My stated view exactly, many times, so how can I disagree?

Aaaah ... nostalgia.

I look back fondly on the early '80s and Coach Bill Mallory, with NIU's first-ever boneyard win over Kansas and first bowl win as a D1-A program ('83 California Bowl). I look back fondly on Coach Jerry Pettibone's 1989 team and a 9-2 record (but no bowl), as well as boneyard wins over Wisconsin and Kansas State. I look back fondly on Coach Joe Novak's tenure (except the first few and last few years). I look back fondly on the success of the short tenures of Jerry Kill and Dave Doeren and the BCS Orange Bowl (despite the loss). I will probably look back fondly on some of Coach Rod Carey's 6 years.

For nostalgia, that's a lot of fondling.

But nostalgia is not now, the next game or this season. NIU is writing a new chapter. So far, it mostly sucks. But Carey is gone. Hammock is here, along with a pledge (also by STF) to take NIU football to the next level. No one has defined that, but my take would be getting to and winning some bowl games, however minor. Then there's the next next level, the Access Bowl and NY6.

Building, rebuilding, transition ... whatever. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Mallory knew that, and took 4 years. Pettibone took 5. Novak was here for 12. Impatience is not a virtue in football.

(10-08-2019 06:59 PM)Jb 94 Wrote:  Outside looking in so far..not so much offense, and not so much attendance..,..by the way if both are in place..not the recipe for MAC Championships..fyi..we had the recipe 7 out of the last 9 years!

Agree. We are a MAC team.
We pay MAC salaries.(The lowest paid conference in div 1aa).
We have the best record in the MAC over the past almost 20 years, since they installed the 12 system MAC.
Only in 2007, did we have a losing conference season.
Even in 2014 we may have been 5-7, but far more importantly we were 5-3 conference.
To those fans who believe that iut of roughly 70 G5 teams olaying for 1 at large Bowl
As one of the worst paid coaches we should consistently be the top G5 team, please rethink your lofty wishes and temper them with reality.

Regarding having an NFL Offense using a Pac 10 QB in the MAC, it is currently NOT working. We are not WMU before PJ installed his row the boat culture.
We are the MACDaddy! The only other MAC team that is consistently good like NIU has been Toledo. They are our real MAC rivals. Ball State is this year a MAC bottom team.
NIU does not go from first to worst! That is not the Jerry Kill/Dave Doeren/Rod Carey culture of the past 11 years!
Coach Hammock is the current captain of the NIU FB ship.
All responsibility falls on his shoulders.
He has secured $1M to pay his assistants whom some may not be up to task.

The special teams coach needs to either be replaced immediately or a proper explanation of what is going on needs to be made.
Why run the ball from the 2 yard line? Let it bounce into the endzone and get good field position. Why risk a turnover? This is NOT the NFL.
All is NOT ok.

I do NOT accept this as a building year.
There is far too much talent for NIU to be ranked in the bottom 10.
Losing to a low ranked Ball State must be the lowest point of the decade for NIU FB.
The turnaround begins NOW!
We are 0-1. (forget about the OOC and div 1aa team).
Until we leave the MAC and join the PAC 10 or Big 12 we play to win the MACC.
That is what Coach Joe Novak taught.
Every year the primary goal of NIU FB is not to be ranked in the top 25 or goto the Orange Bowl or make National headlines.

It is to win the MAC. As far as I am concerned his words still ring true.

Who gave Thomas Hammock a mandate to singly handedly dismantle the succesful NIU FB culture instituted by Joe Novak? NOT STF.

Does he think he is NIU's version of Charlie Weiss(former big shot Notre Dame coach)?

When PJ Fleck came to WMU, it did not have a tradition of winning the MAC.
Sure he trashed a 5-7 team and turned it into a 1-11 team, so the next year he could become MAC coach of the year, by taking WMU bowling.

NIU has been to a Bowl game 10/11 years.
We are NOT WMU before PJ.

I thought that Thomas Hammock was a Joe Novak student?

He urgently needs to explain what he is doing to the fans.

Someone needs to take responsibility for the embarrassment of losing to a very bad Ball State team that is a bottom 15 team in the country and would probably lose to Illinois State!

I do not care about the so called Bronze Stalk.
I care about NIU FB every year playing to win the MAC.

I would say possibly second dumbest reply..hindsight 20 /20 ..your post came post mine..guess niu did not have injuries till this year, new coaching staff till this year,and freshman play till this year..noted thanks for the explanation

The defensive game plan was sound against Ball State. The defense was absolutely blowing them out. If things didn't gonsouth in the third quarter with our RBs giving them 14 points, we'd feelngreat about our defense again.

Agreed... so you can chalk it up to one of those games, lack of talent, or lack of coaching..after Ohio, we probably all can agree we should know more

(10-08-2019 07:34 PM)OldTtimeNIU Wrote:  This is proably the dumbest post I have ever seen...
fACTS ARE:

New head coach and assistants
New system
Injuries
A QB who prior to arriving here had not played for a year
Injuries are a big issue for Group of 5 teams..We don't have the budget to create depth with talent
Young players ie frshmen having to step in and fill in and play at a high level
right away
What have Rod's last 2 or 3 classes looked like compared to the other MAC schools?

How long did it take Joe to turn this program around...3 years, 4 years, 5 years?

Relax gentlemen ...this year should not be a surprise to anyone
Let's see how well can these new coaches recruit

In football or business you have a clear definition of what you want to achieve.

Next level???
Where are the funds to transfer to a P5 league?
The State is bankrupt. Is this wishful thinking?

We tried leaving the MAC many years ago nd we fell flat.

We are in competition with schools that have a much larger FB budget than us.
We are stuck in the MAC with relatively very low TV revenues.
We do NOT have the funds to upgrade all sports to B12 levels.

Filling the stadium is not a realistic goal.
You cannot turn the clock back to the Joe Novak years.

We have moved further into a digital age and most people want to watch the game on their computer with interactive capabilities or on Television.

The next level???

We cannot compete financially with the AAC who have three teams currently ranked in the Top 25. Inorder to get the single Bowl bid over an AAC team requires so many factors beyond our control.

The teams we schedule in advance have to be Top 25 caliber that year.(Assuming we beat them And or the MAC needs atleast 1 or 2 other rnked teams to boost our strength of schedule that year. (Assumming of ourse that we win)!

After we beat them, they need to do well so that we are still on the radar of the selection committee.

Look at the odds 1/70 shot at an atlarge Bowl!!!!
Strength of schedule not within are control.
Teams like Boise State and the AAcC champion has to lose inorder for a MAC team to get the nod. That is rare but it happenned in 2012 and with WMU.

So Coach Hammock teaches a whole new complicated system which Charlie Weiss who was far more successful could not do!!!

He gets in a whole lot of great recruits!

That still does nothing to increase the critical SOS(strength of schedule).

How is that going to increase donor funds?

Consistent success is so hard to achieve and NIU has miraculously achieved such a level over the last 11 years. We had become a B1G team in the MAc, a MACDaddy!

We suffered so much to get to this vaunted place.

Now we are 0-1 to a bottom 12 team in the Nation without massive injuries!
Territory that we have escaped for 11 straight years!

Yet some on this board have blind faith in something that defies logic!

Rod Carey was not Charlie Sadler. He did not leave the cupboard bare.
This performance is a suprise and shock.

While we are all distracted by the mistakes and poor coaching, something quite amazing has been going on. Brinkman and Crawford. They currently sit at a combined 35 catches through 5 games. You have to go back to 2006 to find a SEASON total for 2 TEs higher than that. Davis and Nordin combined for 37. In 2004 Ceislak and Nordin combined for 45. But thats it in the last 20+ years. They may double the highest total I could find.

FYI-The top 3 wrs are at a combined 45 catches for 677 yards. That's as good or better than the last couple years' top 3wrs. 56-621, 50-514. Outside of a crazy Golloday start in 2016, the previous years are also very similar for the top 3 guys: 48-621, 47-736, 65-745, 55-702, 57-702.

Is it embarassing to lose to a bottom 20 team when you yourself are a bottom 15 team?

So production for tight ends supersedes mac championships 7 out of 9 years, and justifys our 1 - 4 record..Never viewed it with this prospective..will definetly sleep on your contention

(10-08-2019 08:32 PM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  While we are all distracted by the mistakes and poor coaching, something quite amazing has been going on. Brinkman and Crawford. They currently sit at a combined 35 catches through 5 games. You have to go back to 2006 to find a SEASON total for 2 TEs higher than that. Davis and Nordin combined for 37. In 2004 Ceislak and Nordin combined for 45. But thats it in the last 20+ years. They may double the highest total I could find.

FYI-The top 3 wrs are at a combined 45 catches for 677 yards. That's as good or better than the last couple years' top 3wrs. 56-621, 50-514. Outside of a crazy Golloday start in 2016, the previous years are also very similar for the top 3 guys: 48-621, 47-736, 65-745, 55-702, 57-702.

That is pretty cool. They look good out there! Battling over the middle on plays not named the Shane Wimann PA TE Crosser.

Someone around here wants it all and wants it all tomorrow.

Most of us already know what the "next level" means: going beyond winning the MAC West and MACC, to some bowls and winning them, then the next next level, the Access/NY6.

That's a hard slog with limited resources. Acknowledged. It's going to take time with an all-new staff from scattered places that needs to gel. Acknowledged. Becoming a more complete team by adding more passing to a traditionally run-oriented offense is a difficult change. Acknowledged.

Understanding what happened vs. BSU is not rocket science. Nor is it the end of the world. Since it's neither, no point analyzing the %$*& out of it, over and over and over, while bemoaning the departure of Carey. Judging by his demeanor and brief words, Hammock can see it as well as we can.

I choose to consider the BSU game an aberration, when all the problems showed up all at once in the second half after three road losses to P5 teams. That said, I am actually looking forward to the next two games: Ohio and Miami-Ohio, both on the road, decent kickoff times, ESPN+ or some other live streaming.

Good teams -- and those with potential -- correct mistakes and get better. Going to be an interesting next two weekends, imo.

(10-08-2019 09:35 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Someone around here wants it all and wants it all tomorrow.

Most of us already know what the "next level" means: going beyond winning the MAC West and MACC, to some bowls and winning them, then the next next level, the Access/NY6.

That's a hard slog with limited resources. Acknowledged. It's going to take time with an all-new staff from scattered places that needs to gel. Acknowledged. Becoming a more complete team by adding more passing to a traditionally run-oriented offense is a difficult change. Acknowledged.

Understanding what happened vs. BSU is not rocket science. Nor is it the end of the world. Since it's neither, no point analyzing the %$*& out of it, over and over and over, while bemoaning the departure of Carey. Judging by his demeanor and brief words, Hammock can see it as well as we can.

I choose to consider the BSU game an aberration, when all the problems showed up all at once in the second half after three road losses to P5 teams. That said, I am actually looking forward to the next two games: Ohio and Miami-Ohio, both on the road, decent kickoff times, ESPN+ or some other live streaming.

Good teams -- and those with potential -- correct mistakes and get better. Going to be an interesting next two weekends, imo.

It is pretty frustrating that after NIU loss this year, we are going to get a biography of Rod Carey. It is already old.

To be fair. Taking it to the next level is exactly what President Freeman and Sean Frazier said when they hired Ham. Maybe it's their hope that they can build a school around a successful football program. Heck, our attendance is the lowest it's been in years and it's sad. But they have to do something, and are looking at all avenues of fixing it. And athletics is one of them.

I'm angry that we are losing too. I can't stand the stupid coaching decisions and I definitely think that we are underperforming with the talent we have. But we are changing the system from good to great. And again, that has many growing pains and challenges on players and coaches to take more risks than we are used to.

Did anyone else go to the NIU athletics tour earlier this year? Just listening to the thoughts of President Freeman and Sean Frazier will tell you why they are going away from a good season. Hammock said it with them in the room "President Freeman wants a new Orange Bowl sweater, and Sean wants to take it to the next level." With that being said, we are going to do more than run a limited playbook of QB draws and WR screens of a ball control offense. To get to those lofty goals, that means we will need to be a more playmaking team.

I know it's scary and we are giving up something good (Multiple MAC champs/appearances, bowl appearances, victories against the Power conferences). I'm so thankful for Carey and many of the coaches past. Thank you Rod, but he's not coming back. The decision we've made is already happening. we are taking a huge risk to be great. Something the administration thinks is a big risk worth taking. But even if Hammock fails, please believe that NIU won't take failure for an answer. That's more of a U of I thing. We are going to keep looking for someone else to lead us to victory. Whether that be Matt Simon, Jeff Knowles, Kevin Kane, Matt Canada, Melvin Rice, Jordan Lynch or PJ (if things don't work out in Minny).

We are on page 9 of bickering about Rod Carey vs the new squad. Some really passionate people in here. And I'm glad for that. Because that just shows you, despite the differences. There are some people who really love this team and school.

(10-08-2019 11:26 PM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  We are on page 9 of bickering about Rod Carey vs the new squad. Some really passionate people in here. And I'm glad for that. Because that just shows you, despite the differences. There are some people who really love this team and school.

I just wish we had the same coaching passion a few years ago when NIU attempted a fake punt from their own 10 yard line because "We thought we could get the pass interference call". And the individual making the pass could only throw 15 yards instead of the required 20 yards.

(10-08-2019 11:27 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(10-08-2019 11:26 PM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  We are on page 9 of bickering about Rod Carey vs the new squad. Some really passionate people in here. And I'm glad for that. Because that just shows you, despite the differences. There are some people who really love this team and school.

I just wish we had the same coaching passion a few years ago when NIU attempted a fake punt from their own 10 yard line because "We thought we could get the pass interference call". And the individual making the pass could only throw 15 yards instead of the required 20 yards.

I had almost forgotten about that one. Thankfully the beer was almost empty when I chucked it at the TV.

(10-08-2019 11:27 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(10-08-2019 11:26 PM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  We are on page 9 of bickering about Rod Carey vs the new squad. Some really passionate people in here. And I'm glad for that. Because that just shows you, despite the differences. There are some people who really love this team and school.

I just wish we had the same coaching passion a few years ago when NIU attempted a fake punt from their own 10 yard line because "We thought we could get the pass interference call". And the individual making the pass could only throw 15 yards instead of the required 20 yards.

Especially, when the punt defenders are allowed to block the gunners on a punt return...

(10-08-2019 11:26 PM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  We are on page 9 of bickering about Rod Carey vs the new squad. Some really passionate people in here. And I'm glad for that. Because that just shows you, despite the differences. There are some people who really love this team and school.

Bickering is a good choice of words.

Some are passionate. Some bored. Some this is their only outlet to speak Huskie football.

Unfortunately for some, their only outlet to prove their "football knowledge" or reveal their "insider info."

And for some, all of the above.

This is the only outlet I know of to talk about Huskie football.

(10-09-2019 10:55 AM)HawaiiToNIU Wrote:  This is the only outlet I know of to talk about Huskie football.

True. My dog is starting to completely ignore any of my Huskie comments I make to him.