Joe Novak is a patient man.

Being turned down twice to coach one’s alma mater and enduring a 23-game losing streak will do that to a person.

The NIU football coach also spent 16 consecutive years as a defensive coordinator before getting the NIU job and has stood behind players when they struggled in their early years.

This patience was exemplified by Novak’s father, Joseph, who spent hours gardening on his family’s 2.5-acre property in Mentor, Ohio.

“That was his passion,” Novak said of his father.

Novak’s passion has turned out to be coaching football, and he has had his share of disappointments on the way to success.

Before being hired by NIU, Novak interviewed twice at his alma mater, Miami-Ohio, to no avail.

“[Coaching Miami-Ohio] was a vision I had as a young coach,” Novak said. “When that didn’t happen, twice, that was difficult. There’s going to be things in life you don’t always get.”

Or that you don’t get for 756 days, which is how long Novak went between his first and second wins as the Huskies’ coach.

Novak’s wife Carole knew her husband had a plan.

“He’s a realistic person,” Carole said. “He sets goals. A lot of people want success right away, and he knows that doesn’t usually happen.”

Novak was an assistant college coach for 22 years before former NIU athletic director Cary Groth hired him on Dec. 22, 1996.

For 16 of those 22 years, Novak served as Bill Mallory’s defensive coordinator – four at NIU and 12 at Indiana. Mallory, reached in Colorado, recalls Novak as being the ultimate soldier.

“Joe never complained,” said Mallory, the last coach to lead the Huskies to a bowl game. “He was always very focused, very positive.”

Mallory was impressed with the job Novak did and the patience he showed in getting NIU football back on the right track.

“He didn’t sit around crying, saying ‘I don’t have this’ or ‘I don’t have that,’” Mallory said. “He was bound and determined to get that program turned around. He was very resilient. He hung in there tough – even when things weren’t going so well.”

Novak’s patience extends to his players, who have benefited from Novak not having a quick hook. One of those players is NIU quarterback Josh Haldi, who didn’t look exactly like an all-star in the early stages of the 2002 season.

Novak stuck with Haldi, however, and Haldi was one of 42 signal-callers named on the preseason Davey O’Brien Award watch-list. The award goes to the best college quarterback in the nation.

“There’s no question I struggled early,” said Haldi, who threw four interceptions in his first three starts. “I’m sure I really frustrated him at times, but he stuck with me. That’s a testament to his personality. I’d like to think I showed him that he made the right decision.”

After Mallory led the 1983 NIU squad to a 10-2 record and a win in the California Bowl, he was hired by Indiana, but kept Novak as his defensive coordinator.

Novak led the Indiana defense for 12 years before Groth and the Huskies came calling.

“I started to resign myself to the fact that maybe I wouldn’t have the opportunity to be a head coach,” Novak said.

The Mentor, Ohio,-native said those words with a hint of melancholy, but Carole said Joe was perfectly satisfied being a Big Ten defensive coordinator.

“He wasn’t one of those guys who was always looking for the next job,” Carole said. “It wasn’t a great source of frustration for him.”

Novak may not have a next job this time. He is 59 years old and has said that he looks forward to retirement.

He and Carole bought property this summer in Southport, North Carolina and said there is a good chance they will retire there. So the end is in sight for the man who turned NIU from a national laughingstock into a perennial MAC powerhouse.

His contract runs out after the 2007 season, when he will be 62.

“There’s a chance that might be it,” Novak said.