After 51 years as a coach, Northwestern’s longtime defensive coordinator looks to accomplish one final feat before hanging it up.
When many of the current Wildcats’ parents were still in diapers, a 22-year-old Mike Hankwitz prepared to take the field at Michigan Stadium for his first collegiate football game as a coach. Decades before the stadium was dubbed ‘The Big House,’ the recent Michigan graduate, who had earned his bachelor’s degree in education just months before, was hired as a graduate assistant under the legendary Bo Schembechler to coach his alma mater in the 1970 season.
The Wolverines took down the Arizona Wildcats 20-9 that September day 50 years ago, as the coaching prodigy earned his first of what would be hundreds of wins to come.