It's mindboggling to think back more than a decade ago to the program's darkest days and then where NIU finished in 2003 @ 10 wins and no bowl bid and so few noticed... not even kirk herbstreit....

Last year NIU became first MAC school in BCS bowl

2013 has already produced two wins vrs BT.

What other benchmarks are out there in the next decade to be achieved starting in 2013 and beyond - and expecting the next few years are likely "ordinary" at best.

Benchmarks in the cosmos and still out there:
beating NU?
beating Illini?

Has any MAC school won three successive MACCs since divisional playoffs were implemented ?

is appearing in another and winning a BCS bowl game even remotely a possible bnchmark? Does BCS as constituted go away in 2015?

Lots of things...

10 straight seasons of bowl invites.

Break all time FBS home win streak.

Sellout an entire season at Huskie Stadium.

Graduate 100% of student athletes who don't transfer out.

National Scholar or Community service (class?) nomination every year.

Worst season "only" winning 7 or 8 games.

National Championship?

Ha ha!

winning @ arkansas and nebraska which are on our future schedules is a good start. (although next year will be tough with our turnover

three-peat MAC champs? four-peat? the long discussed, but highly improbable "invite" to a larger conference? winning @ NU or UIUC (or one of our soldier field games) would be huge as well. undefeated season...BCS game w/ win... all would be great.

I think the quality of talent in our recruiting will give us more respect and bench mark us against other ILL teams.

#beatpresbyterian

Benchmarks? Hmm, let's see......

1) More hot dogs.

2) A bigger band.

(10-01-2013 09:45 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Benchmarks? Hmm, let's see......

1) More hot dogs.

2) A bigger band.

#1 may just lead to #2 happening on its own!

I think the next place we put our money is increasing the coaching staff salary to be a bit more competitive. We have gotten lucky with some good coaches and inherited players, but it will impact us eventually with our recruiting classes.

However, isn't there some rule in the MAC that we cant be any higher than 50% more than the lowest school or some type of clause like that?

This could actually pay for itself if we continue to sustain a good home attendance record and increase the season ticket base.

Maintain something close to this pace of win-loss success over the next few years. At this point, I can't be too greedy!

"Sellout an entire season at Huskie Stadium" per HuskieJohn is a great one. I might trade a few wins over 5 years to see this happen!

(10-01-2013 06:15 PM)niucyberdawg Wrote:  It's mindboggling to think back more than a decade ago to the program's darkest days and then where NIU finished in 2003 @ 10 wins and no bowl bid and so few noticed... not even kirk herbstreit....

Last year NIU became first MAC school in BCS bowl

2013 has already produced two wins vrs BT.

What other benchmarks are out there in the next decade to be achieved starting in 2013 and beyond - and expecting the next few years are likely "ordinary" at best.

Benchmarks in the cosmos and still out there:
beating NU?
beating Illini?

Has any MAC school won three successive MACCs since divisional playoffs were implemented ?

is appearing in another and winning a BCS bowl game even remotely a possible bnchmark? Does BCS as constituted go away in 2015?

Marshall won 4 in a row and 5 of 6 between 1997 and 2002. However that was when the MACC was played on campus sites(Marshall lost the only time it was not played at Marshall).

(10-01-2013 10:27 PM)NIUSox10 Wrote:  I think the next place we put our money is increasing the coaching staff salary to be a bit more competitive. We have gotten lucky with some good coaches and inherited players, but it will impact us eventually with our recruiting classes.

However, isn't there some rule in the MAC that we cant be any higher than 50% more than the lowest school or some type of clause like that?

This could actually pay for itself if we continue to sustain a good home attendance record and increase the season ticket base.

I wouldn't worry about pay. No coach who wants to make more money is going to stay at NIU. We would have to offer Chris Peterson type money for a coach to stay and that is just not worth it.

You pay a coach once he has proven himself not before, otherwise you get stuck in a bad situation. Doeren and Carey were not head coaches at this level prior to their gigs with us so they were/are being paid accordingly.

If anything, the new stipend for Division 4 is going to cost us a lot of money and will make it difficult to offer more money unless a donor steps up (similar to SMU being pledged millions to get June Jones).

I think my favorite thus far is selling out HS for the year. Simply because thAt benchmark require commitment from a fan base as well as great consistent performance from the team.

(10-02-2013 09:36 AM)epasnoopy Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 10:27 PM)NIUSox10 Wrote:  I think the next place we put our money is increasing the coaching staff salary to be a bit more competitive. We have gotten lucky with some good coaches and inherited players, but it will impact us eventually with our recruiting classes.

However, isn't there some rule in the MAC that we cant be any higher than 50% more than the lowest school or some type of clause like that?

This could actually pay for itself if we continue to sustain a good home attendance record and increase the season ticket base.

I wouldn't worry about pay. No coach who wants to make more money is going to stay at NIU. We would have to offer Chris Peterson type money for a coach to stay and that is just not worth it.

You pay a coach once he has proven himself not before, otherwise you get stuck in a bad situation. Doeren and Carey were not head coaches at this level prior to their gigs with us so they were/are being paid accordingly.

If anything, the new stipend for Division 4 is going to cost us a lot of money and will make it difficult to offer more money unless a donor steps up (similar to SMU being pledged millions to get June Jones).

Chris Peterson was never a head coach before taking over at Boise, after his first year, granted it ended with a BCSBowl win. He at that time had 1 full year of head coaching experience.

From Wiki:
On February 22, 2007, the Idaho State Board of Education approved a new contract for Petersen, paying him $4.25 million for five years, or $850,000 per year. Petersen’s salary will be paid mostly by revenue from the Football Coaches Club, the Bronco Athletic Association booster club and media and public appearances. State-appropriated funds will cover $150,000 per year.

On January 1, 2010, after leading Boise State to another undefeated regular season, Petersen was rewarded with a new five-year contract extension, with other terms of the contract to be announced later.[5] On April 22, 2010, the State Board of Education approved the new contract, which would pay Petersen $8 million over the course of the five-year deal, or $1.6 million per year. The contract also included automatic one-year extensions to the contract each time Petersen won at least eight regular season games.[6]

Petersen's newest contract, awaiting final approval by the State Board of Education in February 2012, was agreed to on January 3 of that year. The five-year deal calls for Petersen to receive a base salary of $2 million for the 2012 season, with $200,000 raises in each subsequent season. Assuming he remains at Boise State at the end of the relevant seasons, Petersen will receive retention bonuses of $100,000 after two years and $200,000 in each of the final three years of the deal.[1]