Randy Walker ( American football coach ) Randy J . Walker ( May 29 , 1954 – June 29 , 2006 ) was an American 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 college football 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 . 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 ) . He played three season at fullback for the Miami University RedHawks in Oxford under head coaches Bill Mallory and Dick Crum . His teammates included former 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 ) , but chose to become an assistant coach instead . 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 ) . Miami . 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 from major conference such as # 25 Northwestern in 1995 , # 12 Virginia Tech in 1997 and # 12 North Carolina in 1998 . However , he never won the Mid - American Conference Championship . Northwestern . 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 third 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 . 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 . On July 7 , 2006 Pat Fitzgerald was named to replace him as head coach of the Wildcats . Personal life . Born to Jim ( an accountant with Hobart Corporation ) and Ruth Ann Walker , 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 " ) , 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 . 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 . 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 led 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 . 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 .