Mike Kunigonis has been baseball’s head coach for a little more than two weeks, and the first-time Division I head coach is “excited” to lead the Huskies.

Kunigonis, 34, is the fifth head coach since the program was reintroduced in 1991. He replaces former skipper Ed Mathey, who cited family reasons for resigning Nov. 20 to return to his alma mater, North Central College.

“Yeah, it’s been a little bit of a whirlwind,” Kunigonis said. “I’m excited to be here, obviously, but there’s a lot of things that when you come into a new position and when you make that transition to be a head coach there’s a lot of different stuff that you think you’re ready for, but you’re never really ready for it until you get there and can attack it head on. It’s been awesome.”

Kunigonis, brings with him a track record of recruiting from the Midwest. Now, he plans to develop homegrown talent instead of extracting it from the Chicagoland and Midwest areas and moving it to the East Coast.

Kunigonis also packs an offensive punch in his arsenal. He took over hitting coach duties at Virginia Tech in 2010, and the Hokies grew into one of the top offenses in the country. Their 2013 offense ranked Top 25 in the nation in five categories, and the 2014 offense posted the ACC’s top offense.

The Huskies have been going through individual practice time in which the coaching staff is allowed to work with the players for two hours of skill work per week. The team’s first day of practice is Friday, and the season opener is Feb. 13 in Clarksville, Tenn.

Takeaways from Virginia Tech

“I’m lucky to [have] work[ed] for [former head coach] Pete Hughes and [current head coach] Pat Mason during my time at Virginia Tech. Those guys were very big in my development as a coach and my development to become a head coach because those guys gave me responsibilities in every facet of the program and allowed me to kind of find my way a little bit with some different things.

“At one point or another in the past seven years I’m 99 percent sure I handled 99 percent of the day-to-day operations from one time to another. Obviously, not all at once, but through the course of that seven years.”

Path to DeKalb

“I knew coach Mathey, and when that whole thing happened I had an opportunity just to talk to him and say, ‘Hey, listen, I’d really be interested. Can you give me a little bit more of the ins and outs of the program?’ He had obviously nothing but glowing things to say about this place, and it just seemed like a great place to have an opportunity to become a head coach. And then it just kind of steamrolled from there where you apply and you do all that stuff. And then here I am.”

Initial impression of administrators

“Sean [Frazier], Dr. [Doug] Baker have a huge vision of what they want NIU to be. … That strategic plan for facilities is just the icing on the cake. I want to be around people that want to be great. I want to be around people that are going to challenge me as well as challenge themselves. And those are the types of guys you want to be around because at the end of the day those are the types of people who win.”

Hitting the recruiting trail

“We’re definitely obviously continue to recruit the Chicagoland area. It is probably one of the brightest hotbeds, brightest spots — however you want to put it — for talent in the country in the greater Chicago area and the Midwest in general. There’s a reason why … most of the ACC, SEC, Big 12 programs at some point or another are in this area, and it’s because of the amount of talent. And there’s more talent than just a few places. There’s enough talent for everybody.

“So, I think that once we start continuing to recruit in those areas and the better we get we’re gonna start to compete for some of the higher-end, more high-profile players in the region.”

Philosophy as a coach

“We’re going to work hard, and we’re going to do the right things on the field and off, in the classroom. We want to develop people on the field, in the classroom and in life because ultimately these guys have to move on and start their own lives in the real world, quote-unquote the real world. We’re hoping to help develop them along their journey.”

Vision for immediate future

“I think we can compete for a MAC title this year. With what we have returning — we have 21 juniors and/or seniors — so 21 really upperclassmen that have been here, that have won the MAC West, so we have some veteran presence on this team that knows how to win. It’s not going to be one of those things where I’m going, ‘Eh, maybe in four years we’re going to win.’ I expect to win this year.”

Long-term vision

“The greater vision, the longevity of it, I look to be able to compete for championships every year, year in and year out, and compete to be in the national tournament every year. That doesn’t mean we’re going to be there every year, but I want to be in the conversation that if we don’t win the MAC, when the NCAA committee sits down they’re looking at Northern Illinois and saying, ‘Do they deserve to be in or not as an at-large big?’ Some years will be ‘yes’ and some years we’ll be ‘no,’ but I want to be in that conversation.”

Offensive approach

“We had success where I’d been prior, but it’s not all Mike Kunigonis. I was lucky enough to work with great hitters that wanted to be great and that bought into a plan and bought into our approach and executed that, ultimately.

“I think we have a group of guys that would like to buy into it. We’re going to see if they can execute it or not. But, I think our mental approach is automatically going to help increase those numbers.”