After facing Hurricanes on the athletic field, NIU men’s athletics also had to battle unchartered waters on its new athletic ship.

NIU had its baptism in independent waters this year after leaving its 13-year affiliation with the Mid-American Conference, but came upon a series of rough waves. Stormy forecasts started with the football team’s 2-9 record that included losing those games by an average of about 20 points.

The men’s basketball team weathered its seasonal storm in a 9-19 season with problems off the court receiving as much attention.

Rays of sunshine came late in the year in the non-revenue sports. The men’s tennis team finished the regular season 30-10, including winning its last 15 matches. The men’s gymnastics team completed its year ranked 20th in the nation, and Carlos Fulcher became another in a string of All-Americans for coach Chuck Ehrlich.

NIU also had events stealing the thunder off the playing field. NIU President John LaTourette ordered an internal and external review to look into NIU athletics, and the internal committee’s report might change the way the athletic department functions in the future.

Men’s basketball player Jerry Williams unsuccessfully attempted to regain his eligibility by challenging the university grade point average minimum.

Men’s Athletic Director Robert Brigham plans to retire in two years, but a recommendation from the internal review committee to have only one athletic director might not agree with that plan. For this year, Brigham saw some highs and lows.

“It’s been a mixed bag,” said Brigham. “The low point, of course, is we didn’t win more games in either football or basketball. But I think the high points are that we didn’t play before with 300,000 people, and we did play the 14th strongest schedule (in football) in the United States. And we did not come out of that disgracefully.”

Brigham said he originally thought the football team would win five or six games but said playing West Virginia, Iowa, Wisconsin and Miami (Fla.) in the first six games might have played a part in the final showing. He did not say directly that NIU was overscheduled.

“Well, of course overscheduling depends on the strength of your own team,” said Brigham. “Wisconsin did not have a banner year. West Virginia did not have a banner year. We were playing some of those teams at the right time. Scheduling is very difficult.”

Brigham said looking back, he might have preferred playing the 1987 football schedule in 1986. But he said he was not able to make a prediction on the outcome in advance.

“We’re out to schedule 1993 now, so we don’t know how the ‘92 season’s going to go. You have to take your best guess at what you’re trying to accomplish, and one which gets overlooked constantly is that we’re Division I-A, which requires seven Division I-A teams on your schedule.”

Brigham said he was surprised by all the elements on and off the court in basketball but said that has allowed Coach Jim Rosborough to start from scratch with his own players.

“We didn’t expect so many difficulties to pop up in one year,” said Brigham. “But that has given Coach Rosborough the opportunity to recruit his athletes at a much faster rate, so in the end his team will be well-served for that.”

Brigham said NIU’s basketball attendance took a bath—less than 2,000 per-game average—for three reasons. New opposition after leaving the MAC, some new players and Rosborough as the new coach. But he said he did not believe Kenny Battle’s departure to Illinois had an effect.

While the women’s athletic program joined the North Star Conference in February, NIU has remained on the shore as an independent. Brigham said nothing is new in that scenario.

“We’re trying to get ourselves organized as an independent, but we will, of course, want to look at conference affiliation, search for it, particularly for basketball,” said Brigham. “Football is better off as an independent. Some of the other sports are, too. Wrestling operates better, gymnastics operates better. There’s more qualifications to the NCAA championships through that road.”

Brigham said he expects winning seasons in football and basketball next year. He said the football team has no apparent weaknesses and has depth and also said Rosborough probably had the poorest record he would ever have at NIU.