Ninth-year NIU football coach Joe Novak has not had an easy road to success. His program has endured the deaths of two players (Shea Fitzgerald and Jawan Jackson), the loss of star running back Thomas Hammock in midseason to a heart ailment, a 23-game losing streak and an embarrassing encounter with the NIU drum and bugle corps that received national attention. Through it all, 59-year-old Novak has stuck to his guns and has a successful, winning program to show for it.

Northern Star: You seem more tan than you have been before.

Joe Novak: Oh, I don’t know. I’m a beach guy. Every summer we go down to North Carolina and the beach down there. In the spring, my wife Carole and I go on a little trip to where it’s warm and the beach is. My wife and I both love the water. I try to be outside when I can, and of course with football practice, you’re out there.

NS: Have you thought at all about how much longer you want to coach?

JN: A few more years. I love coaching. It’s been a great experience, but as you get older in this profession, it gets harder. These kids are young. I really think it’s a young man’s job. This will be my 37th year, and it seems like yesterday. But I do enjoy other things. I enjoy traveling. I love to read. And both those things you can’t do when you’re coaching football. I’m going to coach a little bit longer, but I won’t be coaching when I’m 70.

NS: What are some places you and your wife hope to see when you’re done coaching?

JN: My wife and I have been lucky. The first 25 years we were married, we couldn’t afford to do much, but lately we’ve been to Hawaii three times and around the Carribean a little bit. I’d like someday to travel all over Europe, and there’s a lot of this country I haven’t seen.

NS: What sort of books do you like to read?

JN: I certainly love sports books, I love to read about coaches and athletes. I love to read historical things, especially about generals. Biographies, not just sports but all sorts of biographies. I like easy reading. I don’t like to have to dig in and think a lot. I like to be entertained when I read.

NS: You’ve had to deal with some real tough times during your time here.

JN: I’ve coached for a long time. I don’t think in an eight-year stretch I’ve been involved with so much. You don’t think of ever losing players, and we’ve lost two here. That’s just unbelievable. And then Thomas Hammock. Here’s a healthy, vibrant guy, and one day he’s playing and the next day he can’t play anymore. Those are things that a team usually doesn’t deal with. That’s been extremely difficult. The drum and bugle corps thing was obviously a very embarrassing situation. Every program has some things they’ll deal with, but I think we’ve had more than our share. But when you deal with things like that, it makes you stronger in the long run.

NS: As a coach and a leader, how did you motivate your players to get focused on football again after the hardships they’d been through?

JN: These kids work so hard in the offseason, football season’s payday. This is why they’re up at 5:30 in the morning all winter. This is why they stayed here all summer and committed themselves. So this is payday now. In two weeks, we play a game. This is exciting. This is the fun part. If I’ve gotta motivate them now, there’s something wrong.

NS: What would you have said six years ago if someone said you would be in the position you are today, with a successful program and coming off a 10-win season?

JN: It’d been hard to believe. At that point, we were just fighting to get our head over water. I’ll be honest with you – there were days I wasn’t sure we were going to get there. Twenty-three games in a row. Not too many people in that profession have gone that far. There were days, and I’ve told people this, I questioned everything I was doing; I questioned my ability; I questioned everybody around us. And if we did anything right, we stayed the course. We stayed with it, and thank God it worked out. But I’ll guarantee you, there were days I wasn’t sure if I was good enough, if my staff was, if my players were. But we stayed the course, and I think that’s the best thing we did. To tell you we would beat Maryland, Alabama, be 12th in the country – I was hoping that would happen, but honestly I wasn’t ever sure if that would happen.