Northern Illinois University is the best kept secret in the Midwest.

If that sounds familiar it’s probably because every NIU coach and athletic department administrator has said that at one time or another.

Now we know why.

The Huskies are getting virtually no live television exposure.

Ever since repair work began on the Holmes Student Center last year and SportsVision’s microwave dish was removed, the cable station has been unable to broadcast live from NIU. The HSC is the only NIU building tall enough to meet SportsVision’s needs.

As a result, the NIU men’s basketball team has been on live television once this season. That was Saturday’s game against Loyola at Chicago’s International Amphitheatre.

True, the way the team has been playing, maybe there’s no rush to get back on live TV. But what about the 7-4 football Huskies, the North Star Conference champion volleyball team, the winningest-ever wrestling team, the nationally-ranked men’s gymnasts and the record-breaking women’s basketball squad?

Yes, there are a few winners on this campus who might benefit at recruiting time if they could get more visibility. Even Jim Rosborough’s basketball squad didn’t look too bad Saturday as it scored 94 points, albeit in a losing cause.

What’s puzzling is the “What issue?” response coming from the two people at NIU who should know the most about this situation—Athletic Director Gerald O’Dell and President John LaTourette. Though the plan for the remodeled HSC roof would prevent the dish from being put back on the building, neither O’Dell nor LaTourette seems concerned.

If I’m not mistaken, the idea behind getting out of the Mid-American Conference was so NIU could go prime time. Sorry, but a 12:30 a.m. replay of a game played two days ago ain’t gonna cut it.

What makes things more disturbing is SportsVision’s apparent interest in Huskie athletics. Jim Corno, general manager of the station, actually finds NIU athletics attractive and wants to do more live events from DeKalb.

So here sits NIU with all its winning teams waiting to burst onto the national scene. And SportsVision, with its 1.3 million subscribers, most of which live in the prime recruiting grounds of Chicago, remains unable to help.

If you’re not convinced that television can have an impact on recruiting, tell that to coach Jerry Pettibone. Thanks to a game shown on ESPN two years ago, a talented wishbone quarterback from Florida decided NIU was the place to be (apparently he didn’t visit until the snow melted).

Granted, SportsVision does not have the same coverage as ESPN, but it does reach folks in South Bend, Ind. (Notre Dame), Champaign (University of Illinois) and, of course, Chicago.

NIU cannot afford to ignore its one source of television exposure. Or did the university ink a deal with CBS that nobody knows about?