DEKALB, Ill. – A transformative year for Northern Illinois University Athletics, 2025 will be remembered as a year when Huskie Athletics charted a new path for the future, while achieving numerous on-field accomplishments and raising the bar in fundraising as NIU continues to adapt to the changing landscape of college athletics.
A new era for Huskie Football was announced in January as NIU accepted an invitation to join the Mountain West Conference for football beginning in the fall of 2026. A month later, it was announced that 14 of NIU's athletic programs will join the Horizon League beginning with the 2026-27 school year.
With those two moves, NIU secured a future for competing at the highest level, both nationally and regionally, to ensure that Huskies Athletics continues to thrive.
NIU completed its conference alignment for 2026-27 in October as the Huskie gymnastics team accepted an invitation into the Mountain West while the NIU wrestling team became a member of the Pac-12.
As the landscape of college athletics continued to evolve with NCAA House settlement requirements, transfer portal and revenue share in 2025, the need for financial support became even more important and Huskie alumni, fans and friends continued to do their part in contributing generously to that effort. NIU Athletics move to this new national model continues to be innovative in its efforts to reduce expenses while increasing revenues.
The amount of unrestricted donors increased within the Huskie Athletic Fund (HAF) rose by 285 percent in 2025, with unrestricted dollars increasing by 38 percent. The overall number of donors to the HAF increased by 64 percent while the total dollars raised grew by 18 percent during the calendar year.
Huskies Invest, NIU Athletics' annual week of giving, continued to set records in 2025, generating $1.2 million from over 1,000 gifts as the all-time contribution to Huskies Invest eclipsed $5.5 million.
In June, NIU Vice President and Director of Athletics and Recreation Sean T. Frazier began his one-year term as President of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) in this role he is involved in shaping the future of college athletics. He sat down with Tai M. Brown for the One Question Leadership podcast to explain how the new financial models can help sustain athletics while highlighting your institution.
On the field of play, the NIU men's soccer team captured a share of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title, its second conference crown in five years and also scored a memorable victory over Notre Dame in the first-ever visit to DeKalb by an ACC school in men's soccer.
Women's tennis capped a remarkable season with its first-ever postseason appearance as the Huskies competed in the UTR Sports NIT Championship. The women's tennis team set a new school record with 22 dual match victories and reached the final of the Mid-American Conference Tournament for the first time in program history.
Blake West of the NIU wrestling team captured a MAC Championship at 125 pounds and, along with Landen Johnson, extended NIU's streak of sending wrestlers to the NCAA Championships to 54 consecutive years. This fall, West made more history as he became just the sixth wrestler in program history to reach the 100-career win mark.
Kamiya Dendy also captured a MAC Championship for the NIU track and field team during the outdoor season, becoming NIU's first-ever high jump champion at the MAC outdoor meet. Kiera O'Shea of the NIU gymnastics teams qualified for the NCAA Regionals for the second consecutive year in 2025 while, this fall, Nikola Puntaric from the Huskie men's tennis team earned a bid to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Masters Championship after claiming the top flight singles title at the MAC Indoor Championship.
Along with their successes on the fields of play, Huskie student-athletes had a banner year in the classroom in 2025, culminating in a fall semester that saw all 16 programs achieve a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better, with a department GPA of 3.274, which included 303 student-athletes at 3.0 or above and 50 student-athletes achieve a 4.0 GPA.
As the winds of change continue to blow in collegiate athletics, NIU's achievements in 2025 have Huskie Athletics well-positioned for more success in 2026 and beyond.
