http://www.mac-sports.com/tabid/969/Arti...Class.aspx
Seven iconic names in MAC history—Charlie Coles, Judy Devine, Harry Houska, Jim Lessig, Caroline Mullen-Kearney, Sally Northcroft, Joe Novak—will be inducted into the MAC Hall of Fame on May 13, 2014.
Joe Novak- Northern Illinois (football):
Joe Novak has had a life-long association with Mid-American Conference football, beginning with his playing days at Miami University for Head Coach Bo Schembechler and stretching to his retirement after 12 seasons (1996-2007) as Northern Illinois head coach in 2007. As a player and assistant coach for Miami and then for Northern Illinois, he was a part of five MAC Championships.
As Northern Illinois head coach from 1996-2007, Novak resurrected the Huskie program with four MAC West titles, one MAC Championship game, two bowl appearances and he earned MAC Coach of the Year honors in 2002 and AFCA Region 3 Coach of the Year accolades in 2003. Novak graduated from Miami in 1967 with a Bachelor’s of Arts in education and earned his Master’s in education administration in 1968 in Oxford.
A Mentor, Ohio native, Novak played on back-to-back MAC Co-Championship teams at Miami University in 1965 and 1966 as a standout defensive end. He returned to Miami in 1974 to begin his collegiate coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater under Dick Crum, where he served as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 1974-76. He helped lead Miami to back-to-back MAC titles and undefeated league records in 1974 and 1975, and to two straight appearances in the Tangerine Bowl. Miami went 10-0-1 in 1974 and 11-1 in 1975, defeating Georgia and South Carolina, respectively, in bowl games.
He returned to the MAC as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach on Bill Mallory’s Northern Illinois staff from 1980-83. The Huskies went 7-4 in his first season with a victory over eventual MAC Champion, Central Michigan, and won the school’s first Mid-American Conference title in 1983 before going onto win the California Bowl. Northern Illinois finished the 1983 season with a school-record 10 wins.
Novak continues to be a huge supporter of Northern Illinois University and the MAC. He was inducted into the Miami Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2013 he was inducted into the Northern Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He was inducted into Miami’s “Cradle of Coaches” in 2012 and has served as a Harris Poll Voter since his retirement.
Novak attended the 2010 and 2011 MAC Championship games, and almost every NIU bowl game since his retirement. He attends Northern Illinois and Miami games annually, and returns to DeKalb every summer for the Brigham-Novak Golf Tournament which raises funds for the Huskie Football program.
Novak truly paved the way for Northern Illinois current string of success by tirelessly working to not only build a football program of which Huskie alums can be proud, but to build it the right way, - the “hard way” - with character. Later in his career, the completion of the Yordon Center, NIU’s landmark athletic and academic performance facility, became his personal goal and he was directly involved in fundraising for the project, which has impacted every Northern Illinois student-athlete since its opening in 2007. The academic area of the Yordon Center is named for Joe and his wife, Carole.
Novak and his wife, Carole, are retired and reside in Southport, North Carolina. The couple have adult sons, David and Jeremy.
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MAC 2014 Hall of Fame Class announced - Coach Joe
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