Peter Pan never wanted to grow up, so he didn’t. He spent his days doing what he wanted to do—flying around with Tinkerbell and battling a crippled pirate.

Of course, you won’t find anybody in green tights flying around Huskie Stadium. But you will find a bunch of guys who are as young at heart as the fictional hedonist.

They are the NIU football team’s assistant coaches.

“My wife says it best,” offensive coordinator Pat Ruel said. “She says coaches are no more than grown-up kids. If we could be playing we would be, but since our bodies have given out, we teach others how to play.”

“That’s true,” linebacker coach Mike Sabock said of Ruel’s statements, “but the only difference is my body hasn’t given out like Coach Ruel’s has.”

Like wise men say, it is best to make your living doing something you enjoy. Sabock, a bona fide coach’s son, said as he grew up he knew he would end up in coaching. “There was no question in my mind,” he said.

“When I talk to friends of mine who are bankers and lawyers and what-not, it’s just like they’re working and they’re not super-happy with what they’re doing,” Sabock said. “Shoot, I don’t even feel like I’m working. I mean, there’s some long hours, but most of it is just fun.”

But there are those long hours. Ruel said coaches work “six months out of the year doing 14-, 15-, 16-hour days, concentrating on various things. Between our season and the recruiting year, which begins Dec. 1, our only free weekends would be Christmas and the New Year.

“It’s kind of hard on your family life. That’s the hardest thing about coaching. I mean, I’ve got a baby daughter, and every time I look up, she’s grown more and more,” Ruel said.

The six months between the start of fall camp and National Letter of Intent Day are the marathon stretches for coaching staffs. The summer brings a deserved respite.

“Flipping the coin, during the summer months we do get to see our families a little more than the average person. It’s more of an eight-to-five thing,” Ruel said. “July is really our vacation month. We get two weeks off, and there are no office duties on any strict schedule. That’s the thing that allows us to survive.”

uel, who coaches the offensive linemen along with directing the wishbone, said the focus shifts from coaching to recruiting once the season ends, giving coaches a diversity that keeps them sharp.

“We’re teachers for three and one-half months,” Ruel said, “then P.R. and sales people for two months.”

Looking down from the top of the totem pole, head coach Jerry Pettibone said he is quite comfortable with the crew he has assembled.

“Just as a general statement, I would have to say that this is as fine a coaching staff as there is in the country,” Pettibone said. “I would take this staff and take it to any program and be successful. I feel we have the best mix we’ve had here in three years.

“Both the coaching expertise and the personalities blend well together.”

Pettibone went down the line, offering a word or two characterizing some of his understudies. He called Ruel a “motivator, (with) an excellent offensive mind.” Sabock is “level-headed.” Receiver coach Bob Jackson is “a player’s coach. Excellent recruiter,” while halfback coach Mike Summers is “determined. A hard worker.”

In Pettibone’s opinion defensive coordinator Tim McGuire, defensive line coach Ted Huber and quarterback/fullback coach Jay Schaake are all “excellent teachers.”

ecruiting coordinator and former NIU player Russ Graham is “totally dedicated to Northern,” and newcomer Gary Evans is “a stickler for details,” proving there really is one in every bunch.