NIU’s football history has been one of losing records with occasional moments of glory sprinkled in. We have a problem with our good coaches being lured away to schools with a greater football tradition than ours. This is unfortunate, considering we have the size, location and potential to support a strong program.

Today we have Jerry Pettibone, a winning coach who has put together a winning team. He’s done more to improve NIU’s football reputation than any coach in many years. The team is consistent, they’re good and they keep getting better.

NIU’s new look has caught a lot of attention in a very short time. Our game coverage in the Sunday Chicago Tribune is often as extensive as that for the University of Illinois.

It was not long ago that our write-ups were one paragraph blurbs like the other Illinois schools get. A major sports network is now broadcasting many of our games. If we were not a solid, up-and-coming team, I doubt they would ever have bothered with the likes of NIU.

As it is, we got nearly as much air time as all of the M.A.C. teams combined. As a result of the sports channel coverage, we’re starting to get some game footage shown on the Chicago evening sportscasts. This also notches us one above the multitude of schools that just get their score rattled off. And lastly, we’re getting some words of recognition from the pollsters that track the football conferences and the independents around the country.

Jerry Pettibone, his coaches and his team are a winning combination that is worthy of recognition. It’s a shame one of the only places they’re not getting enough recognition is here at the home of NIU.

The Nov. 4 game numbered a pathetic home crowd of only 5,600. Those 5,600 were good fans, and they saw a great victory, but it is inexcusable that so many NIU students and staff turned their back on something that has accomplished so much for NIU already and promises to accomplish more in the future.

Even a chronic loser school like Northwestern Illinois University, with an enrollment that is much smaller than ours, is able to turn out crowds that are much larger.

We’ve got winning coaches and players here in DeKalb, but they can’t be expected to be enthusiastic if the school behind them is not. A good thing has started here, but its up to you, NIU, to keep it going.

Brian Nigler

NIU alumnus ‘81