Dennis Green was the first African-American head coach of a major
football program and developed future NFL star Chris Hinton and others but
the success he knew later as the head coach for the Minnesota Vikings and
in his present role as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals was not there
at Northwestern. He did introduce his own helmet design, a return to
the purple shell that featured a white sculpted "N" logo that was bordered
in silver, on each side of the helmet. He provided a nice contrast with a
white mask. Green followed Venturi's winless season with one of his own,
finishing at 0-11 in 1981. From 1982 through '85, Green won but ten games,
solidifying the 'Cats claim as one of the worst programs in the nation.
Francis Peay's .212 winning percentage was not much better during his
tenure from 1986 through '91. It took Gary Barnett to suffer through three
terrible seasons until the miracle of 1995 when the team finished at 10-2.
That record included a berth to the Rose Bowl where losing 41-32 to USC
took little luster off of one of the greatest seasons in the program's
history.
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