Northeastern Huskies (2001)

We're going to try something a little different. For the next few posts, I'll pull a school out of a hat, then use a random number generator to pick the year, and then write about that team and uniform. Let's see that we get ...

2001 Northeastern? Geez, one year later and I would have had a good team to write about. (The '02 Huskies won the only conference title in their history.)

Anyway, here goes...

The Team: The '01 Huskies went 5-6 overall, 4-5 in Atlantic 10 play for their fourth straight losing season.

A 2002 Northeastern schedule shows the '01 uniform.

The Players: Running back L.J. McKanas ran for a Husky-record 1,756 yards and 14 TDs. Of course, with Northeastern having since dropped football, McKanas will continue to hold those records for some time. McKanas and defensive back T.J. Hill were first-team all-conference. Other all-conference selections were OL Jim Bode (second team), DL Steve Anzalone (second team), DB Art Smith (second team) and LB Liam Ezekiel (third team).

The Coach: Don Brown was in his second year at Northeastern and went 27-20 (one of only three Husky coaches to compile a winning record) from 2000-03, when athletic director Ian McCaw left for UMass and took Brown with him, resulting in an ugly dispute (and the beginning of the end for the program). These days, he's the defensive coordinator at the University of Michigan. 

Northeastern's jerseys, c. 2001.
Not mine, sadly; the pix came from a dealer's site.

The Uniform: Frankly, this might be the ugliest uniform Northeastern ever wore. The helmet logo, featuring the full Huskies logo rather than a paw or a letter "N" as in other years, is too detailed for a helmet and is hard to make out from a distance. The red shirts and black pants just clash (the Huskies went to an all-black ensemble the next year) and the drop-shadow numbers are DOA -- dated on arrival. The "NORTHEASTERN" wordmark, sporting a double outline, is hard to read. Otherwise, not bad. 😎

The Aftermath: As noted earlier, the Huskies shared the A-10 title in '02 and finished No. 11 (Sports Network) and No. 10 (USA Today) in the polls. The '03 team failed the make the tourney, but still finished No. 20/19 in the rankings. Brown left for UMass after the '03 season and led the Minutemen to the 2006 NCAA FCS title game. The Huskies never had another winning record before the program folded after the '09 season.