NIU and Joe Novak Game Plan

[Water Pony]

This may be difficult for us at this moment, but lessons learned from NIU are revealing. These article selections are from the Huskie's Website about Joe Novak and his game plan:


"From rock bottom to Top 40 respectability. That was The Plan all along. Eight years ago, Novak placed a sign on the wall in his team’s Huskie Stadium locker room. The placard read: “Those Who Stay Will Be Champions.” It was a promise that if the players worked and overcame the many obstacles through the reconstruction period that a MAC championship ring would eventually follow.

One of Novak’s long-time trademarks has been maintaining strong relationships with high school coaches. From running free coaching clinics, hosting summer camps, and making school visits, the Huskie staff regained a foothold in the area and region prep recruiting battles. To that end, a survey of 41 Chicago area high school coaches in Gridiron Report named Novak as their favorite collegiate head man in 2001.

While all these testimonials, records, and statistics may seem light years from the situation that Novak, his staff, and Huskie players suffered through . . . the first three years (1-10, 0-11, and 2-9 seasons, including the infamous 23-game losing streak), . . . it’s not the ultimate destination. All along, the Northern Illinois goal has been to win the MAC.

“This is the rebuilding process,” Novak explained several years ago. “This is our philosophy. That you do it the right way and you do it with high school kids. That takes time. I hate to keep saying it, but it does. We could do it the fast way and bring kids in here by the busload, having them in and out of here. No, that does not build a foundation.
“We want our program to be on a solid footing. You bring in high school kids and they are going to be good players when they are in
their third, fourth, and fifth year of college. That’s when you have the chance to win. The main thing is, it’s a longer-lasting thing when you build it the right way with high school kids.”


For SMU students, alumni and fans, this is a sobering message, given how far we have fallen and the distance we have to travel. Our choice is to think and act long term.

Having said that, I agree with Stallion that a few JUCOs would help, plus student-athlete courses like Sports Management as well as Education Majors.

On the plus side, we have aligned ourselves in a better conference/regional model, built Ford Stadium and afterwards spent moeny on a brand new turf and focused on recruiting. Phil has been given many of the tools needed (perhaps not all, Stallion). I hope he has a Texas-sized game plan for SMU and the coaching skills to match.

For right now, Beat the Owls! :showoff:

<small>[ 11-09-2003, 01:59 PM: Message edited by: Water Pony ]</small>

[CoxSMU]

I think the Novak example is our best hope...More than TCU. It honestly gives me a whole lot of hope. Does anyone know what kind of recruiting NIU does? Do they allow partial qualifiers? Before I get my hopes up with this example, I wonder how they recruiting restrictions are compared to ours?

[KnuckleStang]

I think they admit anyone with a pulse, but I could be wrong.

[mrydel]

You are wrong Knuckle. I think they signed a couple of cadavers in 2001.

[Stallion]

Hey the school website has a story on it concerning their extensive alternative admission program which they are very proud of and clearly states they admit non-qualifiers and partial qualifiers.

<small>[ 11-10-2003, 06:23 AM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>