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 Joe Novak
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Position:
Football |
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Experience:
1980-83, 1996-2007 |
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Year Inducted:
2013 |
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Joe Novak guided the NIU football team from 1996-2007, winning 63 games while turning around the fortunes of the Huskie football program. Novak led the Huskies to four MAC West Division Titles (2001, '02, '04, and '05) and was named MAC Coach of the Year in 2002. Novak helped the Huskies earned national headlines in 2003 when NIU was ranked as high as No. 10 in the Bowl Championship Series standings.
Novak's 139 games coached ranks second all-time in NIU history and his 63 victories rank third in Huskie football history. Novak led NIU to a pair of bowl appearances, the 2004 Silicon Valley Bowl and the 2006 Poinsettia Bowl, and helped 10 players earn All-American honors at NIU.
