General | October 29

Dear Huskie Nation, 

Since my last Frazier's Corner, we have had so many campus and community events that have highlighted just how special NIU and Huskie Nation are. Homecoming week was once again an outstanding example of that as the many festivities surrounding NIU's 119th Homecoming celebration were outstanding. The Thursday night downtown block party has become a must attend part of Homecoming week and is truly a show of campus and community coming together. It was also great to see the collaboration with the NIU Alumni Association, combining Mission's Grove with The Yard this year. We had representation from each college inside the Yard, alongside many NIU Athletics corporate partner activations and displays. 

We are also coming off our Hall of Fame Weekend, and it was wonderful to be a part of inducting the six newest members to that exclusive club. The induction ceremony was once again a tremendous event, and it is always wonderful to see Huskies from many different eras celebrating the rich tradition of excellence here at NIU.

Speaking of excellence and Huskie history, it was an honor to retire the jersey of Jordan Lynch. His career speaks for itself as one of the finest players to ever wear a NIU uniform and his number six has rightfully taken its place among honored jerseys inside Huskie Stadium.

As we have all noticed, the days are getting shorter and you can feel it in the air; the seasons are changing and that means winter sports are beginning. We can feel the buzz of excitement for the official start of basketball next week. I know many of you will be staying up late, or getting up early, to watch Coach Majkrzak's men's basketball team play at 2 a.m. on Monday, and I urge all of you to come out to the Convocation Center later that evening at 6 p.m. as Coach Brooks and the women's basketball team open the season against Indiana State. 

Both squads are looking forward to the upcoming seasons in the Horizon League and your support in the Convocation Center can help give us a huge home court advantage, so get your season tickets now.  

Our Huskie wrestling team is gearing up for its first season of competition in the Pac-12 and will host its annual Red/Black intersquad meet this Friday while gymnastics begins with its annual intersquad meet in December as it readies for year one as a member of the Mountain West. 

While winter sports may be getting underway, we can't forget that fall sports are still competing. Our men's soccer team had a tremendous victory this past Sunday against Cleveland State as it remains in good position to compete for a league title. This coming Halloween Saturday, our cross country team will be the first Huskie team to compete in a Horizon League Championship. 

Women's soccer and volleyball continue competing for the opportunity to reach the Horizon League Tournament still available to both teams and while we all have hoped for more from football as far as wins and losses, we have seen a large increase in attendance through the first three home games of the season. Attendance is up 45 percent year-over-year, so we certainly want to thank Huskie Nation for its tremendous support in our first season in the Mountain West, which you can catch all our games by subscribing to MW+ streaming services here.

Last week we closed another successful year of Huskies Invest, our annual week of giving, as we raised over $1 million for the sixth consecutive year. What started out as a modest fundraiser, a decade ago, has grown to become a pillar of our financial sustainability model and raised nearly $8 million since its inception. A huge thank you goes out to all of the members of the NIU community that supported our efforts during Huskies Invest. Our alumni, fans, friends and community members rallied to help us enhance the student-athlete experience and we are extremely grateful for that support. If you missed Huskies Invest, your contributions and gifts will still be accepted by contacting the Huskie Athletic Fund at 815-753-1923 or huskieathleticfund@niu.edu. 

On the national landscape, it was recently announced that the College Football Playoff (CFP) will expand to a 24 team field.  This is something I've discussed for years with respect to how it will affect the Group of 6 teams with regard to access to the CFP, the importance of now scheduling strong G6 vs Power 4 opponents, and a potential G6 playoff system similar to the NCAA Football Championship Series (FCS).  Recent data in this article has also shown that the majority of the Group of 6 are also coming to this realization. We have and will make sure that NIU is positioned to be in all these conversations.  

As the college athletics landscape rapidly changes the time to rededicate ourselves to making NIU's athletic department sustainable is now. I deeply appreciate the level of support and commitment that our fan base, administration, staff, community, donors/supporters and student athletes have displayed over the years. I have heard and recognize your voices of concern and consternation about how our football season is unfolding. As I stated in our winter sport press conference, "Don't Flinch" I take full accountability and just like our (0-6) 2020 COVID football season, the bounce back the very next year (2021) resulted in another expected conference championship! The days of having to take months/years to rebuild and develop a competitive roster are LONG gone. The college athletics modern era of the Transfer Portal, NIL/Revenue Share, and Strategic Investment can and will produce significant results in short order without compromising standards. We are committed to meeting expectations and have well positioned ourselves as a department with our new conference affiliations (Mountain West, Horizon League and PAC 12). This new conference reorganization has placed us in a significant advantage to outpace many that compete against us, but we MUST capitalize on ALL of our new opportunities. I am truly excited about our future and firmly believe with your continued support that we will experience the academic and athletic successes that we expect. 

Go Huskies!



Sean T. Frazier 

Vice President and Director of Athletics and Recreation