The NIU Huskies are the winningest college football team in the state of Illinois and they enter the 2013 season with back to back Mid-American Conference Championships and an appearance in the 2013 Orange Bowl. That didn’t go so well as Florida State whomped them pretty badly, but hey it’s the first ever BCS bid for the MAC.
And this year brings more enthusiasm along with upgrades to Huskie Stadium, a new Athletic Director in Sean Frazier, a new coach in Rod Carey and a Heisman Trophy campaign by the school for Jordan Lynch.
Carey is the former co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach under Dave Doeren, he was promoted to head coach after Doeren left to accept the job at North Carolina State.
“It was great, it was fun, it was everything it was supposed to be. The only thing was we didn’t win it,” Carey said of the Orange Bowl during an exclusive I had with him at the media introduction of Frazier as the new A.D.
Carey said four people have been his mentors: his father, his high school coach, Bill Mallory his college coach and his father-in-law. This will be the biggest chance to take the life lessons learned from each one and apply them to a leadership position and he takes over the NIU Huskies program this fall. He does have 16 starters returning. But sustaining the success of the last two years won’t be easy.
“We went 11-3 and then 12-2, but the key to anything to is to look at the day-to-day picture, not the big picture,” Carey said.
Frazier comes from the University of Wisconsin, where he was mentored by Barry Alvarez. Frazier talked about the future of the NIU Huskies program and how the BCS bid had such a positive impact.
“It tells me what Northern has accomplished and that they can accomplish more,” Frazier said at the Chicago media event announcing his presence as the new A.D.
“If we got there, what we can do in these other sports will be equally impressive. But we have to get the alums on board, and the folks here in Chicago that they have a diamond in Dekalb that they need to come out and support.”
The NIU Huskies open at the Iowa Hawkeyes August 31st. Home opener is September 21st versus Eastern Illinois. The NIU Huskies play four of their first five on the road, with the home #MACtion beginning October 12th versus Akron.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, a Fox Sports affiliate. He is also an analyst for 95.7 The Fan, and writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now. President Obama follows his Twitter account (@PaulMBanks)