Gary Barnett Gary Barnett ( real estate developer ) Gary Barnett ( born May 23 , 1946 ) is a former American football player and coach . He served as the head coach at Fort Lewis College ( 1982 – 1983 ) , Northwestern University ( 1992 – 1998 ) , and the University of Colorado at Boulder ( 1999 – 2005 ) , compiling a career college football record of 92 – 94 – 2 . His 1995 Northwestern team won the Big Ten Conference title , the first for the program since 1936 , and played in the school ' s first Rose Bowl since 1949 . At Colorado , Barnett was suspended briefly in the 2004 offseason due to events stemming from allegations of sexual misconduct by several members of the football team . Early life and playing career . Barnett attended Parkway Central High School in Chesterfield , Missouri and graduated from the University of Missouri in 1969 with a bachelors degree in social studies . He continued on to get his masters degree in 1971 in education . Barnett played wide receiver for Missouri from 1966 – 1969 . He lettered his senior year under coach Dan Devine . Coaching career . Early coaching career . Barnett started his coaching career at the University of Missouri as a graduate assistant from 1969 – 1971 under coach Al Onofrio . After he graduated , he was a successful high school coach at Air Academy High School in Colorado Springs , Colorado for 11 years , nine as head coach . His teams won six conference titles and reached the state semi - finals twice , in 1980 and 1981 . Barnett then began his head coaching at Fort Lewis College in Durango , Colorado . After two seasons as head coach , he left on February 20 , 1984 to become an assistant coach at Colorado under Bill McCartney . Barnett was the running back s coach for his first season , but switched to quarterback s and fullback s for the next seven seasons . On December 3 , 1990 , he was promoted to offensive coordinator . His first game coordinating the offense was against Notre Dame in the 1991 Orange Bowl , which Colorado won to earn their first , and only , national championship . Northwestern . Later in 1991 , he left Colorado to become the head coach at Northwestern , then a perennial doormat team . When he was introduced to the Student body he told them that he was going to take the purple to Pasadena . In 1995 , Barnett led Northwestern to the Big Ten Conference title and the 1996 Rose Bowl , their first since 1949 . The Wildcats lost 41 – 32 to USC . The following year , the Wildcats reached the Florida Citrus Bowl , losing 48 – 28 to Tennessee . Barnett turned a program holding the record for longest losing streak in Division I - A into a championship caliber organization . Colorado . In 1999 , Barnett left Northwestern after eight seasons to become the 22nd head coach of Colorado . His on - field career at Colorado was mostly successful ; however , his reputation was tarnished by a recruiting scandal , insensitive off - field remarks and failure to maintain the on - field success of his predecessors . Colorado was alleged to have enticed recruits to come to Colorado with sex and alcohol during recruiting visits causing the school to self - impose harsher recruiting rules than any other Division I - A school . That scandal , coupled with Barnett ' s dismissive comments about former placekicker Katie Hnida , who alleged that she had been raped by a teammate , led to Barnett ' s temporary suspension in 2004 during the off - season . Barnett was reinstated before the start of the 2004 season , and went on to coach the team to an 8 – 5 record , earning Big 12 Coach of the Year honors along the way . Barnett continued as coach in 2005 , leading the Buffaloes to a 7 – 2 start . However , the Buffs narrowly lost to Iowa State , then suffered a 30 - 3 thrashing at the hands of Nebraska and a 70 – 3 blowout by the eventual national champion Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 championship game . Additionally , an anonymous tipster wrote a letter to CU system president Hank Brown accusing Barnett of numerous improprieties , including tampering with sworn testimony . On December 9 , 2005 , Barnett was forced to resign and accepted a $ 3 million buyout . Colorado then went on to play in the Champs Sports Bowl losing to Clemson . The loss is officially credited to Barnett , even though assistant Mike Hankwitz served as interim head coach for the game . Colorado was the Big 12 North Champion four of the seven years under Barnett , and Big 12 Champion one of those years ( 2001 ) . Colorado was also ranked # 2 in the nation and part of a controversy with the BCS Poll in the 2001 season when the Nebraska Cornhuskers were selected ahead of Oregon and Colorado for the National Championship game , even though Colorado had just beat Nebraska 62 – 36 . In June 2007 , the Buffaloes were placed under probation for two years and fined $ 100 , 000 for undercharging 133 student - athletes for meals over a six year span ( 2000 – 01 to 2005 – 06 encompassing Barnett ' s tenure at Colorado ) resulting in the major infraction . The football program , with 86 of the 133 student - athletes involved , also lost one scholarship for the next three seasons . After coaching . Barnett operates the Gary Barnett Foundation , which was formed in February 2005 . The foundation is a tax - exempt , non - profit organization dedicated to the support of educational programs for economically disadvantaged and at - risk youth . There were rumors that Missouri was considering hiring Barnett during the 2005 season . Barnett began working as a TV commentator for the BCS show on Fox Sports Net in 2006 . Barnett also is a commentator for Sports USA .