Northern Illinois coach looks to capitalize in recruiting after upsetting Notre Dame
The Northern Illinois Huskies have been in the spotlight since pulling off a shocker in South Bend and beating No. 5 Notre Dame as a 28-point underdog.
It was NIU's first win against a Top-25 team in over a decade and a slew of national recognition has ensued.
Head coach Thomas Hammock's phone has been buzzing nonstop since the Huskie's heroics, but he was kind enough to carve out some time to speak to CBS News Chicago Sports Director Ryan Baker.
Hammock: "You know, it's been a five-year process and we've put a lot of hard work into building the type of team that we have now. And obviously, to win that game on Saturday, and to see the raw emotion that I had, and that was to the players. I was just so thankful and happy for them."
Baker: "You had me fired up. 'We don't need luck!' I thought about that the whole weekend. I mean, that was coming from the heart. Did you even know you were gonna say that?"
Hammock: "Well, that was our message all week, and I talked to them about this is not a David and Goliath story. We match up well in this game, and what you have to do is go out and execute and play your best. I told them I don't need Superman. I need your best and your best will be good enough and then we'll live with the results. So I just wanted them to understand we belonged on that football field."
Baker: "How many text messages and DMs did you get since that win in South Bend?"
Hammock: "Yeah, I can't count the numbers. Well in the multiple hundreds. I actually have responded to a lot of them. That's important to me as a person. I was a young coach and reached out to coaches, and they never responded to me, and I wanted to make sure I never was above anybody else in this process. So, the whole bus ride back, I was responding. [I'm] still trying to work through it, responding to people, but I just think that's the right thing to do."
Baker: "How much of a bump in recruiting have you gotten since Saturday?"
Hammock: "You know I've got a lot of people reaching out to me saying they want to play here, so."
Baker: "And I saw your post on X. You said, hey we're trying to fill out this class. Send us your tape."
Hammock: "Correct. I gave specific positions."
Baker: "I saw that."
Hammock: "We still believe in the high school model of taking high school players and developing them. In our program, I think we have a better chance at retention. I think we have a better chance at success long term. How many NCAA teams you see have a bunch of freshmen play in the [basketball] tournament and they play an older team and they can't be as successful? And I think football is the same way."
Baker: "How do you convince your players to not take the bag, as the kids say today, and to stay in your program?"
Hammock: "Yeah. I tell them I love them all the time. Love is still a powerful tool. We're gonna help you develop. We're gonna take care of you as best as possible. And hopefully, you will be rewarded when you are an adult because a couple of dollars here and there in college is not gonna set you up long term. I spent a lot of time in the National Football League. I know what transactional relationships look like, and we want to be different. We want to have geniuine, authentic relationships in our program."
While there's no doubt NIU is trying to capitalize on all the attention on the program, another bonus was the $1.4 million Notre Dame paid the Huskies to play in the game.
