Northern Illinois Head Coach Departs for NFL Opportunity
A football coach who has been a staple in northern Illinois, specifically DeKalb, is leaving his post after seven seasons at the helm.
While his 35-47 record might not indicate great success, he'll forever be remembered for his team's most significant win in the football program's history. I can still recall where I was when I found out, and watching the highlights felt surreal.
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Thomas Hammock Heads Back to the NFL:
Thomas Hammock has been the head coach of the Northern Illinois Huskies football team since 2019. Despite a 35-47 overall record, Hammock did lead the program to two-of-three bowl victories, and a 9-5 season in 2021.
Now, per Pete Thamel, one of the most locked-in college football news-breakers, Hammock is leaving the Huskies for the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks, where he is expected to become the highest-paid running backs coach in the league. Hammock, who also reportedly interviewed for Seattle's offensive coordinator opening, will also serve as a senior offensive assistant (basically a catch-all title to assist incoming offensive coordinator Brian Fleury).
Hammock's Huskies Signature Win in 2024:
In 2024, Hammock led the Huskies to a shocking win against Notre Dame, who was ranked #5 in the country at that time. In South Bend, the Huskies won 16-14 with a late-game field goal, marking the school's first-ever win over a top-10 opponent, and the first time a Mid-American Conference (MAC) team defeated a top-5 team in the history of college football.
Hammock is a Northern Illinois alum, and was the Huskies running back from 1999 - 2002. Since then, he's been a coach in some capacity, beginning his career with Wisconsin as a grad assistant, and even spending four years as the Baltimore Ravens' running backs coach from 2014 - 2018. The NFL is not a new beast for him, but he's joining a team coming off a Super Bowl victory.
Hammock's Viral Moment:
Coaches who get the privilege to lead their alma mater rarely depart, but such is the current, convoluted landscape of college athletics, which has been made more complicated by name, imagine, and likeness (NIL) deals. Ahead of the 2025 season, Hammock went viral for his unapologetic take on the state of college athletics:
Everyone’s talking about everything else besides the most important thing of going to college. Because if you’re going to college to get a couple of dollars, you might as well go get a job. This is too hard to go get a couple of dollars. Learn the lessons that you need to learn to be successful in life for the next 40 or 50 years of your life. I would do it again for free because of the things I learned. That’s why I’m standing here today, because of what I learned in college. Not because of how much someone gave me - Thomas Hammock, per Fox 32 Chicago
Such are the frustrations for non-powerhouse teams in second/third-tier conferences. Ironically, a lion's weight of the reason NIU is moving from the MAC to the Mountain West Conference (in football only) is due to the success Hammock had with the program. The Huskies will begin play in the Mountain West in the 2026 season, but Hammock won't be around to see it.
Read more about Thomas Hammock securing an NFL job on Fox 32 Chicago's website.
Iowa Hawkeyes Who Have Won a Super Bowl
Gallery Credit: Tom Drake