Huskie coaching legacy Dan Sabock enters his second season at NIU, and his first as a full-time member of the football coaching staff, in 2018. Sabock will coach the Huskie special teams units.
In many ways, Sabock returns “home” as his father, Mike Sabock, spent 24 years on the NIU sidelines as an assistant coach and his brother, Kevin, was a member of the Huskie team from 2008-12.
Sabock joined the Huskie coaching staff as a graduate assistant in 2017, and led NIU’s special teams, an area where the Huskies had a great deal of success in his first season working with the group.
NIU’s special teams units blocked two field goals, and four punts in 2017, including two against Ball State. Jackson Abresch recovered both blocked punts against the Cardinals for touchdowns, becoming just the third player in NCAA history to do so. The Huskie specialists also recorded two blocks in the same game, a punt and a field goal, against Eastern Michigan. The blocked punts were the first by NIU in six seasons.
Freshman punter Matt Ference excelled in his first season under Sabock’s tutelage. He became the first punter since Tyler Wedel in 2014 to average more than 40 yards a punt. He dropped 17 punts on or inside the 10-yard line, including a season-high at Nebraska and at San Diego.
Sabock, a former Sycamore Spartan star, has carried on the family “business” since graduating from nearby Elmhurst College in 2010, where he was a two-year letterwinner at defensive back and wide receiver. He began his coaching career at Rutgers, where he worked in player development and helped coach the Scarlet Knights’ secondary in 2010 and 2011. He moved to Indiana State, where he assisted with the outside linebackers and special teams from 2011-12.
Before coming to NIU, Sabock spent five years in Melbourne, Fla. where he was special teams coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Division II Florida Tech, helping the Panthers to the 2016 Division II playoffs.
Sabock earned his undergraduate degree in Physical Education from Elmhurst College.
COACHING EXPERIENCE
| 2014- |
NIU |
|
Special Teams Coordinator, 2018- |
|
Graduate Assistant, 2017 |
| 2012-16 |
Florida Tech (Special Teams, Inside LBs) |
| 2011 |
Indiana State (Outside LBs/Special Teams) |
| 2010 |
Rutgers (Player Development) |
POSTSEASON EXPERIENCE
| 2017 |
Quick Lane Bowl (NIU, Graduate Assistant) |
| 2016 |
Division II Playoffs (Florida Tech, Special Teams/ILB) |
PLAYING EXPERIENCE
| 2006-10 |
Elmhurst (Defensive Back/Wide Receiver) |
EDUCATION
| College |
B.A., Elmhurst, 2010 |
| High School |
Sycamore, 2006 |
PERSONAL
| Birthdate |
September 5, 1987 |
| Birthplace |
Sycamore, Ill. |
| Hometown |
Sycamore, Ill. |
