Korcek's Corner: Why Novak was a success

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Editor's note: This is the first of series of columns on former Northern Illinois football coach Joe Novak. Mike Korcek is currently the Northern Illinois Sports Information Director Emeritus. Korcek can be reached at mkorcek@niu.edu.

Joe and Carole Novak are probably still packing away boxes at their new retirement home on St. James Drive in Southport, N.C. For the former first couple of Northern Illinois football, the next chapter in their lives opens. Instead of college football almost 24/7, the Novak's plan to enjoy their family and friends, the ocean, biking, reading, and traveling (without the obligatory 200-person Cardinal and Black entourage tagging along on the charter jet) as young 60-somethings. By any standard, Novak's Northern Illinois sideline tenure was a four-star success. By Huskie standards, Novak was off the chart, unprecedented in several critical areas. From a historical standpoint, NIU football experienced exactly seven winning seasons in its first 27 major-college campaigns between gaining NCAA University Division status in 1969 and making Novak its 19th head coach on Dec. 22, 1995. Seven consecutive winning seasons (2000-06), four Mid-American Conference West Division titles (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005), a MAC Championship Game in 2005, two bowl games (Silicon Valley Football Classic in 2004, and Poinsettia Bowl in 2006), top-30 wire service poll spots, BCS standings votes, numerous NFL prospects, All-Americans, Academic All-Americans, you name it. Joe Novak accomplished this and more at Northern Illinois. This is not to say Huskie football did not have success previously in its Division I-A era. The sobering fact is that Northern Illinois could not sustain the good fortune and excitement generated by the talented Mark Kellar-Larry Clark group in 1972 (7-4 record), the fabled Bill Mallory Hall of Fame MAC kingpins and California Bowl champions in 1983 (10-2) and the yard-chewing, triple option Stacey Robinson-Adam Dach powerhouse in 1989 (9-2). Similar to Novak's 2002-05 teams, the aforementioned three Northern Illinois teams were anything but mid-major and did compete with the big boys of BCS. There are some second-division BCS conference programs that cannot match the seven NFL draft picks and 19 professional players (NFL, USFL, CFL, Arena) ultimately produced on Mallory's 1983 group, but I digress. Before the much-anticipated Jerry Kill era officially opens, I thought it was a perfect time to put things into proper perspective - a view from someone who has covered Northern Illinois football since the Howard Fletcher days. Are we here to canonize Novak? No. Could he walk on water? Sometimes (see Wake Forest, Maryland, Alabama, Iowa State, Troy game films). It's July - just the perfect time to recall and cherish the Novak era achievements. Kill would be the first to agree. Why did Novak succeed at Northern Illinois? Reason No. 1: Novak and the Huskies were a great “mutual fit.” Serving as defensive coordinator on Mallory's staff (1980-83) that culminated with the MAC championship team, Novak recognized the latent potential in the often sleeping Huskie gridiron giant. The school happened to be located on the fringe of the nation's No. 3 market, eight million plus people (plenty of recruitable student-athletes), 150,000 win-hungry Northern Illinois alums, and the saturation of local and regional media - all within a two-hour drive. This was not your average MAC or mid-major coaching job. Conversely, in its return to the MAC in the mid-1990s, NIU sought a “local” guy in more ways than one - which then-AD Cary Groth recognized instantly. A proud, card-carrying MAC devotee and a former Miami student and assistant coach, Novak knew the league inside-out and appreciated its history better than most. In football, Northern Illinois needed to return to its regional mission in recruitment. Novak recruited the Chicago area in his days as an aide at Illinois, NIU, and Indiana, not to mention gained the respect and admiration from area high school coaches for his solid thinking, fairness, and integrity. Historically, many institutions sought individuals matriculating from the well-known Miami “Cradle of Coaches” stable to build or rebuild football programs. In the years leading to NIU's initial affiliation with the MAC in the late 1960s, the Miami model, success, and prestige was the envy of everyone in the league and known nationally. It was one of the major reasons former NIU AD and alum Bob Brigham hired MU grad Richard “Doc” Urich in those formative University Division football years (1969). In fact, NIU might own a record of sorts - four Miami grads as head coach (Urich, Jerry Ippoliti, Mallory, and Novak). Reason No. 2: Pure and simple, Novak wanted the job. No bogus “I'm excited to be here” quotes. Novak wanted this job so bad, he interviewed twice for it in 1985 and 1995. Believe it or not, the first time I drove him to Lowden Hall for his final interview. “Joe,” I said as we turned onto Castle Drive, “maybe I shouldn't mention this at this point in the process, but I have a gut feeling that the administration is looking in another direction.” Without pausing and in typical Novak candor, he replied: “Mike, I know that. And, if I don't get it, I'll try again. You know my feelings on this. This is a great job. Carole and I, my family, we all had a great time before. It's perfect for me.” To be truthful, only one other opportunity could supersede Northern Illinois on Novak's plate - his Miami alma mater. That's basic human nature, but that perfect connection is difficult to orchestrate and execute. Reason No. 3: Novak understood the Northern Illinois mantra: Do more with less. Riding the wave of the Fantasy Island start and the national-attention-grabbing wins over Maryland, Alabama, and Iowa State in 2003, the media started knocking on NIU's doors. In escorting well-known Sports Illustrated writer Tim Layden up the Huskie Stadium ramps to Novak's office, I did a little “prep” work. “Once you get in the football office, you will see that, uh, our facilities are a bit, uh-uh, outdated, in many cases pretty spartan for a Division 1-A program,” I told Layden in my SID mode. “All of which makes this a bigger Cinderella story.” Once we all sat down in Novak's old, windowless 15x15-foot office - the same one used by every Northern Illinois coach since “Fletch” in 1965 - Layden made an interesting observation. “Coach, Mike was telling me about you facilities,” he said looking around. “This might be (head coach) Mack Brown's closet at Texas.” All three of us laughed. Heck, it was true. The juxtaposition of the pre-Yordon Center era and the current won-lost bottom line was not easy to miss. “We get our work done,” Novak answered, privately thinking about the overcrowded locker rooms, a tiny training facility, meetings in “retired” handball courts, and athletes getting taped in drafty hallways. Reason No. 4: Maturity. Nobody had a better sense of public relations. Privately, Novak bristled about maybe the worst facilities in the MAC. In public or with the media, he was quotable as Mark Twain and often cracking memorable one-liners. Remember, Novak became a head coach late in his career. Along the way, this old-school guy took mental notes. It wasn't until his 35th year in coaching that Novak coached in a national all-star game. AFCA Board of Directors, some Hall of Fame recognition, Coach of the Year awards, games on ESPN and ABC-TV, etc., occurred in the twilight of his sideline days. Mature people appreciate that stuff even more. Was his perseverance and patience tested? Big-time. Hundreds of times. After some possibly questionable fourth-quarter officiating calls at Wisconsin in a painful 24-21 loss during 2002, I thought Novak would go ballistic in the post-game press conference. He was fired up, but his respect and love for the game transcended the passion. Novak pounds the table, turns to me, and asks in typical Novak deadpan: “Mike, can a non-conference coach be fined for criticizing the Big Ten officials?” Everyone laughed. Fairness always was prevalent in his talks with his student-athletes. To a man, his “kids” were the best walking, talking advertisement for Northern Illinois intercollegiate athletics. Reason No. 5: Establishing the run. An NCAA-leading nine consecutive seasons with a 1,000-yard rusher (when the defense knows you love grinding it out) says it all. Bloggers want the 21st Century spread (where were these Internet experts when “Fletch” fine-tuned his innovative Blitz-T Shotgun in the 1960s?). All the years I've watched Huskie football, some of Novak's I-formation offenses displayed the best run-pass balance in my time. His Northern Illinois teams ran between the tackles (and elsewhere) against Ohio State and Michigan on national TV. Besides, do you want to throw the ball 65 times in Huskie Stadium in mid-November? Good luck.

Next: Part II - Creating and nurturing The Huskie Nation