Posted
10/14/26

 




Wildcat History
When the Wildcats Faced a Former Head Coach



This Saturday, a lot of eyes will be on East Lansing, when Northwestern takes on Pat Fitzgerald's Spartans. It will be the first time the Wildcats will play against their former coach-- who is also a former NU player.

It's an unusual situation, but it won't be the first time it's happened to NU Football. Several NU coaches have left, only to take a job at another school and eventually play against the 'Cats. Early in the Twentieth Century, there were a  few close calls that just missed this confrontation. Notably, NU's coach during the failed 1919 season, Charlie Bachman, left Evanston and eventually became a successful coach at MSU during the 1930s and '40s, but did not play NU during that stretch.

Here are the four times that NU did manage to face a former head coach.


#1: Glenn Thistlethwaite
(1929, '30)
"Gloomy" Glenn Thistlethwaite took over at a reeling Northwestern in 1922 and attempted to recharge a program that had been a mess since losing Paddy Driscoll, its star during World War I.

Thistlethwaite was one of the most important coaches in the program's history. During his time

at NU, he began spring practices, led the team through the "Wildcat" game with Chicago, and earned the program's second Big Ten co-championship in 1926. Thistlethwaite then stunned the school by leaving for Wisconsin.

The teams did not play each other during Thistlethwaite's first two seasons at UW, but in 1929, they met in Madison. It was the 'Cats' first game against Wisconsin in eight years. Shockingly, NU had not beaten Wisconsin since 1890, suffering through three ties and fifteen losses to the Badgers since then. The game against NU's former coach was extensively hyped, and 10,000 Wildcat supporters made the train trip to Madison

NU was a slight underdog.  The teams played a defensive, penalty-filled game, during which NU's star, fullback "Hard Luck" Hank Bruder, broke his leg. NU came away with a 7-0 win.

The following season, Northwestern welcomed Thistlethwaite back to Dyche Stadium (which Thistlethwaite had helped christen in 1926) and defeated his Badgers again, 20-7.


#2: Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf
(1948-- '49 Rose Bowl)
Another successful Northwestern coach from the program's "Golden Age," Waldorf guided the Wildcats to a huge win over Notre Dame in 1935 and won the very first national coach of the year award. The following season, he led the 'Cats to a


#1 ranking and what should have been a share of the national title. Later, Waldorf guided Otto Graham to national prominence.

By 1946, Waldorf's Wildcats were having a bit of a slump. They began the season with four big wins (including a victory over Amos Alonzo Stagg's Pacific team) and a tie with Michigan, but ended '46 with a four-game skid. Waldorf left for California, where he took over a powerful Cal team. By 1948, Waldorf had the Bears in a place to contend for a national crown. Cal finished the regular season that year undefeated, ranked #4 and Rose Bowl bound.

Waldorf's former team, now led by Bob Voigts, had a rebuilding year in 1947. However, in 1948 the team surged, coming in second in the Big Ten. The conference's "no repeat" bowl rule at the time sent NU to the Rose Bowl, the team's first-ever bowl game and a showdown with Waldorf. This matchup also received huge press coverage, and the game itself was legendary. NU managed a 20-14 victory, one of the program's greatest wins ever.


#3: Ara Parseghian
(1965, '66, '68 Through '74)
This one stung. Ara Parseghian, a successful, up-and-coming coach at Miami of Ohio, came to NU in the mid-fifties. The 'Cats were in another slump, but Ara turned the program around, and by 1959, NU was a powerhouse under Parseghian, beating Oklahoma and capturing the AP #2 spot.

That same year, Northwestern began a four-year series with Notre Dame. Under Ara, the Wildcats beat Notre Dame all four games: 30-24 in South Bend, followed by a tight 7-6 contest at Dyche, followed by another close game, a 12-10 victory at Notre Dame. The fourth game, held in front of the all-time record crowd at Dyche Stadium in 1962, was a commanding 35-6 Wildcat win that sent NU to a #1 ranking.

Ara stayed at NU until the end of the 1963 season, when he resigned and left for... Notre Dame. The two teams immediately agreed to renew their series beginning in 1965, in South Bend. Just as he had at NU, Ara dominated the series at Notre Dame, slapping the 'Cats 38-7 in his first game against his former team, the Irish's first win over NU in 17 years. Parseghian would retire from the series undefeated, both for NU and Notre Dame.


#4: Alex Agase
(1973 Through '76)
Ara Parseghian's successor at NU was his assistant, Alex Agase. Agase took over for 1964 and weathered losses to his former boss throughout the next decade.

Agase was a solid coach, but he was at NU at the wrong time. In 1970, just before Agase's seventh


season leading the 'Cats, Bob Strotz took over as Northwestern president. While Agase's teams prospered in 1970 and '71, resources were scarce, and Agase became frustrated with the lack of support from the new administration. When NU suffered a losing season in 1972, Agase again asked for support and was met with silence. He'd seen enough.

Agase quit, leaving Evanston for Purdue. The following year, Northwestern's new coach, former Indiana coach John Pont, traveled to West Lafayette to take on Agase's Boilers. Purdue made easy work of the declining Wildcats, beating them 21-10.

Pont's first two seasons saw Northwestern play against two of its former coaches: Agase and Parseghian, who was still at Notre Dame, dominating the 'Cats.

For the rest of Agase's tenure at Purdue, NU spiraled into its Dark Ages, and the Boilers beat NU three times out of four. The only win against Agase's Purdue teams came in 1975, when NU managed a 31-25 win at Dyche.