JIM WACKER
Game 420 | February 13, 1992 | McKinley Boston, Jim Wacker
Both Boston and Wacker were new in their jobs in 1992. Boston, a member of the Gophers' 1967 Big Ten champion football team, emerged late in the search for a successor to Rick Bay. Wacker, hired by Boston, came to Minnesota with a successful history of rebuilding football programs. Winner of four national titles and two college coach of the year awards, Wacker left Texas Christian to succeed John Gutekunst. The team went 2-9 in his first season as head coach.
Game 428 | August 12, 1992 | Jim Wacker
Like Green, Wacker was making his second appearance of the Dunker year. Asked if he was still so excited about the job as Gophers football coach, he repeated the comment he made at his introductory news conference that the job "has my heart a pumpin' and my corpuscles jumpin."
Game 446 | July 28, 1993 | Jim Wacker
The 1993 season, in which the football Gophers went 4-7, proved to be the best of the five years under Wacker. Highlight of the season was a bizarre 59-56 home victory over Purdue in which Omar Douglas caught a school-record of five touchdown passes while quarterback Scott Ekkers set another individual record with six touchdown passes in the game.
Game 465 | August 10, 1994 | Jim Wacker
The performance of the football Gophers didn't improve in 1994. The team finished 3-8, won only one of eight Big Ten games and finished 11th.
Game 485 | August 16, 1995 | Jim Wacker, Jim Zorn
A left-handed quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks, Zorn joined Wacker's staff as quarterbacks coach for the 1995 and 1996 seasons. He received some consideration when Wacker was fired after the 1996 season, but did not have his college degree at the time. He went on to be an assistant with Seattle and Detroit before being named head coach of the Washington Redskins in 2008. The 1995 Gophers finished 3-8, losing their final seven Big Ten games in a row.
Game 503 | September 11, 1996 | Jim Wacker
Popular as he was with the fans, Wacker was unable to hold his job as Gopher football coach after a fifth losing season in 1996. The team won its first three games, including a win over a ranked Syracuse team, but lost seven of its last eight and finished ninth in the Big Ten. In his five years as head coach the Gophers went 16-39 and won only eight Big Ten games. After losing his job at Minnesota he went back to Southwest Texas as athletic director and died of cancer in 2003 at age 66.
WIKIPEDIA: Jim Wacker
