Thomas Hammock is leaving Northern Illinois after seven seasons as head coach to return to the NFL for an assistant coach job with the Seattle Seahawks.
NIU announced the move Wednesday morning, and athletic director Sean T. Frazier named defensive coordinator Rob Harley interim coach. ESPN reported Hammock will be the running backs coach and senior offensive assistant for Super Bowl-winning head coach Mike Macdonald, with whom he served on the Baltimore Ravens coaching staff earlier in his career.
The move comes with NIU set to make the move from the Mid-American Conference to the Mountain West in 2026.
“Under Coach Hammock’s leadership, the Huskie football program has achieved historic milestones on the field as well as academically over the last seven seasons,” Frazier said in a statement. “His passion for NIU and commitment to developing young men – on and off the playing field – will be his legacy; I know he has left a lasting impact on the players he coached and on his alma mater.
“His genuine love for NIU made his decision to leave at this time very tough for him. A Hall of Famer, he will always be a Huskie and I hope all of Huskie Nation will join me in thanking Thomas for all he has given to NIU as we wish him all the best in the future.”
Hammock, a former NIU running back, went 35-47 with a 2-1 bowl record in his tenure. The Huskies won the MAC championship in 2021. His 2024 Huskies made waves when they upset eventual College Football Playoff finalist Notre Dame 16-14 in September of that season. They went on to win the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl that season.
NIU had three winning seasons under Hammock, but in the Name, Image and Likeness era, the Huskies never quite returned to the level of success they experienced in five straight seasons of 11 and 12 wins from 2010-14 under three former head coaches.
Hammock served as a running backs coach at NIU under former coach Joe Novak, and at Wisconsin, Minnesota and with the Ravens, the latter from 2014-18 until NIU hired him as head coach.
“Representing the Cardinal and Black of Northern Illinois University as a player, alumnus, assistant coach, and head coach has been the honor of my life,” Hammock said in a statement. “To Sean Frazier, my mentor, thank you for the incredible opportunity to lead, guide, and mentor the young men in this program over the past seven years. I hope I have left a lasting impact on our players the way Coach Novak left one on me.”
NIU went 3-9 this season after a slew of transfers departed, including quarterback Ethan Hampton, who was the backup at Illinois.
Hammock went viral over the summer for his comments imploring athletes to take into account more than just money and attention when transferring.
“I have a tremendous passion for helping student-athletes, and that’s why I came back to college, just to help mentor and guide and lead young men,” Hammock told the Tribune in August. “That’s been my life’s work, and something I think is important. When this is something that you’ve been committed to for 20-something-plus years, and all of a sudden the values and things that you grew up on no longer matter, that’s what’s kind of hard to take.”
Harley joined NIU last January after four seasons as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Arkansas State. The former Ohio State safety from Elmhurst also spent six seasons as linebackers coach at Pittsburgh.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/18/thomas-hammock-northern-illinois-seattle-seahawks/
