2024 Fall NIU Weekly (Episode 1)

[Music] hello and welcome to another season of NIU weekly I'm Terry badana I'll be the host with you over the course of the next few months here on this show and I already know what you're thinking what happened to Andy we want Andy uh Andy Garcia don't worry will be around all season he's been bumped upstairs it's the new play-by-play voice of the NIU Huskies this season so I know he's very excited about that and he has made the very questionable decision of turning the reign of this show over to me so we'll see how that goes as the season goes on but I know I'm very excited to be a part of NIU broadcast this year I'll be on the sidelines throughout the games over the course of this season uh and of course as the host right here of NIU weekly each week I'm very excited to get to know the coaching staff of the husy football team and of course throughout the athletic department coaches and administrators I know we're going to have a lot of fun and get a lot of great information from people over the course of this season each week this show is going to give you a look at what's going on with Husky Athletics on the official NIU Athletics YouTube Channel please don't forget to like all of these videos and subscribe to the channel because you will not only get every week NIU weekly through this channel but you're also going to get a weekly postgame football press conferences you're going to get football volleyball basketball game highlights uh and a whole lot more than that as well so uh make sure again to subscribe to this Channel and be sure to like the videos as well we're going to be talking to the head coach of the huskys football team Thomas hammock in just a little bit before I bring him aboard just a quick reminder to you that it is not too late to get your tickets for NIU football this year season tickets are still available they provide the best value and we've got a great schedule this year as well one of the more exciting schedules uh in Cal for a long time five Saturday home games this year that's the most since 2012 so make sure to pick up your tickets you can go to NIU huskies.com ticks for that once again that's NIU huskies.com tickets of course I mentioned we're going to be bringing Thomas hammock onto the show today we'll be talking with him throughout the football season uh countdown to kickoff is on we're just days away from the season opener against Western Illinois and I'm very excited as well we're going to bring Paige shinberg onto the show Paige is the associate athletic director of brand and Equipment management she's going to talk about the debut of the new victory thread store as well as some of the uh very exciting merchandise that is for sale on NIU right now without further Ado let's bring on the head coach Thomas hammock pleased to be joined now by the head coach of the Huskies now in his sixth year running the Northern Illinois football foot program coach Thomas hammock welcome to NIU weekly thanks for joining me this week hey thanks thanks for having me it uh it's always exciting week one of the season I know you've had a lot of Summer practices getting ready for this one how does it feel just going into the opener well it's definitely exciting um obviously uh it's game week the guys are excited they put a lot of work in from January until now uh to get themselves ready to play and now we in the final days of of preparation and making sure we can go out there and play at a high level and play together you've been working towards this one for a long time regardless of who you're playing how do you get the players mindsets ready to go for week one I mean how big is it just to to know that you're going against another team I'm sure the players are a little sick of playing against each other yeah no we we talk about fighting for a standard um you know a standard of how we practice a standard of how we play how we wanted to look snap in and snap out uh we have a very competitive football team and and the one thing we talk talk about is you know you don't know when your next snap is coming because it's somebody that wants that opportunity so uh when you have a chance go out there and play your best uh perform to to to the best of your abilities and that's all we can ask for as a coaching staff looking at the team and getting ready for this Western Illinois game how comfortable do you feel about the lineup that you're going to be putting out there no I I like I like where our team is at uh I think you know since the bowl game until now I think they've uh continually uh gained confidence put themselves in position to uh become better football players um and and I like uh the depth the competitiveness and the overall team uh as a whole you mentioned that bowl game and it's always big coming back in a season after you've won a bowl game the previous year uh maybe it's a little bit difficult to maintain that momentum considering it's been you know eight nine months since you you've played on the field in a competitive game but are you able to carry some of that good feeling over from winning the bowl game into the start of the next year yeah I mean it was a tremendous uh game uh a lot of momentum heading into the off season I think it really gave a a jump start to our seniors you know we got a lot of seniors on this football team a lot of guys just been through the battles the ups and the downs and the inet and I think that bowl game along with the offseason program kept them motivated of you know we can do more and we have to take advantage of the opportunities early in the season uh to give oursel a chance at the end you've had a lot of success over the years opening season since you've been with Northern Illinois you've only lost one season opener in the last five years what do you think has been the key to that success well I think the big thing for us is um you know making sure we get our working and we're smart but the players go into the first game fresh mentally physically emotionally uh and everything else and I think we we put a great plan together uh the way we set up the training camp the way we set up this week to make sure that they could be peing at the right time I think sometimes you go into an opener and you know your body may not feel 100% or your legs don't feel 100% I think our guys are fresh uh they anxious to play and I'm excited to watch him we spoken in a lot of generalities so far but I'm sure everybody's really excited to get to know this team a little bit who are we looking out for who are the players to watch let's just start on the defensive side of the ball because uh you're coming off of a season where the defense was outstanding and I know you're bringing back a lot of key players from that who should we be looking out for on the defensive side you know well for us it's starts up front um you know a lot of our success on defense happens for the guys up front a guy like Devonte Ali Deon Taylor Kate Haberman Rory Williams galani Williams Skyler Gil Howard those guys really make it a difference uh and allow the guys behind him uh to play Freer then you look at the linebacker position Christian Ferman and Jadon dolphin along with Quinn erwe uh Jake Gasaway those are guys that you're going to see Heavy in the rotation uh and then on the back end uh Javon bird um amaran knon uh Finley Nate bostel Santana Banner muhamad J Cyrus mcaro uh those guys we feel like we got about 18 19 guys that can potentially be starters for us that we're going to rotate through uh and give them opportunities to make plays and then from once we get into the game it's about you know what guys are performing the best and those are the guys that we'll go with let's skip over to the other side of the football uh and look at the offense a little bit what are you most excited about offensively this season well you know we build our team inside out and so I'm really excited about our offensive line got a lot of guys that's played a lot of football Logan sherit JJ Lippy John champ Evan bus Evan malor those guys are multiple year starters along with some of the guys that's behind them uh and then obviously the tight end position a guy like uh Grayson Barnes Jake appet who we got from Nebraska a fullback and Brock lampy at the wide receiver position treay Bon Rudolph Dane partes cam Thompson uh and a host of other guys and then in the back field we got some we got three or four backs that can go out there and uh help us win a game uh an anio Brown uh Gavin Williams jayen Po and then the quarterback position I'm excited for the quarterback to go out there on Saturday and perform at a high level yeah I know that's been one of the big questions going through this entire offseason is who's going to start a quarterback you talk about building the offense from the inside out and knowing that you are going to have a new quarterback this year and you've got some guys on the roster with experience but nobody who's been a full-time starter at Northern Illinois knowing that you've got such an experienced offensive line how important is that going into a season with a new starting quarterback well I think it gives you a comfort level at the quarterback position you don't have to go out there and win the game by yourself uh you have a lot of guys uh that can make plays for you you have a tremendous offensive line in front of you uh and all you have to do do your 111 uh to help the team be successful on offense and I think that should give you a lot of confidence to go out there and and do your job um and and understand that uh games are not going to be one and lost at the quarterback position it's all uh 11 guys on offense all 11 guys on defense and all 11 guys on special teams working together uh to try to maximize our performance and looking at that quarterback position one more time again we'll find out who the starter is uh on Saturday against Western Illinois but uh you you've had a full competition throughout the offseason you've had a few guys working towards it how have you felt overall about the level of competition within that quarterback room and what each guy's brought to the table no I love it I think uh it's it's the deepest room we've had I feel like we got three guys that can go out there and and perform at a high level and help us win uh which gives you a tremendous amount of uh depth uh we understand throughout the season um things happen guys may get injured um and so to have three guys that we feel like uh that can go help us win uh gives us confidence that we can go play a 12 game season uh and give oursel a chance each and every single week let's talk about the Special Teams a little bit we've discussed offense and defense but obviously special teams is a big part of the game as well uh who are you looking at in some of those positions no I think you know our Specialists are all back Tom Foley Canon wood off and Isaac Hatfield uh so we understand those guys know how to do their job and get it done uh extremely well and then our cover units we got a lot of athletes guys that have started uh at various times in their careers on our coverage teams uh on special teams and they understand that that's an important third of the game they take it very very seriously uh and can and make it and and can make a tremendous impact in our ability to win football games so uh love the depth on special teams but I think that depth carries over from the depth that we have on our football team and uh they understand all three phases need to be working together uh to give ourself a chance let's look ahead to the opening game of the season facing Western Illinois uh it's a team that has struggled over the last couple of years but they've brought an entirely new coaching staff they've got a lot of new players on the roster uh how do you prepare for a game like that what kind of challenges do you expect them to bring yeah no obviously you're looking at a lot of different things uh the defensive coordinators from Davenport the Special Teams coordinators from Liberty obviously the head coaches from East Illinois so there's a lot of different film that we're watching and trying to piece it together along with the amount of new players that they have in the program so you know it's going to be a game of adjustments they're going to have some things that you know we may have not prepared for uh we have to be able to settle down understand the adjustment that we need to make and then go out there and perform and so obviously for our players you want to give them a big picture point of view but understand um anything and everything is possible in the first game when you don't have a whole lot of information I'll get you out of here on this one coach for you it is year number six with Northern Illinois how are things the same how are things different how is your preparation coming into this season yeah I think uh you know for us uh we really established a culture in our program uh I think the guys understanded the the standards and expectations U that's expected uh on the field off the field how you carry yourself how you conduct yourself how you represent our program uh so that's been a joy to see as a head coach they understand and they carrying that message forward uh the excitement is always different right every year you have different uh excitements uh when you understand some of your strength and weaknesses as a team how can you offset some of those things uh through preparation uh through game plan uh through uh things that may happen over the course of the year so uh obviously the first game um there's a lot of unknowns some guys need to step up at different spots and I'm excited to watch him go out there and compete it's the head coach of the h Thomas hammock coach thanks so much for your time I'm looking forward to working with you and and we're looking forward to hearing from you on NIU weekly over the course of the Season thank you and go Huskies I'm now very excited to be joined by Paige shinberg as our next guest here on NIU weekly Paige is the associate athletic director for brand and Equipment management Paige welcome to the show happy to have you here with me thank you thank you for having me I'm excited to be here and excited to talk about this it's been a little over a year in the making so I'm excited that we're here now well I know that you are one of the most popular people on campus right now because I've been told by so many people so it's got to be true um you are supervising the equipment staff that outfits the Husky student athletes and you've also been responsible for getting uh the new oncampus husky apparel shops up and running so congratulations on that I know uh the new Victor E thread stores are officially open they are they are it has been a fun project so excited to be here where can people find these Victory thread stores when are you open uh and what are we looking for on campus all right we have a whole bunch of locations so um we have the first location is inside the rec center um you'll find us to the left immediately after you walk in the front doors our hours there are Monday through Thursday 2: to 8:00 p.m. Friday from 4: to 6:30 p.m. and Saturday from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. we also have a store inside the convocation center Lobby uh that location will be open for all combo events including volleyball men's and women's basketball games wrestling gymnastics competitions all shows concerts anything that's going on in the convocation center uh another location will be our trailer which will move around to outdoor events like baseball softball men's and women's soccer games um as well as in the yard for football game days we'll also be at uh local events for example we were at cornfest this past weekend and had a lot of fun there um and then finally will have a kiosk under the east side of Husky Stadium that will be open on football game days as well what has the process been like getting to the point where you're able to open these Stores um it has been a lot of work a lot of collaboration um I don't think that there is an area within especially NIU Athletics but maybe all of NIU that I haven't had some kind of communication with along the way um a lot of people collaborating and making it happen definitely was not just me putting all of this together so um huge shout out and thank you to everyone that's kind of been a part of the process to make this happen what have you seen so far as what some of the as far as what are some of the most popular items um so we heard from the fans that they were looking for Adidas product that more closely aligns with what our teams are wearing and so that's been a lot of in the ordering process what I've been targeting um so there will be a lot of that we even have um some pieces that the coaches have picked out the graphics or the what's going on the shirts um or sweatshirts things like that I also work I oversee the equipment staff as well and so I worked very closely with them to align what we were ordering with what the teams had ordered for this year so that's going to be really exciting and has been received really well and then the other piece is we have officially brought back the fighting husky logo um and are selling it as part of the um apparel shop so there are a bunch of products in the shop that have that fighting husky logo and it's been a huge hit so far oh I know I'm very excited about the classic logo as well uh and speaking of some of some husky Classics uh we just heard news about the Husky Legends line of jerseys tell me about that and where people can get them absolutely so the Husky Legends line is a line of replica jerseys that we created to honor some of our former student athletes who've become Legends in NIU football program um their Jersey will look like the jerseys that those Legends wore during their time at NIU uh each year we'll release three husky Legends jerseys so if someone's favorite player doesn't come out this year hang on they'll probably be out in the next couple of years um our three husky Legends this year are George Bourke Michael Turner and Jordan Lynch and so those uh jerseys will be available for sale on football game days both in the yard and our k at our kiosk under the east side of the uh Husky Stadium and as far as online shopping goes what's the update on that yeah so I know um there's been a lot of questions about it we would not ever want to leave out our long-distance fans um so there will be an online store coming soon um with tons of Adidas product including the fighting husky it will be available for sale online um we are close we're just not there yet but as soon as it's up and running um we will blast it out so fans know exactly where to find us and what all is available so fam please stay tuned on that one we've talked a lot about some of the work that you've been doing here at Northern Illinois but let's talk a little bit about yourself uh this is your second year back with Northern Illinois but it is not your second year overall at Northern Illinois you spent a long time here before as well tell us a little bit about your career journey and how you got to the position that you're in right now sure so I actually attended ni as a student um and worked as a student manager with our football team throughout my time in school um after graduation I was hired full-time to work with baseball softball gymnastics and wrestling uh I did that for a little while and then moved over to be the head equipment manager for our football program um full-time uh was in that role for a few years before taking the same role out at Temple University um after a little over four years there I had the opportunity to come home and be a part of this amazing athletic department again so um it's really been awesome being home um and back at back with the Huskies how has the experience differed a little bit from the last time you were around um so equipment was what I did as a student and so uh it's kind of what I knew what I was comfortable in um kind of got to a point where you know every day is different but a little bit of a routine um so this time has been really cool because I've been able to help our young equipment managers grow and develop and see the way that they're Blossom blossoming in their careers um but also at the same time Sean Sean Frasier has given me an opportunity to take a step outside of my comfort zone in this retail side of things um and I appreciate him for allowing me to do that he's um someone who's really helped me with my growth in my career so um but again like I said earlier too everyone in NIU Athletics every department has had their hand in this and so it's been really awesome to Branch out and work with all the different departments um in in various ways to make it come to life and then I just want to make sure we're clear on this how much free merchandise did you say you're going to throw my way you know what don't worry about it we'll we'll we'll sort it out off the air okay shinberg the associate athletic director for brand and Equipment management thank you so much for enlightening all all of us about some of the Husky gear that's available at Northern Illinois and thanks for your time today on na weekly thank you before we say goodbye on this first episode of NIU weekly for the 2024 25 school year want to take a look at some of the uh sports that are coming up this week at NIU and around the country involving NIU teams it is an exciting week here on campus because it is the first week of classes and of course the first full week of an athletic schedule as well both of the soccer teams the men's and the women's teams were able to get underway last week each team already has a win under their belt but it's a full week of action for them as we look ahead to uh Thursday night Thursday afternoon actually women's soccer is at home against Southern Indiana and the men's team heads out to Tennessee they take on Memphis that's a 7:00 game on Thursday night uh both teams are back in action on the weekend as well on Sunday men's soccer takes on Green Bay right here in Cal that's a one o'clock start time and the women's team goes up north to Michigan uh they'll take on Oakland University in Rochester Michigan Friday big day of course for volleyball as they open the season against Western Illinois it's a six o'clock start time on Friday night and that is the season opener for volleyball the next day Western Illinois stays on our minds because the game that we've been talking about throughout much of today's show the football team takes on Western Illinois that's a 2:30 start time at Husky Stadium on Saturday so of course we'll see you there and then Sunday I already mentioned the two soccer games volleyball is also in action on Sunday they take on Milwaukee that's a home game on Sunday afternoon at 3 and men's golf gets rolling it's the Island Resort interc Colgate all day both Sunday and Monday name's a little misleading Island Resort I thought was going to be some exotic local it's actually actually in Bark River Michigan uh which is a beautiful location itself up in the Northern penin the Upper Peninsula uh Northern Michigan so that's men's golf on Sunday and Monday so all of the Fall sports are getting rolling here at NIU very exciting time in the school year very exciting time to be a Husky and that's going to do it for our first episode here in 2024 of NIU weekly I hope I didn't make you miss Andy too much it was a lot of fun uh big thank you to Our Guest today Thomas hammock the head coach of the huskys football team and of course paig shinberg the associate athletic director for brand and equipment management remember the first football game of the season is coming up this Saturday we'll be talking to coach hammock throughout this season on NIU weekly and we'll be joining you uh appropriately enough for a show called NIU weekly we'll be joining you every week with updates on NIU Athletics throughout this fall so uh don't miss the season opener on Saturday at Husky Stadium 2:30 start time and don't forget as well to listen to the broadcast you can do that from inside the stadium or of course from home as well uh wherever you happen to be make sure you have your radio with you 949 WD KB in the calb uh if you're not inal you can also find us on the TuneIn app and you can also go online as well 949 wdkb docomo it for our first edition this school year of NIU weekly thanks so much for joining us Terry badana here I'll be back next week and hopefully we'll be talking about a huskys win we'll see you then [Music]