The Mountain West update its conference schedule Tuesday, with NIU now playing new member North Dakota State. New Mexico has been removed this year along with a couple other minor changes.

Seven years of Thomas Hammock gave NIU its highest highs and lowest lows. Beat Notre Dame one week, lose to Buffalo two weeks later. A tenure defined by wild swings, never in the order anyone expected.

Interim coach Rob Harley said NIU didn’t stay rattled after Hammock’s departure: “There’s a lot of excitement for what is next.”

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.

After seven seasons leading the Northern Illinois University football program, head coach Thomas Hammock has resigned to return to a coaching position in the National Football League

The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will face off against each other in Super Bowl LX and there will be plenty of Illinois connections. Here is a list of players and coaches participating in the Super Bowl who have a connection to Illinois or the Chicago Bears.

NIU announced its finalized 2026 football schedule on Thursday with a trip to Georgia State. That leaves the Huskies with three FBS road games to start the season and a home game against FCS runner-up Illinois State before its inaugural Mountain West slate.

More than a decade after his playing career ended, Jordan Lynch is still making NIU history. Lynch was introduced as a member of the 2026 NFF College Football Hall of Fame Class by the National Football Foundation on Wednesday.

Former Northern Illinois University quarterback and current Mount Carmel High School head football coach Jordan Lynch was named as a member of the 2026 National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame class.