NCAA Football Northern Illinois Football

It's not going to grab the headlines like the coaching vacancies at Michigan, Nebraska, or Arkansas, but Northern Illinois will be starting a search for a new head coach today as well. Joe Novak has retired as head coach of the Huskies.

"People have always said you'll know when it's time and I promise you, I know it's time," Novak said at a news conference. "Selfishly, it's time for my wife and I. It's been a great, great ride but it's time."

I'm sure a 2-10 record isn't how Novak wanted to go out, but it's not what he'll be remembered for. Novak took over as head coach of the Huskies 12 years ago, and during his tenure he turned a perennial doormat into an actual program.

The Huskies had seven consecutive winning seasons under Novak from 2000 to 2006, and also made two bowl appearances, going 1-1 in those two games. They were also ranked as high as #12 in the AP poll back in 2003 after consecutive wins against ranked opponents Maryland and Alabama.

As of now the leading candidates to take over for Novak in DeKalb are current Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Haywood, Illinois offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, and former Cincinnati head coach and defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, Rick Minter.

Yeah, about that Jones thing? Nevermind:

We are helping Demetrius compile a list of prospective schools that are not on our immediate future football schedules. We will grant him a release to those schools, and we will assist him in settling at another institution as best we can. It's our hope that Demetrius can enroll at an institution at which he might be able to receive a scholarship, possibly be eligible for the 2008 football season and, importantly, continue to make progress toward his degree without interruption.

There is, of course, no mention of their initial decision to not release Jones. Notre Dame backs down (in a totally meaningless dispute) after a torrent of negative media attention and grumblings from Chicago Public League coaches... but is the damage already done? Eh... maybe, maybe not. It's probably more important if they, you know, look like something other than a powder-puff team by the time the year ends.

ND would have been better served by just releasing the kid and letting the story die instead of appearing to screw over a kid who felt he was treated unfairly, but this is the same athletic department that's hired Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, and Charlie Weis. They're obviously not that bright.

So, so weird. And getting weirder.

1) In the story linked yesterday there was no mention of one salient fact in Notre Dame's decision not to release Demetrius Jones: NIU has no scholarships this year and was going to be paying his own way anyway:

He will not be able to receive an athletic scholarship from Northern Illinois this school year without the release-though a spokeswoman for the football program said it doesn't have a scholarship to give Jones anyway. But a lack of release should not preclude Jones from practicing with the Huskies once he clears various hurdles with the school, according to the spokeswoman.

Football scholarships are renewed on an annual basis, so Jones would not be stuck in football purgatory. He would be released from Notre Dame before next season and NIU could give Jones a scholarship at that time if it so chooses.

So the net effect here is zero. We can take back the nasty things said yesterday and replace it with a new question: why expose yourself to that crappy PR for no reason whatsoever? To "send a message"? What is that message? "We don't understand the way the media works?" "We hate the idea of recruiting Chicago?" "Our decided schematic advantage does not extend to the most basic PR concepts?"

Charlie Weis already jerked Demetrius Jones around by pretending he had a real shot at the starting job, then yanking him after a half and telling the media Clausen was the real starter all along, but apparently they're not done screwing with him:

Demetrius Jones will have to pay his own way to Northern Illinois this year.

The former Notre Dame quarterback will not be released from his scholarship, the school decided Tuesday.

"We don't believe that Demetrius' departure was handled appropriately," Notre Dame athletics director Kevin White said.

Maybe ditching the team midseason wasn't the right way to go, but it's not like ND's hands are clean here either. The bait-and-switch with Jones was a move designed to keep him on the roster until the season started so that he would remain an option in case of injury or poor play; if he was never going to be the starter ND should have told him that before so he could make an educated decision about his future.

Weis said he wasn't involved with the decision, but he also told the media he hadn't told his quarterbacks who would start the GT game, which was a lie, and that Jimmah Clausen hadn't had offseason surgery, which was also a lie. So take that with a grain of salt. Notre Dame is scheduled to play Michigan State this weekend; MSU is favored by almost two touchdowns.

It's kind of hard to blame Demetrius Jones for transferring from Notre Dame to Northern Illinois. I'm pretty sure that Jimmy Clausen was thinking "I should have gone to USC" during Saturday's dismantling by the Michigan Wolverines. There was a lot of questions surrounding Jones' exit, and Charlie Weis wasn't very happy with the way Jones handled the situation.

Weis claims he didn't know Demetrius was leaving until 15 minutes before the team got on the bus to go play Michigan. Jones says he let the team know long before then, and that Weis knew. In other words, somebody's lying, and Demetrius will tell you it's Charlie, and it's not the first time he's done it.

Hell, it's the reason Demetrius left.

"When I heard Jimmy was No. 1 all the way through spring and that the only thing keeping him out of the lineup was his surgery, well, that's not what I was led to believe going into the summer," Jones said in a South Bend Tribune story published Monday. "I thought I was getting a chance because coach Weis believed in me. Then I didn't know what to believe anymore."

Whatever Jones' reason for leaving is, it's the smarter move for him. Clausen is clearly the man in South Bend right now and will be the next few years, so Demetrius wasn't going to get a chance to prove himself with the Irish. He'll also be joining a couple of his high school teammates at Northern, who recruited him heavily before he chose Notre Dame.

Also, I was able to catch a few seconds of Northern's game against Eastern Michigan this week, and guess what? Their offensive line protected the quarterback for longer than .5 seconds. I think it's obvious that Jones made the right move.

Industrious work by a NIU Husky board uncovers two things: 1) there is a "Demetrius Armond Jones" listed in NIUs online phonebook as a person student:

             alias: djones8
              name: Jones, Demetrius Armond
             email: xxxxxx
        curriculum: Not Given
                  : Chicago, IL 60621
              type: person student

2) ND's online phonebook also has a Demetrius Jones from Chicago; his middle name is also Armond. Either this is the world's biggest and most unlikely coincidence -- Notre Dame's population of kids plausibly named "Demetrius" is scanty indeed -- or Jones is going to be running around the MAC next year.

General Husky reaction:

OH OH OH OH OH OH

IT'S PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!!!!

(FTR: Peanut Butter Jelly Time.)

(Via Michigan Sports Center.)

Previous: First Quarter II Second Quarter II Third Quarter

TCU is firmly in control of this game with a 30-0 lead so we'll just add anecdotes and observations from here on out instead of noting the various possessions.

Six the hard way... NIU just blocked a TCU punt and returned it for a touchdown to make this game 30-7 early in the fourth quarter. Methinks TCU misses their snapper who got himself ejected just a few minutes ago. That punt snap was poor and the punter had to chase it to his right.

Touchdown TCU, pass to tight end Brett Hecht to put them up 37-7.

Again, this seven win rule is silly. Any of a handful of six win teams could have made this a more compelling game than NIU.

They're stitching up the back of Lonta Hobbs' uniform. You don't see that everyday.

If you're looking for an early star to this bowl season, it's TCU defensive end Tommy Blake who has been all over the TCU backfield today. He has two sacks and half a million TFL's.

Three rushing touchdowns and now... a punt downed inside the five yard line. Not a bad evening for TCU senior quarterback Jeff Ballard.

And there's the Gatorade bath. This one's all but official now.

I think NIU finished with less than 100 total yards. What a sad effort tonight. TCU wins this one 37-7.

Previous: First Quarter II Second Quarter

TCU leads NIU 16-0 after the first half. This game is a dud so far but I'm hoping and praying for a more interesting second half.

Observation: TCU coach Gary Patterson sounds like (in voice) fired North Carolina State coach Chuck Amato.

ESPN's already filled some gaps with the required bowl sponsor interview and sideline interview with San Diego Charger tailbacks LaDainian Tomlinson and Michael Turner, alums of TCU and NIU.

Heh. My brother is at tonight's game and just sent me this message: "It's official: the 2006 Boredom Bowl". He was all excited about being there, too. Humbug.

Previous: First Quarter

TCU leads NIU 6-0 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a four yard touchdown run by tailback Lonta Hobbs.

Boring game so far as these teams trade quarterback sacks and punts. But TCU's threatening to score again as we start the second quarter.

Vitals

Northern Illinois (7-5, 5-3 MAC) vs. TCU (10-2, 6-2 Mountain West)
8 PM Eastern, ESPN2
Spread: TCU by 11.5 to 13

FanHouse Poinsettia Bowl Preview

Pregame

-I'll check in a little later to get this thing started, but be sure and peruse the preview and leave comments here if you'd like.

-Lou Holtz already bringing the funnies. During the ESPN bowl show before the broadcast, it was mentioned that TCU coach Gary Patterson has 9,200 songs on his iPod Nano. Holtz then said something to the effect of "if I tried listening to 9,200 songs I'd die before I finished"