In the transient world of college sports coaching, five years at one school is a long time. It’s no wonder then that Jerry Pettibone has a lot to say about his former job.

Pettibone, who left NIU in December after five years at the Huskies’ helm, finds himself in Corvallis, Ore. trying to rebuild a troubled football program at Oregon State.

“I’m really impressed with the level of interest in the program,” Pettibone said from his Corvallis office. “The interest in the community and the state is as good as you’d want it.”

But DeKalb and NIU still maintain a prominent place in Pettibone’s thoughts.

“I miss the relationships with the people and the young men in the football program. To leave the relationships with the friends—that’s something I’ll always miss,” he said.

There are some things that Pettibone admits he won’t have fond memories of. More specifically, a 24-7 loss to Northwestern on ESPN last season sticks in the coach’s mind.

“We wanted to beat Northwestern. That loss hurt a lot,” Pettibone said. “More than any other game, that was the big one because I know what that would have meant in the Chicago area, and it would have done so much for the program.”

And off the field, “the biggest frustration was the support for the program didn’t increase in proportion to our success,” Pettibone added. “People need to get behind the program for it to be as successful as it can be.”

During the six seasons that Pettibone led the cardinal and black, 1988’s first-ever NIU win over a Big Ten foe is the game that Pettibone picks as his proudest moment.

“The biggest thrill was the (19-17) victory over Wisconsin at Madison,” he said “(Because of the) price paid by the coaches and the players to accomplish it.”

The Wisconsin win, the three-straight winning seasons, and the national records under Pettibone have the veteran coach confident that he left the program in good shape.

“I think the program is headed in the right direction. The things we were able to accomplish gave a lot of credibility to the program,” he said. “I’m happy we were able to establish a winning tradition at NIU.

“I wanted to do better,” Pettibone adds, “but we did better than a lot of people thought we would.”

And as for new Huskies coach and fellow Texan Charlie Sadler: “He’s a good man and an excellent coach,” Pettibone said. “He’s just what NIU needs.”

While Pettibone is busy recruiting and trying to establish a winning program at a school that has suffered 20 consecutive losing seasons, Pettibone has had time to keep in touch with some of the former players he led on the gridiron.

“The relationships I built with the players,” Pettibone said, “mean more to me than anything else.”