Dr. Lisa C. Freeman
President, Northern Illinois University:
 
"Good morning everybody. Welcome to you, and welcome to our new head coach Thomas Hammock. Our Huskie football program is a point of pride for NIU because our student-athletes succeed in competition, in the classroom, and in the community.
 
"As NIU's president and as a fan of the game, I am extremely excited about the future of Huskie Football because I am confident in the ability of our new coach, Thomas Hammock, to continue our tradition of excellence. At NIU, Thomas excelled as a player and as a coach. Moreover, as a student-athlete, he was a First Team Academic All-American in 2001 and 2002. Coach Hammock's energy and experience will be a great addition to our football program and to the larger NIU community.
 
"Both Coach Hammock and his wife Cheynnitha are true Huskies, proud alumni of our College of Business, successful professionals who are committed to making a difference. I am delighted that we were able to entice the Hammock's to come back home to NIU, and I know that this would not be positive without the dedication of our accomplished athletic director Sean Frazier and his capable staff. Let's recognize Sean and welcome to the microphone.
 
"I know that he can't wait to share his enthusiasm for Coach Hammock on this great day for Huskie Football."
 
Sean T. Frazier
Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics, Northern Illinois University
 
"Hello, Huskies! Oh boy I'm fired up. This is a great day to be a Huskie. Let me tell you about that. Again, thanks to President Freeman. She's just been outstanding throughout this process. I've lost my voice because I've been yelling a lot sharing with our team, and it's just been so emotional. You get to a point, you've done so much, you go through a process, and you get the guy you want. You get the guy to come back home to NIU where it started, and I'm so emotional on so many different levels. I love you, Hammock. I love you, Thomas. God bless you, man.
 
"Alright, there's a couple things that - I won't be here too long because you want to hear the man of the hour, but I think it's important we get to know what's going on, and why he was the clear choice, the only choice for us. There's a lot of quality controls involved that go into this process, a lot of things went into this process. A lot of important people that made this happen, so I don't want to misstep. I am a little hoarse, so I do apologize again. Understand, we have a dream team of a search committee. I think it was fantastic to be able to be together and be in a room for a number of hours, days, to review candidates. It was a fantastic opportunity to be able to reconnect on some levels, and also to connect on other levels. First off I want to say thanks to Dr. Mark Groza, our faculty athletic representative. He did a fantastic job and took his time to go through a lot of procedures. I've got a couple of right and left arms, Debra Boughton our Senior Woman Administrator, football sport administrator John Cheney, and yours truly. We got to know each other a whole lot better going through this process. It was fantastic to go through it.
 
"I also want to say our candidates were impeccable. The level and quality that we were able to attract because of the NIU brand, because of what we do, how we do it, was phenomenal. I want to thank them publicly as well. There was additional heroes. Special thanks to these people. They took time out of their day to make this happen in a way where quite frankly, it was quick but comprehensive. Again, I'll say that again, quick but extremely comprehensive. Obviously Dr. Freeman was in it, involved in it, still in it, will be in it as we go forward. Once again, thank you so much for what you do and your leadership. We've got a couple people, the board of trustees who were involved in this process, chair Wheeler Coleman, Vice Chair Dennis Barsema. Thank you so much for what you do along with how you represent and how you lead by example. That was critical in this process because we want to make sure that we have the fit as well as doing the things the right way without compromising standards. It's extremely important as we go through that process. We have the Foundation Board Chair Jeff Yordon, we have Alumni Association board chair Pete Garrity.
 
"Again, being a part of the process, making sure we have the touch points as a part of our system. We also had an executive search firm involved, with Daniel Parker being one of the principles. He was on-hand to help us through this process. In this day and age with background checks, making sure we cross the T's and dot the I's, do all the things that's important for us for our national branding, and they were on the case, and they were extremely thorough as we went through this process, so thank you very much, Daniel.
 
"Then there was a whole host of aggressive Huskies. There were folks that were doing things from a detailed standpoint to go through the process to make sure we didn't lose any candidates, but also too to attract, to make sure we bring back home Coach Hammock which was very important. So, I want to thank senior level cabinet, president cabinet members, staff, students. They worked extremely hard. I thank you wholeheartedly for doing what you did during this process. It means so much to us. So, as we go through here a little bit, a big time welcome to Coach Hammock, his wonderful family, Cheynnitha, their daughter Tierra, son Thomas Douglas (TD). They're having a little travel issues right now. They're going to be here very soon. We're going to open them welcomely, we're going to recreate the magic that we walked through, but they are fantastic and central to our success, so thank you so much to the family. Like I said, this is a great day to be a Huskie.
 
"Today, we usher in the Hammock head coaching era. We usher in an increased passion, grit, and determination. Most importantly, we continue to maintain our tradition of "The Hard Way" mentality. We get after that. It's so important for us to continue what we have because that's where our expectations are. I want to give a look into the evaluation process, a snapshot about what we were looking for. It's so important when we hire coaches of what's the right fit for us. What do we need to have to move us forward? We constantly talk about moving to the next level, so one of the things we were looking for was someone to take our current championship success to the next level. I'm not going to steal Coach Hammock's thunder on that. I wouldn't do that to you Thomas. We wanted somebody who could memorialize that, articulate that, tell us where we need to go. We win championships. There's a lot of them here. That's what we do. We're very proud of that. Now it's time to take it to the next level, and we need to do that. We needed to have a familiarity with NIU, the Midwest, public institution, large media market understanding. There's a lot of complex pieces that go into this job. You need to embrace that. You need to understand that. You need to make sure other people understand that and share that level of excitement with you. We found that in Coach Hammock. I desired a player's coach mentality. Understanding tough love and as Coach Hammock talks about, love tough. These are things that were important to me. Our guys are important to me. Our guys are important to this institution. We need to make sure we have the player's coach mentality and we found that.
 
"We needed to have an ace recruiter, flat out dominate on every level of student-athlete recruitment. That's a big issue for me as a former coach and former student-athlete. Somebody who can straight out recruit and I saw that firsthand and had the opportunity to see that from Wisconsin to NIU to the Ravens. There's no question we got that. We got that big time. We are definitely a force to be reckoned with when it come to that.
 
"Maintain our excellent record of academic achievement, our APR, our GSR. We lead by example. We do not compromise standards. We have a history of excellence, of dominating academically as well as athletically. That was an important aspect of this for us.
 
"Have a family-first mentality. It's clear. We got family. We know it. We embrace it. It's who we are. It's very important for us to continue that level. We wanted someone extremely hungry. I like hunger; it keeps people honest. I want people hungry for this job. I want someone for whom this is their dream job. That's very important. NIU deserves that. We deserve that. This is what this job meant to Thomas Hammock.
 
"The first time I met Thomas it was clear his goal was to be the head coach of Northern Illinois University. That's what it was. It was interesting at that point. I didn't know too much about Northern Illinois University. Well I got to know that quick because I knew this coach was going someplace so I should know what Northern Illinois University is all about. This is his dream job, and that was something that was a part of my quality controls.
 
"Embrace the mantra, the tradition, "The Hard Way". Believe it. Own it. Practice it. Understand what that means as we sung this morning at 7 o'clock. The student-athletes knew it too. They understood what that mantra is. They believe it.
 
"Be an excellent ball coach. Understand all phases of the game, offense, defense, special teams, and have a record of national accomplishment. Obviously that's going to be extremely important. To have that, understand that, to be a ball coach, understand the x's and o's, these things are extremely important to all of us who celebrate Huskie football and we found that as well.
 
"Last, but not least, have the ability to unite Huskie nation. Our football alumni, our NIU alumni, our fanbase, our student body, donors, local, regional, and national supporters. I need that. We need that. It's time, and in Hammock we trust. At the end of the day, that's what it's about. That's how you cultivate a program. That's how you continue the tradition we have.
 
"So I've said a lot, was probably up here a little too long. Let's meet our rock star, our new head coach of NIU. Let's give him a warm welcome, Thomas Hammock."
 
Thomas Hammock
Head Football Coach, Northern Illinois University
 
"That was a lot to follow up. He put the pressure on me. First of all, I want to say it's a great day to be a Huskie and I expect all Huskies to unite. There's a lot of faces in here I'm familiar with. People that helped me become a great student. I see Monique over there. I see Mike Corsick. I'm still waiting to get in the Hall of Fame but I guess Mike Turner beat me to it. Maybe I can make a nice donation and we can make that happen now.
 
"This is our program. It's not my program. It's our program. This program has meant everything to me and I will give it everything I have as head coach. "The Hard Way". I hear it a lot. "The Hard Way". I met with the players this morning and I talked about "The Hard Way" and they kind of looked at me. In the song it says "forward, together forward". We want to talk about the Huskie way. We want to be all-inclusive, where everybody feels a part of it. That's going to be important. It's the hard way and the Huskie way. That's what we need to do.
 
"This has always been my dream. I know you're looking at me and saying "well, maybe not." It has. When I was a GA at Wisconsin, I said I want to be the head coach at Northern Illinois University because I knew what Coach Novak did for me and I want to do the same for others.
 
"First person I want to thank, I want to thank my biggest recruit in history. She's five-star, the highest of the high. I want to thank my wife. She's not here, but she'll be here. I was a freshman, trying to find my way, and bumped into a young lady at Douglas Hall, which is no longer and that's got me down. But I was trying to find my way and bumped into her and she made me recruit. I can promise you that. That was my first experience recruiting, and she's been the rock and foundation of our family. As a coach, your wife does a lot of things and I'm appreciative of what she's done. My daughter, Tierra, my son Thomas Douglas, because we meant in Douglas Hall but also because TD, we want to score touchdowns. So hopefully we can recruit him down the line.
 
"I want to thank President Freeman. Wow. That's all I can say. Her vision, her passion for the university. You'd think she went here. She might have more passion than I do. I look forward to working with her.
 
"Sean Frazier. We know he's not at a loss for words. I'm going to let him do the talking and I'll do the working. We share the same vision and same passion for what this program is and where we want it to go.
 
"When I was a senior, I didn't have a chance to finish the season. I had a heart condition and wasn't able to finish, and I never had my moment of Senior Day. I never had that moment to go out there and recognize my parents. I want to take this opportunity to recognize my mom and my dad, Sherry and Lawrence Hammock. They meant everything to me. They've sacrificed everything for me. I wouldn't be standing here today without them. Also my grandmother's over there. It's a family affair. We're going to have them here at games. We migrated to the Midwest when I was going into high school and we just love it here.
 
"Some coaches I want to thank. I want to thank Coach Novak. Everybody sees him with a smile, but he was tough. He instilled discipline, and I appreciate him for that. I tried to take a little bit of everything from all the coaches I've seen. Coach Alvarez, his vision and how he saw things was outstanding. Coach Brewster, if you met him you have to love him. He's a relentless recruiter and that's what we're going to do here. Recruit, recruit, recruit. If you're going to take things to the next level, you have to have those players and those type of athletes that can make a difference and that's where we need to go. Coach Bielema, his singular focus. We had a 1-0 mantra, and that's what we focused on. That's what we're going to do. We're going to take it one step at a time, one day at a time. Coach Anderson, how to blend family and football. There's a lot of responsibilities as a football coach, but you want your family to be a part of that and that's going to be a part of our program, and then Coach Harbaugh, leadership. You know, you guys watch football. You watch the NFL. Eight weeks ago, the Ravens were nothing, but his leadership and how he stayed firm in the midst of a storm is something that I'm going to take with me.
 
"The 2019 Huskies. What are we? What are we going to look like? To me, it starts with earning the trust in that locker room. Tranisition is never easy. It starts with earning the trust and building the type of men and type of character off the field that's going to translate on the field. That's what those players can expect from me. I think being a student-athlete is a privilege. Don't take it for granted. I was a two-time Academic All-American, so when I talk to kids about going to class and doing the things necessary to be successful it starts there. If I can't trust you to go to class, it's going to be hard to trust you on third down. It's just that simple, so that's going to be the expectation and that's where we're going.
 
"I know everybody wants to know about my staff. These guys are in transit. I've been preparing for this for a long time. I'm looking for guys who are loyal and who will sell my plan and my vision to the team and that they love players. You have to love players. I want them to love their families. I think the players will see that and we'll be able to demand and expect exactly what we need.
 
"I'm humbled and honored to be here, but I understand it comes with great responsibility. This team has won a championship. I think that's the expectation, and we're going to work extremely hard to make sure we can meet those expectations. The reason I wanted this job is to build a legacy. A legacy is not what you leave behind. A legacy is what you leave within. All the qualities Coach Novak instilled in me, I want to instill those in future players and the players currently in the program.
 
"Football-side. Being in the NFL teaches you a lot of things. Number one, you have to optimize your personnel. We're going to be a player-driven system. I'm not coming here and implementing a system. We're going to evaluate the players in the program and make sure we put them in the best possible situation to be successful. Offensively, we want to have balance. Obviously I played running back. Running the football is critical to an offense, but we want to be balanced. We want to run it when we have to and throw it when we need to. We want to be great in situational football. The ball is the program, and we want to protect the ball. We're going to build our team from the inside out, on the offensive line and defensive line.
 
"Defensively, we want to continue the level of excellence that they've had. They play great defense. We want to attack, be aggressive, dominate, and create turnovers. We want to be great in special teams and win the fourth quarter. With anything, recruiting is the lifeblood of a program. Northern Illinois has been a developmental program, and that's what we want to continue to do. We want to develop men, develop players, to meet our expectations.
 
"Finally, to the fans, we need you to come back. We need you to embrace this program as one, together. 'Forward, together forward,' and let's do it the Huskie Way."
 
On why he wants to be at NIU
 "I think you like the toughness of the program, the toughness of the kids. We understand we have strong values here and we are going to do things the right way. That's something I was raised on, something that I grew here and I look forward to continue to instill that."
 
On what advice Coach Joe Novak had for him before taking this job
"Yeah he did. He said, 'I know you love to coach but when you become the head coach, you are going to do a little less coaching. So make sure you are prepared for that."
 
On if Thomas Hammock was the target from the start
Frasier: "I knew of Thomas. We spent some time, some quality time around one of the greatest coaches of all time, Barry Alvarez. So it's hard not to look at that and say, do I want to replicate that? He's in that system but, honestly speaking, this was wide open. You know, I think that the 10 points that I kind of described to you, I really wanted to fit. This place is very competitive operationally, nationally, the challenges that we currently have.
 
"So we just had a really good candidate pool and Thomas quickly rose through the ranks. I knew he would, but he competed at a high level. You know, one of the things that I just loved about the process was that it really showed that Thomas has got that PhD in football. He got it. We talked about that before he left Wisconsin and he went to the pros, and the analytics and the process. As a football guy, I was just so impressed and the committee was blown away by it."
 
On how being a former coach helped in the search process
Frazier: "It got me in trouble, to be perfectly honest with you. You start thinking you know more than what you do and that's why it's so important to have mentors around me, or ADs and coaches. I think the network helped me the most. I think it is important for me to be able to understand the scheme, reflect it.
 
"The best thing about this is I know our kids, I know our players. I know what they needed and I know this institution. These six years have been the best years of my life. It's been really good for me to see it, but it's been challenging now. It's been challenging, but at the end of the day it's been a growth experience for me. So going into the process and being able to hire a coach at this point, I was definitely ready. It was great to be able to articulate that and to hear what the candidates could deliver and execute. That was probably the best thing. Having that football background is one thing but knowing the institutional issues was a whole other situation."
 
On what level this program needs to get to
Frazier: "I am going to let my coach answer a lot of that, but I'll tee it up for him. We win championships here, okay. We graduate at the highest level. It's time for us to get back to the New Year's Six Bowls. We need to get back there. We were there, we know what that looks like. The players have made it clear that that's their objective.
 
"Not to marginalize the league, we have a great league, we have a fantastic league top to bottom, but we have tasted that. We have tasted that excellence and we're almost there. We've got a team coming back that can execute on all levels, all phases of the game. When I talk about the next level, it's to be apart of that national conversation and to be at the highest level. We put together a schedule, the best in the country. I'm really proud of what we have been able to do. So we are going to have an opportunity to show that nationally.  And we got the right coach. I know you're chopping on the bit now."
 
Hammock: "You know, I just think being in a National Football League is the highest level. We understand the margin of error in these games and how important it is to pay attention to detail. When I see next level, I see next level as are we doing the little things possible to help us down the road? We are going to make sure we have attention to detail. We are going to make sure we dot every 'I' and cross every 'T'. We are not going to worry about the long-term results. We are going to make sure we handle the process daily and we take care of the process daily and those things will take care of themselves. It's all about the process. You know you can't get to the end without going through the process and without going to the steps necessary to make sure that I'm putting myself in position to be as good as I can be."
 
On if he had a chance to talk to the players yet and if so
Hammock: "Yeah, you know they were awesome. It sounded like they had a good weight session this morning. I was able to have a chance to talk to them in between and just explain to them, 'listen, you know, it's us.' As a football coach, the last thing you want to do is look at a player and say 'hey it's me against you'. It's us. I need you to perform at a high level and I need to perform at a high level and be accountable to you and you be accountable to me. That's what I really wanted to instill. We are in this together. As we build our staff, as we get going, it's going to be important for us to say 'us' and I think you will like the results."
 
On what role, if any, did the players have in this process
Frazier: "You know, since I have been here, and a lot of processes before here, it's important to have the players involved at some point in the process. I think it's a bit old school now to believe that players not having or voicing what their expectations are is the quickest way to get yourself in trouble if you don't have a heartbeat or a pulse of what's happening on the team. So they had a role of evaluation, relative to understanding who the finalists are what's going on. Let me tell you, it gave me chills to hear the passion, how they articulated what they are doing.
 
"We have got great kids. We have got kids that are extremely passionate about this sport, and not just in football but all of our sports. And they can articulate, they can have a conversation but they want this to be the best and it's so important to get that feedback because I can't do my job if we have got folks, and we bring certain people in, that are not going to be effective. I give them all the resources, money, time energy and everything else but if we can't understand what's going on, what's ticking within that program, we will never be successful. This was an eye opening moment, just like every search process is. It was clear, on all cylinders, based on those 10 points I laid out, that we were on the right path. So kudos to them. They're fantastic human beings."
 
On what he is looking for in his staff
Hammock: "I think I'm right on schedule. Obviously there is a process with the university as far as when you can hire people. So as soon as it is open for those guys to be here, they'll be here. Trust me, I didn't come into this without a plan. I had a plan, I executed the plan and you know I think you guys will be happy with the guys that are going to come in here. One thing that needs to be addressed, we want to be good on offense. We want the offense to match the defense, and if we can do that, we can have a chance to take it where people want to go."
 
On if he talked to any of the recruits you have recently signed
Hammock: "I have to take the recruiting test first, so I want to make sure I'm compliant. I had a chance to meet the compliance person yesterday and I told her we are going to be strict with the rules. We are not going to cut any corners. I have to take the test. Once I take the test, I look forward to having the chance to get on the phone and talk to the guys that signed with this program. Now, in this day and age, they want to know me. They want to know my staff. It's about the relationships and I think they'll know immediately and then I'll have a chance hopefully, with the last two weeks of recruiting to go out and go seem them."
 
On what type of offensive system he expects to employ
Hammock: "I don't want to take the easy way out but it's going to be a player-driven system. We are going to evaluate the guys. I have some plans where we can get multiple eyes on players the way we are going to design the winter program where offense will go one day and defense will go another so every coach can have a chance to see every player. We can evaluate them in a way where we can say, okay this guy does this and this is how he fits. The plays are the plays. I know people say 'oh he was in the pros'. Have you watched us the last nine games? I mean we had Lamar Jackson in and we were tearing it up. So, we are going to adapt to what people do well. We had Joe Flacko the first nine games and then we had Lamar Jackson. We led the league in passing and then when Lamar played we led the league in rushing. What that teaches me is, you have to maximize the people that you have and build your system around them so you can be successful."
 
On being the African-American head football coach in NIU history
Hammock: "You know what, I never look at things like that. I feel the pressure of, I see Travis Moore sitting here, a former teammate of mine. I've got that pressure of that guy looking at me and say, 'that this is our program. How can we make sure we continue to move it forward?' That's the pressure I feel. There's not race or anything like that. All I asked Sean was just give me an opportunity in this process to interview. And if I win, I win. If I don't, I'm good. Just give me an opportunity.
 
"When I came up, initially in the coaching profession, you normally just worked hard and you talked to the AD and you got a job. Now they have a process that he went through and have people and his checklist. I said, 'listen, I have no problem competing. I've always been a competitor. I've never been a hype guy, but I'm a competitor. My passion is to win and win at everything I do and that's what I did throughout this process."
 
On if he will bring anyone over from the Baltimore Ravens' staff
Hammock: "This is college. I think in the pros, it's a totally different game and those guys love the pro game. But I understand, in college, you have to have college football coaches and guys that understand the recruiting and what's involved. So I look for guys that were in college. I look for guys that have done more with less. That's going to be our motto. We are not going to complain. The schedule? Good. We had a mantra that we watched in Baltimore, good. Whatever the situation is good, we embrace it."
 
On what he learned from the pro game he will bring to NIU
Hammock: "Definitely, the one thing is the analytics, the analytics of football. We had game-plan meetings ahead of time so when we got to a game, and situation comes up, it's fourth and one, we knew exactly what we were going to do and we knew exactly what call we were going to make. So I have to try to incorporate analytics, because I think it's a big part of the game. I think it's a big part of football moving forward."
 
On if he expects to call plays on offense
Hammock: "Yeah, I told Sean, a lot of people don't know this, I was calling plays when I was 29 years old when I was at Minnesota, I never bragged about it. I don't need to call the plays. I don't need to be involved that much strictly on the offense. I need to be involved with the whole team, the defense, and the special teams. I'm going to allow my coordinator to call the plays but he understands my vision and what I want it to look like. I will be involved, but I think for him, to have the pressure of saying, 'okay, this is it. This is our offense and we're going to stick to it,' I will be involved in that process. But to call the plays, I'm going to let my coordinator do that."
 
On when he knew he was ready to be a head coach
Hammock: "You never quite know until you do it right? There's going to be some things that come up that I'm going to rely on Sean [Frazier], I'm going to rely on President Freeman, to talk through. I've never been a guy that's been it's my way or the highway.
 
On coaching his alma mater
Hammock: "I'm proud, I'm proud. Having my grandmother here is making me think of my grandfather. When I was young he said you are going to be great. For 30 years I've been chasing that greatness. I want to make this program great and I want to do everything to make my grandfather proud. That's important."
 
On how much relationships in this area impacted his decision to come here
Hammock: "We've moved around quite a bit. My wife's family is from Chicago, and my family lives in Indiana. My parents are here. They drove up last night. This is a big thing. Community is a big thing. Family's a big thing. We're just excited to be here."
 
On what his expectations are for next year
Hammock: "I'm not in a position make any expectation. I want to get working with the players. I want to have a chance to get them and work with them and build it from there. That's the most important thing to me, to go through the process; winter conditioning, spring ball, summer conditioning and when we get to training camp, we're ready to roll."
 
On what the players can expect in a relationship with him
Hammock: "Like I told them this morning, they can expect someone that's going to be demanding, but not degrading. We're going to have an attention to detail. We're going to be on it. We're going to have high expectations of them individually, and we're going to work toward that everyday and that's going to important. I told them to hold us accountable. Trust is not given, trust is earned. I just want an opportunity to earn their trust. If they trust us and believe in us, we're not going to put any limitations on ourselves."
 
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