Dec. 31, 2009

By SKIP MYSLENSKI, NUsports.com Special Contributor

A

is for the All Americans produced by the 'Cats in the Zeroes. The women's lacrosse team had over two dozen and the women's tennis team, 14. The women's fencing team had 20 and the women's swimming team, 29. The softball team had a dozen and the field hockey team, one. The wrestling team had at least two in each of the last five seasons and 13 overall and the men's swimming team, an astounding 65.

B

is for Bill Carmody, the men's basketball coach. His 'Cats are not only ranked in the Top 25 for the first time since the '68-'69 season. They are also wrapping up the winningest decade in the program's history.

C

is for Claire Pollard, the women's tennis coach who was named the 2008 Intercollegiate Tennis Association's National Coach of the Year. She was also a five-time Big Ten Coach of the Year in the Zeroes.

D

is for the Doubles Title won at the 2006 NCAA women's tennis tourney by Alexis Prousis and Cristelle Grier.

E

is for Eleven, which is the number of consecutive Big Ten championships won by the women's tennis team. This is a conference record in that sport and just one shy of the conference record for any women's sport.

F

is for Five, which is the number of consecutive national championships won by the women's lacrosse team at the end of the Zeroes. It is also the number of bowl appearances made by the football team in the decade. In comparison, that program had made only three of them in the previous century.

G

is for softball player Garland Cooper, who three times ('05 through '07) was named the Big Ten's Player of the Year. That award was also won by 'Cats Brooke Siebel (2000) and Tammy Williams ('08 and '09).

H

is for the Hodge Trophy, wrestling's equivalent of the Heisman. Last year, Jake Herbert not only became the first 'Cat in history to capture it. He also became just the second 'Cat to win the Jesse Owens Award as the Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year.

I

is for the Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association's National Coach of the Year Award, which went to 'Cat Kelly Amonte Hiller in 2005, 2008 and 2009. She was also named Lacrosse Magazine's Person of the Year in 2008.

J

is for pitcher J.A. Happ, who was the first (and only) three-time, first-team, All Big Ten selection ('02 through '04).

K

is for women's lacrosse player Kristen Kjellman, who won the sport's Tewaaraton Trophy (again, think Heisman) in both 2006 and '07. That same award went to 'Cat Hannah Nielsen in '08 and '09.

L

is for golfer Luke Donald, who was the first 'Cat to win the Jesse Owens Award in 1999. He followed that up in 2000 and 2001 by winning individual Big Ten championships and the conference's Player of the Year Award. 'Cat David Merkow also won that award in 2006.

M

is for Matt Grevers, who was the Big Ten Swimmer of the Year in '04, '06 and '07. His coach, Bob Groseth, was the 2005 NCAA Coach of the Year and a three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year in the Zeroes, a decade in which his swimmers won five national and 33 Big Ten Championships. Their counterparts on the women's side also flourished in the decade, winning 12 Big Ten titles.

N

is for Not To Be Forgotten, which we won't do with the 2006 individual Big Ten Championship won by golfer Alice Kim. She was the first 'Cat in her sport to ever do that.

O

is for One, which is the number of Big Ten Tournament titles won by the softball team in the Zeroes. But that single digit is hardly reflective of the program's performance over those years. For there were, in addition: eight NCAA tourney appearances; four appearances in the Round of 16; two appearances in the national semifinals and a runner-up finish in 2006.

P

is for Promising, which is the future of the women's basketball team under the highly-regarded Joe McKeown. He is in just his second season with the program and already owns a win over a ranked team (No. 15 DePaul earlier this season).

Q

is for the Quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship, which is how far the women's tennis team has advanced in three of the last four seasons. In addition, it reached the Round of 16 every year but once in the Zeroes.

R

is for Randy Walker and Rashidi Wheeler, both visited by death in the Zeroes. The late football coach collapsed at home and died in the summer of 2006. The late cornerback collapsed during conditioning drills in 2001 and later died.

S

is for Sword Play, which is more properly known as fencing. The women's team in this sport ended each year of the Zeroes ranked in the top-10 and finished as high as sixth in both 2002 and 2004. Another S, its coach Laurie Schiller, has a career mark of 993-412 and is on the cusp of becoming just the second fencing coach in history to record 1,000 wins.

T

is for wrestling coach Tim Cysewski, who during the Zeroes became the school's all-time winningest coach in his sport. (He currently has 150 career victories.) He also turned out an individual NCAA champion in each of the last three years (Herbert in '07 and '09, Dustin Fox in '08), a feat managed by no other school in the country.

U

is for Up From The Ashes, which is one way to describe what happened to the men's soccer team in the Zeroes. For it opened the decade on a 34-match winless streak and ended it as the second-winningest Big Ten program from 2004-09 (behind only Indiana).

V

is for the Volleyball team (women's), which made three NCAA tourney appearances in the Zeroes and notched the school's first-ever tourney victory in this sport when it defeated Texas A&M in 2005.

W

is for Winning Streaks. The women's lacrosse team's is 20 in NCAA tourney play. The women's tennis team's is 77 in dual matches against Big Ten opponents.

X

is for the 'Xhilirating 'Xcitement the 'Cat football team served up in 2000 with its 54-51 upset win over Michigan. This was a watershed game for the spread offense that had been installed just that season and marked the beginning of its popularity in college football. In fact, SI.com recently named that affair as one of the 10 most-significant college football games of the Zeroes.

Y

is for You Had To Be There. If you were, you understand why SI included that game on its list. If you weren't, call it up on your computer. You won't be disappointed.

Z

is for Zero, which is (appropriately enough) just how much attention the 'Cat football team paid its pre-1995 past during the decade. For it marked this program's coming-out party, a party that ended with three wins over Top 10 teams and a dozen over teams ranked in the Top 25 and an overall winning record (61-60).

The Decade That Was, From A to Z

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Players Mentioned

Garland Cooper

Dustin Fox

Matt Grevers

Cristelle Grier

Jake Herbert

Alice Kim

Kristen Kjellman

David Merkow

Hannah Nielsen

Alexis Prousis

Tammy Williams

Northwestern University Athletics