NIU football players speak of building a winning tradition at their school. They believe that it can be done by playing Top-20 teams.

Their theory is that by lining up against the likes of Iowa and Florida, win or lose, exposure is built, thus helping in recruiting for future years.

But, really, what’s the use of NIU facing total destruction at the hands of Hawkeyes and Gators if it can’t get its coach to stay overnight?

New Huskie football head coach Charlie Sadler hopes to bring the finer traditions of the University of Oklahoma, where he served as defensive coordinator, to NIU.

But will he stay long enough to witness a transformation?

After six seasons as NIU head coach, Jerry Pettibone skipped town to lead Oregon State. His departure meant NIU would have to name a new coach for the fourth time in 12 years.

NIU fans didn’t flay Pettibone for leaving. He at least had the courtesy of waiting until the season was over to announce his parting, unlike his forerunner, Lee Corso. He decamped with two games left in the Huskies’ 1984 campaign.

My guess is that those two never planned on staying in DeKalb for a great length of time; they were using NIU as a resume enhancer, a stepping stone to brighter things.

That doesn’t mean they were wrong. We all wish to reach the pinnacle of our profession and coaches are no different. Only it’s detrimental to the growth of NIU football.

The athletic department also had to scuttle to find a new men’s basketball coach. Former head coach Jim Molinari had hardly said hello to NIU—he was here for two years—before he was saying goodbye.

His departure to Bradley University was surprising because he was building a winning program here. But the lure of heading an already-established program was too great for him to pass.

Sadler and new basketball coach Brian Hammel should stick around NIU for a while. They should follow the lead of NIU women’s basketball head coach Jane Albright-Dieterle. She took over in 1984, took her lumps and then turned the program into what it is today, one of the top assemblies in the Midwest.

Sports teams can reach a level of prominence here, just ask ‘70s men’s basketball head coach Tom Jorgensen, ’80s football coach Bill Mallory or even Molinari. But it doesn’t happen suddenly.

“I’m in for a marathon, not a 100-yard dash,” Hammel was quoted as saying a few months ago.

NIU fans should hold him to just that.