NIU football coach Thomas Hammock leaving for Seahawks job

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Northern Illinois football will begin play in the Mountain West next season. The Huskies coach is headed even further west.

Thomas Hammock, who just finished his seventh season as NIU coach, will join the Seattle Seahawks coaching staff, per multiple reports.

Hammock was 35-47 as Huskies coach, with three bowl appearances (including two wins). After back-to-back bowl seasons, NIU regressed this past year, going 3-9 and finishing 11th in the MAC.

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Prior to arriving in DeKalb, Hammock served as running backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 2014-18. He’ll hold the same position for the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, reuniting with Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald, who was on the Ravens’ staff from 2014-20 before heading to Michigan for a season.

Hammock, an NIU alum, gained national attention following the Huskies’ shocking upset of then-fifth ranked Notre Dame in South Bend on Sept. 7, 2024, becoming the first MAC team to beat a top-5 opponent. The coach was overcome with emotion in his on-field postgame interview.

“I’m so proud of our kids (and) the coaches. They believed. They believed and we came here and got it done,” Hammock said as he came to tears.

“All these guys that been program through the ups and downs and continue to fight. They’re my kids. I’m happy for the adversity to push through matter the situation. I just could not be more proud.”

Hammock also garnered attention for his passionate rant on NIL and the transfer portal last August.

Hammock said the ability to move from program to program has led to misplaced priorities from players and their parents, who he believes increasingly don’t value some of the non-monetary benefits that college can provide.

“I enjoyed my college experience,” Hammock said. “I didn’t get one dime. But the lessons I learned were more valuable than any money you could ever pay me. I appreciate that because that’s long term. People are losing the fact this is short term… Don’t lose focus of the long term. Get your degree and learn valuable lessons that are going to help you in the long term of your life. That’s the whole purpose. This is a transition from being a kid to a grown up. I hope people don’t lose focus of that. 

“Everyone’s talking about everything else besides the most important thing of going to college. Because if you’re going to college to get a couple of dollars, you might as well go get a job. This is too hard to go get a couple of dollars. Learn the lessons that you need to learn to be successful in life for the next 40 or 50 years of your life. I would do it again for free because of the things I learned. That’s why I’m standing here today, because of what I learned in college. Not because of how much someone gave me.”

NIU players will have a 15-day transfer portal window starting five days after the next Huskies coach is hired.

And you thought the coaching carousel had stopped? Let’s take one more spin.

USA TODAY Sports Network reporter Craig Meyer contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock takes RBs job with Seahawks

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