The NIU football program is always looking for exposure to enhance recruiting, and perhaps its most potent tool these days is the head coach’s Charlie Sadler Show.

The show is produced at NIU and broadcast via SportsChannel Chicago and WIFR television in Rockford.

Sadler is allowed under his NIU contract to pursue “any opportunities you may have for a coach’s show on radio and/or television; you may solicit and procure sponsors for same; and you may receive any net revenue derived from these ventures, as per your agreement(s) with the producer(s) of any such show.”

Prior to this year’s agreement with WIFR, all NIU coach’s shows were aired exclusively on SportsChannel, the Chicago- based sports cable outfit.

NIU Athletic Director Gerald O’Dell said that he would like to generate extra income for Sadler through the show, but that, so far, the show’s income is just covering production costs.

“Our goal right now is to cover operating costs, but we’d like to provide our coaches with some benefits,” O’Dell said. “If we could generate extra income, we’d like to do so.”

A coach’s show is one of the added benefits NIU uses to entice coaching candidates.

“It seems a constant criticism is that we can’t keep good coaches; we have a limit in terms of salaries so we’d like to generate extra income for them through a coach’s show,” O’Dell said.

NIU’s agreement with SportsChannel and WIFR calls for a split of the show’s advertising time, with NIU’s portion of advertising going to athletic department corporate sponsors.

The athletic department pays NIU back all production costs, O’Dell said.

The extra visibility for the football program is the show’s biggest benefit, O’Dell said. “The greater exposure helps us tremendously,” he said.