Many know Eric Luzzi as the NIU head men’s soccer coach.

But when Luzzi is not on the sidelines coaching the Huskies, one might wonder what else he does.

Chances are good that you could find him in the kitchen cooking up some pasta.

Luzzi discussed what got him started in cooking, his favorite meals to prepare, as well as his favorite pre-game meal in a recent interview with the Northern Star.

Northern Star: What do you like most about coaching soccer?

Eric Luzzi: Building a team, I think it’s pretty cool to go and recruit kids from all over the country, all over the world, and bring them here to DeKalb, Ill. and over the course of their four years, get those guys on the same page, get those guys to care about each other, get those guys to buy into what we want and build a really tight team.

We generally have good success with that, and it makes my job enjoyable, and I think ultimately it makes the guys experience enjoyable.

NS: I heard you like to cook, so what is your favorite meal to make?

EL: Any sort of pasta dish that has like a cream-based sauce.

So I have a mushroom alfredo sort of thing that is pretty good.

I have a vodka sauce and penne sort of dish that is kind of like a combination of alfredo and tomato sauce. It’s quite good.

NS: What is your favorite pre-game meal?

EL: I guess if we are talking pre-game, the night before the game, it would be anything Italian.

I absolutely cannot get enough bread with olive oil and Parmesan cheese.

I can eat that for every meal if I had to.

That’s not really the sort of thing we should eat three hours before a game, but the night before it’s great.

NS: Do you ever cook for your team?

EL: Yes, generally what we will do, the night before the conference tournament, we will have the guys over at one of the coaches house, and I will make that tomato alfredo sauce that I just described for the guys.

I think they enjoy it. They better enjoy it.

I have a much better pallet than any of these 18 year olds, so if I think it’s good, they better enjoy it.

NS: When did you start cooking, and what got you into it?

EL: I guess you hit a point where you live by yourself, you live away from home, you’re done with college, you’re an adult, before you’re married and you have to feed yourself.

It’s pretty unhealthy to rely on fast food all the time, so I think maybe two years into when I was coaching my last gig at St. Mary’s [I started cooking.]

It was me, my assistant coach and a couple other coaches living in the same house, and I just started to cook for all those guys.

It was fun, and some of the stuff was starting to get pretty good, so I just kept it going.