Thursday, Director of Athletics Sean T. Frazier announced football Head Coach Rod Carey has earned a performance-based, one year extension on his existing contract, according to an NIU media services news release.

The extension keeps Carey in DeKalb through June 2023. He earned the additional year when the Huskies earned a spot in the 2018 Marathon Mid-American Conference Championship game, which NIU won 30-29 over the Buffalo Bulls, capping off a season in which the Huskies went 6-2 in MAC play.

“I would like to congratulate Coach Carey, the NIU football staff and the entire NIU football program on a championship season,” Frazier said, according to a Thursday NIU media services news release. “We are excited that Coach Carey has accepted the additional year to remain at NIU and continue to build on our football championship successes.”

Carey has led NIU to two MAC titles and four MAC Championship games in his six seasons as head coach.

“Our football program has embraced ‘The Hard Way’ mentality, and our student-athletes do things the right way—compete to win championships, graduate student-athletes and serve the community,” Frazier said. “This is, in large part, due to Coach Carey’s leadership and vision for the football program.”

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Carey is second to Joe Novak in all-time victories for a head coach in NIU’s history as a Football Bowl Subdivision institution and ranks 18th all-time in wins by a MAC coach.

NIU’s 37-13 loss to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers in the Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl Tuesday extended its bowl losing streak to six games under Carey, but the Huskies’ bowl game appearances with Carey at the helm make up six of the program’s 13 bowl games as a major college program.

“Anytime you have these incentive clauses activated, it means your team is doing what you want to do which is win games and win championships,” Carey said, according to a Thursday NIU media services news release. “Once the incentive clause was met and we qualified for the MAC Championship game, it kicked in another year, and to me that means the contract is working for everyone. Obviously I’m pleased that we not only got to the MAC Championship, we won it, and I know President [Lisa] Freeman and Frazier are as well.”