NIU coaching legend Joe Novak passes away at 81

Former Northern Illinois football head coach Joe Novak, who shepherded the Huskies from NCAA bottom-feeders to one of the sport's most recognizable programs, passed away on Tuesday, July 28th, 2026 at the age of 81.

The news, announced by current NIU head coach Rob Harley on Tuesday evening, was later confirmed by multiple outlets.

Novak, who currently sits 10th all-time in Mid-American Conference victories at 62 over 128 games, was best known for establishing a culture of accountability, integrity and hard work in DeKalb, where he played a large role in its emergence as a mid-major football power.

Born on April 19th, 1945 in Mentor, Ohio, Novak began his football career as a defensive end under the legendary coach Bo Schembechler at Miami University in nearby Oxford. Novak was an important part of the end rotation for Miami in their back-to-back MAC championship campaigns in his junior and senior seasons (1966 and 1967), and eventually graduated with a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in education administration a year later.

Novak entered the coaching world right away, hired on as a defensive ends coach at Warren [OH] Western Reserve High School in 1968. Novak took over as head coach five lears later, leading Warren Western Reserve to a 12-0 record and state title in Ohio's largest football division in his rookie campaign, earning 1972 Coach of the Year honors. Novak would post one more season of winning football in 1973 (11-1, state runner-up) before being recruited to work in the college ranks as defensive coordinator at his alma mater Miami under Dick Crum.

Those mid-70s Miami teams earned a reputation as a giant-slayer program. Under Crum and Novak, Miami went 10-0-1 in 1974 and 11-1 in 1975, earning two-straight Tangerine Bowl bids. Miami would beat present-day SEC programs Georgia and South Carolina, respectively, in their two appearances.

Novak then went to Illinois as an assistant under Gary Moeller for three seasons before his first stint at Northern Illinois with Bill Mallory. Novak was the defensive coordinator for the Huskies from 1980-1983, with the final year being a historic campaign.

The 1983 Huskies finished 10-2 on the campaign, winning the Mid-American Conference to clinch NIU's first conference trophy since 1965, and earning a postseason bid for the first time since the 1963 Mineral Bowl. NIU won the California Bowl over Cal State Fullerton by a final margin of 13-10.

Novak followed Mallory to Indiana the next season, and over the next 12 years, the Hoosiers would finish with seven winning seasons and six postseason appearances. Novak also achieved success as a player developer, with six first-team All-Big Ten selections on defense and seven defenders picked for at least one post-season all-star game in his tenure with the Hoosiers.

Novak's defenses were crucial in several marquee upsets over Ohio State in 1987 and 1988, holding the Buckeyes to 10 and 7 points respectively, while also sinking Michigan in a 1987 contest by limiting the Wolverines to 10 points.

The 1993 Hoosier football campaign was one for the record books, as the defense pitched three shutouts and finished seventh in the NCAA in scoring defense.

Novak served for one more season under Mallory at Indiana before being offered the Northern Illinois job in 1995. At that point, the Huskies were once again an independent program after crawling out of a tumultuous two-year tenure in the Big West Conference. The Huskies had not achieved a postseason bid since that historic 1983 campaign, and finished above six wins only three times from 1983-1995.

Success was not immediate in DeKalb for Novak, who won three combined games over his first three seasons, but it was a challenge Novak embraced.

"We could have tried the quick-fix way," Novak is reported to have said. "But I felt, at my age, this is my last stop. I decided I'd do what I believe in, or I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

The administration stuck by Novak despite the results, and it paid off.

The 1998 season would see NIU knock off Central Michigan on Homecoming in the midst of a torrential downpour to snap both a 23-game losing streak and a three-year home losing streak– a result which was met with the prompt removal of the goal posts from Huskie Stadium by a ecstatic fanbase.

"To me the important thing now is that we make winning something that's a little more regular around here," Novak said to the Chicago Tribune at the time. "Still, it was an electric atmosphere. This was a relief for our campus. I think it had to be a tremendous relief for our student body."

Indeed, that win was followed by a victory over Eastern Michigan the next week, and the Huskies would finish 2-9 on the year.

After foundational seasons from 1999-2002, the 2003 NIU squad put the Huskies on the map, with an upset of #15 Maryland at home to kick off the season before an even more monumental upset two weeks later against #21 Alabama on the road.

NIU would bring a 7-0 record (including a third upset win over Iowa State) and a #12 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll into a matchup with #23 Bowling Green for the arrival of College GameDay on campus, a massive achievement for a program which had been on non-pay-per-view TV only once to that point.

The Huskies would go on to lose the game, and eventually fell out of the AP rankings after a 49-30 loss to Toledo in the penultimate game of the regular season, but still finished with an impressive 10-2 record– their best season in 20 years.

NIU's momentum from the 2003 season was immense; over the next four years, the Huskies would win the MAC West Division twice, clinch two bowl appearances and earn a MAC Championship bid.

2004 saw NIU pick up their first postseason victory since 1983, when they took the Silicon Valley Football Classic over Troy by a final score of 34-21.

Novak retired in 2007 after a 2-10 campaign, but his fingerprints were already all over the program; NIU's "The Hard Way" slogan is credited to Novak, while the "Boneyard", which NIU uses to highlight their upsets over better-resourced teams, got its base from the 2003 campaign which kicked off NIU's ascent into a mid-major darling.

Long-time NFL pros, such as Michael Turner, Ryan Diem, Doug Free and Justin McCareins can credit Novak for their success, while over 40 players under Novak earned first-team all-MAC honors and five achieved All-American success.

"My dad told me that I’ve never worked for a living," Novak reflected during his retirement ceremony. "Certainly, in coaching, there’s good days and bad days, but you know what the bottom line is, you’re working with young people. You’re influencing them just like I was influenced during my time as a player, and what a great, great time I’ve had.”

Novak was also responsible for the coaching career of dozens of current and former assistant and head coaches across both the college and professional ranks.

Amongst Novak's most successful proteges were Jerry Kill (who took over NIU upon his retirement), Thomas Hammock (who played under Novak as a halfback before finding success with both NIU and the NFL as a coach) and current Minnesota head coach PJ Fleck, who played under Novak from 1990-2003 and got his coaching start as an assistant under Novak in his final season as head coach.

After his tenure with NIU, Novak was known in the DeKalb community for his continued support of the program. Novak often traveled from his home in North Carolina to attend NIU's postseason bowl games, and made appearances at the MAC Championship Game as well. Novak also spearheaded the fundraising efforts for the creation of the Yordon Center, NIU's student-athlete performance facility, which opened in his final year of coaching in 2007. The academic center inside the facility is named after Novak and his wife, Carole.

The Yordon Center itself sits alongside Huskie Stadium, where he brought the program out of the dregs of the football world.

Novak was eventually elected to the Miami Hall of Fame in 2007, and added as a statue for the university's Cradle of Coaches in 2012, alongside his former coach Bo Schembechler. NIU voted Novak as a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2013.

But above all, his legacy will be his genuine love of the craft.

“I love coaching," Novak said upon his retirement. "God, I loved it! It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”