Building and maintaining successful college football and basketball programs is so much about the coach. Every season you see teams rise up after years of mediocrity with a new coach to become a winner. It is also why the power schools will pay so much for one of these guys. The coach is such a huge piece of the success and you either have a good one or you do not. Jury is still out on what exactly NIU has in football and basketball but you can only tolerate so many bad losses.

There are plenty of G5 football schools and mid-major basketball schools that have accomplished a heck of a lot more in a lot less time that NIU’s current coaches. Riding through multiple massive losing seasons is not a good look for the coaches, the athletic department, the fans, or the university. If NIU is not capable of maintaining a reasonable standard for its revenue sports then NIU has no business staying in D1.