Recruits and the 2003 schedule were among the topics NIU football coach Joe Novak discussed Thursday afternoon during the Coaches Corner radio show at the Blackhawk Food Court in the Holmes Student Center.

With about 120 people in attendance, the hour-long show was hosted by Craig Hess, sports director of WLBK radio in DeKalb.

With Iowa State, Maryland and Alabama already marked down for the 2003 schedule, the Huskies are still searching for their final non-MAC game.

“We were looking at Elmhurst and Loyola,” Novak joked, “but we forgot they don’t have teams. We’re not sure who we’re going to get now, but we’ll have to get one soon.”

Associate Athletics Director Robert Collins said that it is high probability that the final game will be against a Division I-AA team.

Of the 12-game schedule, home games are expected to be against MAC teams Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Ohio and Western Michigan, then Iowa State and Maryland.

Action for the fans will begin on April 17 when the Huskies’ annual Spring Game takes place.

Of the 20 recruits that NIU signed to National Letters of Intent on Wednesday, Novak predicted that only 8-10 of them would become impact players.

“Of the league-leading 11 All-MAC players we had this year, five of them were walk-ons,” Novak said. “Realistically, usually only 35-percent of players make an impact.

“With 85 scholarships it sounds like a huge number, but the game is more physical nowadays and you are going to lose some kids to injury.”

Novak also talked about the differences in recruiting kids from when he first took the head job at NIU in 1996 to now.

“A couple of years ago we would tell kids that were coming in here that they were going to help build a program,” Novak said. “Now we are telling them they are going to help us win a championship.”

The Coaches Corner is broadcast weekly on WLBK-AM (1360). It is open and free to anyone, and will focus on Huskie basketball for the next three Thursdays.