Beating Notre Dame.

Winning the Mid-American Conference in 2021.

Joining the Mountain West Conference.

NIU athletic director Sean Frazier said the biggest accomplishments of Huskies football for the last seven years don’t happen without Thomas Hammock.

“You don’t continue the tradition we have without somebody who’s got blood in the bricks. And that is Thomas Hammock,” Frazier said. “We don’t do the things we do without him. Regardless of his wins and losses, the impactful way he has led the program has led to us having this unbelievable, fantastic opportunity to be better than the best versions of ourselves here at NIU.”

Hammock announced his resignation on Wednesday, taking a running backs coach position with the Seattle Seahawks. Hammock was not available for comment.

Frazier said the opportunity came up after Seattle won the Super Bowl, noting Hammock wasn’t actively searching for a job. Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald and Hammock were both on the Baltimore Ravens staff from 2014 until 2018.

Hammock went 35-47 in seven years as a head coach. He was 3-9 last year after bowl wins in 2023 and 2024, the first back-to-back bowl wins in more than a decade.

Hammock was the first Black head coach in school history and the first NIU graduate to lead the program at the FBS level.

“My summation of him is thank you. Thank you, Thomas,” Frazier said. “Without you, could we have done those things? I don’t know. He’s been a visionary to put us where we are, and now we have to execute for the future.”

That execution will fall to interim head coach Rob Harley, the team’s defensive coordinator last season. Harley was at Arkansas State for four seasons as defensive coordinator.

He was at Pitt, Ohio Dominican, Michigan State and FIU, and before that played high school football for York and collegiately at Ohio State. This will be his first head-coaching job.

Harley was not available for comment Wednesday. No date for a press conference has been set, but a spokesperson for the school said one is expected this week to introduce Harley.

“To know Harley is to love him,” Frazier said. “He’s done a good job. He’s got high energy, good background. Our defense is no mistake. It’s been pretty preeminent in the MAC and nationally.”

The NIU defense dropped off slightly from 2024 to 2025, but part of that was because of the high-level seniors on the 2024 version, not to mention the decrease in offensive production that left the defense on the field more.

They finished with the 12th-best passing defense in the country, allowing 173.9 yards per game.

“If I didn’t think I had a person who could do the interim role, we would have done something different,” Frazier said. “This is a very good job. We’re going into the Mountain West, we’ve got a massive national platform. We’ve got a lot invested. ... This is a big lift. Not just anybody can do this. And Harley fit the bill.”

According to NCAA rules, the transfer portal will be open for NIU players for 15 days.

The start of spring practices has not been announced yet, but traditionally the Huskies start around March 25.

Having the spring, Frazier said, gives Harley and the Huskies plenty of time to see what’s on the roster and what they need to add, mentioning the trouble the team has had in the quarterback room and the still vacant offensive line coach position.

“Hammock has done a good job of setting the stage, putting all the elements of the stew in the pot,” Frazier said. “Now it’s all about making sure we can execute that.”