascot is Willie the Wildcat.
George Michael Hankwitz is a former American football coach and player. He was the defensive coordinator at Northwestern University, a position he had held from 2008 to 2020. Hankwitz has twice served as an interim head football coach, for seven games in 2003 at the University of Arizona and for one game in 2005, the Champs Sports Bowl, with the University of Colorado–Boulder, compiling a career head coaching record of 1–7.
Patrick William Fitzgerald Jr. is an American football coach and former player who was most recently the head coach of the Northwestern Wildcats football program, until his 2023 termination in the aftermath of a hazing scandal.
The Miami RedHawks football program represents Miami University, located in Oxford, Ohio, in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level. The RedHawks compete in the Mid-American Conference and are known for producing several high-profile head coaches, earning it the nickname "Cradle of Coaches". The team is coached by Chuck Martin and plays its home games at Yager Stadium. Miami has the distinction of being the most successful program in the MAC with over 700 all-time wins.
Kevin Reece Wilson is an American football coach and former player who currently serves as the head coach at the University of Tulsa. He was the offensive coordinator at Ohio State University from 2017 to 2022. Wilson served as head coach at Indiana University from 2011 to 2016 and was the offensive coordinator at the University of Oklahoma from 2002 to 2010.
The 2008 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's head football coach was Rich Rodriguez. The Wolverines played their home games at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The 2008 season marked Rodriguez's first season as Michigan head coach, having replaced longtime head coach Lloyd Carr following Carr's retirement at the end of the 2007 season. Rodriguez installed a spread option offense, a marked departure from Michigan's prior offensive approaches.
The 1996 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented the Ohio State University in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head coach was John Cooper. The Buckeyes played their home games in Ohio Stadium. The team finished the season with a win–loss record of 11–1, and a Big Ten Conference record of 7–1. They were co-champions of Big Ten Conference with the Northwestern Wildcats and played in the 1997 Rose Bowl against Pacific-10 Conference champion the Arizona State Sun Devils. Ohio State did not play Northwestern during the regular season and were selected to play in the Rose Bowl due to their better overall record of 10–1. Northwestern had played in the previous Rose Bowl.
The 1995 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University in the 1995 NCAA Division I-A college football season. The 1995 season was a highly memorable one for the Northwestern program, as the Wildcats went 10–2 overall and 8–0 in the Big Ten Conference, earning their first winning season since 1971, their first conference championship since 1936, and their first 10-win season since 1903. They also broke several long-standing losing streaks to regular opponents, including a 22-game losing streak to Iowa, a 19-game losing streak against Michigan, and a 14-game losing streak to Notre Dame.
The 2009 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University in the Big Ten during the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Pat Fitzgerald, in his fourth season at Northwestern, was the team's head coach. The Wildcats home games were played at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. The Wildcats finished the season 8–5, 5–3 in Big Ten play and lost in the Outback Bowl 35–38 in overtime against Auburn.
The 2006 Michigan State Spartans football team represented Michigan State University in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Michigan State competed as a member of the Big Ten Conference, and played their home games at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. The Spartans were led by fourth-year head coach John L. Smith. Smith had compiled a combined 18–18 record in his previous seasons at Michigan State, and he was fired after the 2006 season in which the team finished 4–8. The Spartans did, however, set the record for the greatest comeback from a deficit in college football history.
The 2010 Michigan State Spartans football team competed on behalf of Michigan State University in the Big Ten Conference during the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Head coach Mark Dantonio was in his fourth season with the Spartans. Michigan State played their home games in Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.
Ryan Patrick Day is an American football coach and former college football player. He is the 24th and current head football coach at The Ohio State University, a position he has held since 2019. Day was also the acting head coach for the Ohio State Buckeyes for the first three games of the 2018 season. He attended the University of New Hampshire, where he played quarterback and linebacker for the Wildcats from 1998 to 2001 before he began his coaching career in 2002.
The 1991 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) during the 1991 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their fifth season under head coach Dick Tomey, the Wildcats compiled a 4–7 record, finished in a tie for sixth place in the Pac-10, and were outscored by their opponents, 361 to 248. The team played its home games in Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona.
The 2019 Ohio State Buckeyes football team represented Ohio State University during the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Buckeyes played their home games at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. This was the Buckeyes' 130th overall season and 107th as a member of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by Ryan Day, in his first season as Ohio State's full-time head coach.
