The only sounds on the playing field at Huskie Stadium Monday were those of the March winds playing out winter’s last hand.

But inside the superstructure, it was business as usual for the NIU coaching staff on a day designated as a break from spring workouts. According to Huskie assistant Pat Ruel, a coach’s work is never done.

“If you want to be good you’ve got to work harder than the next guy. We’re getting up earlier and spending more time in the meeting rooms,” Ruel said.

uskie working days have seen blue collar shifts of 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Ruel said “every once in a while you get rambunctious and you end up leaving at 7:30,” but added he has yet to spend a night sleeping on an office couch.

ead Coach Jerry Pettibone began his third NIU spring practice last week, with a coaching staff that had undergone a bit of shuffling in the offseason. Pettibone said keeping a full roster in the Huskie braintrust was no problem.

“First we had Lawrence Cooley move on to Ball State to coach their offensive line, and we needed an offensive coach. Then Coach (Sam) Sample resigned to leave coaching. That created a spot for recruiting coordinator. That all happened around the same time,” Pettibone said.

The departures of Cooley and Sample were announced by Pettibone on the same day, Jan. 13. At that time, the Huskie boss said the positions of offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator would be filled within a month.

But no outside applicants needed apply for these jobs. Already in the Huskie ranks were two men who Pettibone said were naturals for the positions—Ruel on the line and defensive assistant Russ Graham for recruiting.

“It became obvious that Russ Graham would be an excellent recruiting coordinator,” Pettibone said. “He’s an ex-NIU player. He knows a lot about the university and the program. That situation—moving Russ to recruiting—created an opening on the defensive side.”

Pettibone had to go outside to fill the gap on defense, coming up with Nebraska-Omaha defensive coordinator Gary Evans to man the secondary.

Mike Sabock, who had run the secondary for four seasons, moved to coach the Huskies’ outside linebackers. Pettibone said Sabock’s job will remain essentially unchanged, since the outside linebacker in this year’s 4-4 defense will perform the same duties as the safety in last season’s 5-2.

Another outside assistant was hired to fill the hole on offense. Jay Shaake came to coach offensive backs from Wyoming, where the wishbone is also the offensive plate of choice.

In sizing up his new lineup, Pettibone said Evans “will bring a lot of expertise” to the secondary while Shaake arrives with “great background working with the wishbone.” Pettibone spoke especially highly of Ruel.

“I really felt like Coach Ruel did an excellent job coaching the quarterbacks and fullbacks last season,” Pettibone said, “but all his experience came on the offensive line. He’s one of the finest offensive line coaches in the country.”

uel, who has 14 years of offensive line coaching experience, said he is most comfortable coaching the linemen. Of his stint as backfield coach, Ruel said, “I don’t consider that one of my more successful jobs in coaching.

“We were put in a difficult position (with other staff realignments) and I thought it was a good opportunity for me. In coaching the line, I feel one of my main jobs is to develop toughness, whereas in the backfield, that being a skill position, I thought I had to change my approach. That was wrong. You have to be yourself.”

uel said he has had no problems going back to coaching the line. Although his job experience alone might account for that, Ruel credited the continuity of the offensive scheme for making things run smoothly.

“This is the first spring in four years we’ve had the same offense,” Ruel said. “Mike Summers, Bob Jackson and myself will run the offense, and those two have a great understanding of what we want to do.”