If Huskie tailback Michael Turner bounces off a tackler and takes it to the house against Maryland in this season’s opening game, no one will be more happy than Mike Korcek. This is because his job has just been made a whole lot easier after another awe-inducing Turner move.

As NIU’s Sports Information Director, Korcek is responsible for handling the public relations for all of NIU’s sport teams. This includes creating comprehensive media guides and prospectuses, organizing press events and aggressively contacting media outlets to gain attention for NIU sports.

However, it’s dealing with the athletes rather than the media that Korcek enjoys the most.

“I would say dealing with the student athletes is my favorite part of my job,” he said. “It’s a great perk. It makes you feel young. You see young people come through here, and Northern gives them a stage or platform to launch their careers. That’s the fun part – seeing our young men and women go out and go on and do so many great things.”

Korcek has seen success stories come out of NIU because he has been on campus since the ’60s. During his stint as a student, Korcek was a Northern Star sports editor and later worked in the same office as he does now. Post-graduation, Korcek was drafted and spent time in the service as a reporter for the European Stars and Stripes. He returned in December 1973 to the Office of Sports Information and hasn’t left since. He rose to director of the office in 1984.

If Turner, the leading returning rusher in Division I-A, is to capture the elusive Heisman Trophy, Korcek and his staff will have to fight for media attention from a media more comfortable focusing on more well-known schools. An expansive campaign already is in the planning stages.

“I am looking for ways to make him unique,” he said. “One, we are going to to use the whole idea of Turner the Burner. It’s trite, but it’s lyrical and memorable. We have got some really interesting things cooking, but it’s premature to talk about them. We are going to send our football prospectus out soon, and it will be the biggest in this school’s history. We will have a Web site. A big thing for us is to get foothold or toehold on Chicago.”

Robert Hester, associate Sports Information director, said Korcek is successful because of his dedication and experience.

“Mike’s been around for a long time, and he has seen it all with Northern Illinois Athletics and really taken it in,” he said. “I think the biggest thing about him is that he has got a passion for what he has done here. This is really his school. He can relate to everybody and the issues we have gone through. He just really keeps that passion going day-in and day-out because he is truly a fan of NIU athletics, and any time you have that much commitment, you are going to do a good job.”

In a time of budget cuts, Korcek thinks sports need protection as they still fulfill an important role in the community.

“I think sports are important because they’re one of the few places where young people can get discipline,” he said. “I think discipline is important, and I wouldn’t have said that when I was in college because my hair was a little long and I had a few radical thoughts. And look at the pride on campus last fall when everybody was talking about football. Yes, there are more important things in the world, but now this is a true community.”

In his spare time, Korcek is a rabid comic book and DVD fanatic and tries to play basketball whenever he can with friends he has made in his 30-plus years at NIU. However, he spends most of his time thinking about his job and the next great idea to capture the hearts and imaginations of journalists across the country.

“It’s my alma mater,” he said. “It’s my school. You open up my veins, and it’s cardinal and black that I am bleeding. It’s a privilege and an honor to be the SID at my alma mater.”