Hello Huskie Fans!
Well, winter has officially hit (brrr!), and around here that means it's time to get to the Convocation Center for Huskie basketball, wrestling, gymnastics and more!
We're just a few weeks into the non-conference season, and the men's team has already put together a five-game winning streak that included a win at DePaul, while the women's team reeled off a three-game winning streak with a pair of wins in Puerto Rico over Thanksgiving Weekend. Rashon Burno's team has talent at all positions and are playing together, while Lisa Carlsen's group is once again pushing the pace and firing threes.
If you have not bought your 2023-24 basketball season tickets yet, there are plenty of games left on the schedule! Check out the
Holidays with the Huskies package or the
MACtion Mini Plans. This week, the Huskie Athletic Fund has a couple of Cyber specials running with discounts on
single game passes for courtside seats and/or Nelson Suite access. If the
Victory Pub is more your style, for just $75, purchase a season pass and receive a free drink ticket and enjoy the food offerings at every game all year! With a bright new court, the Kids' Zone (reminder that all Pup Club members get into NIU Basketball games for free) and new contests and videos at every timeout, Huskie Basketball games have become a really fun, interactive event for the whole family.
On the topic of upcoming, family-friendly events at the Convocation Center, mark your calendars and get tickets – there is another Cyber Week deal for this one – for the holiday country concert by Sara Evans who will be here on Wednesday, December 13 as part of her
Go Tell It on The Mountain Tour. Through November 30
th, get four tickets for just $100 (plus fees) for a savings of more than $75. Use the promo code CONVO at the link.
On Sunday (Dec. 3), the Huskie Football team will learn its 2023 postseason destination after winning its sixth game in the regular season finale at Kent State. I'm really happy for this team, which has worked hard, stayed the course, stayed together and now has a chance to do something that has not been done here at NIU since 2011 and that is to win a bowl game. Reminder that you can get the
Huskies' Bowl Bound gear – the same shirts the team received after the Kent State win - here!
With all of these deals from NIU Athletics, this feels like a holiday shopping edition of Frazier's Corner ??! I've got one more and it's a good one. Our friends at Whiskey Acres Distilling Company in DeKalb have produced and will be releasing next week a special edition NIU Athletics/Whiskey Acres co-branded bourbon. The head coaches and I will be at Whiskey Acres in DeKalb from 4-6:30 pm for the release party, and the bottles – a small batch run – will go on sale at that event. If you would like information on how to pre-order, click
here.
With the end of the semester and the holiday season both in sight, both the Frazier Family and the Huskie Athletics Family have a lot of reasons to be thankful.
All I had to do was look through the
2022-23 NIU Athletics Annual Report, released earlier this month, to see all the competitive and academic accomplishments of our teams and student-athletes last year, as well as the advancements made department-wide in student-athlete well-being (mental health and nutrition), facility upgrades and revenue generation. The Annual Report provides a great picture of these achievements!
We are already building on those successes in 2023-24 as the 2023 edition of our Huskies Invest fundraising campaign saw a record $1,162, 865 raised thanks to 455 gifts. This represented a 10 percent increase in revenue and a 27 percent increase in the number of gifts. The Week of Giving surpassed the $1 million mark for the third consecutive year and none of it could have been accomplished without your support.
Thank you to ev
eryone who contributed to support Huskie student-athletes, programs and projects during the 2023 Huskies Invest Week of Giving!
Of course, I am extremely grateful for our tremendous Huskie student-athletes who so admirably represent Northern Illinois University in competition, in the classroom and in the community every day. I love watching them compete and do what they love to do.
If I haven't already said it, thank you for reading, for coming to the games, buying tickets, following NIU Athletics on social media, and more. Just like we could not do this without our student-athletes, we could not do this without all of you.
Go Huskies!
Sean T. Frazier
Vice President and Director of Athletics and Recreation
