Thomas Hammock is leaving Northern Illinois after seven seasons as head coach to return to the NFL for an assistant coaching job with the Seattle Seahawks.
NIU announced the move Wednesday morning, and athletic director Sean T. Frazier named defensive coordinator Rob Harley interim coach. ESPN reported Hammock will be the Seahawks running backs coach and senior offensive assistant for Super Bowl-winning head coach Mike Macdonald, with whom Hammock served on the Baltimore Ravens coaching staff earlier in his career.
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The move comes with NIU set to move from the Mid-American Conference to the Mountain West for football in 2026.
“Under Coach Hammock’s leadership, the Huskie football program has achieved historic milestones on the field as well as academically over the last seven seasons,” Frazier said in a statement. “His passion for NIU and commitment to developing young men — on and off the playing field — will be his legacy; I know he has left a lasting impact on the players he coached and on his alma mater.
“His genuine love for NIU made his decision to leave at this time very tough for him. A Hall of Famer, he will always be a Huskie and I hope all of Huskie Nation will join me in thanking Thomas for all he has given to NIU as we wish him all the best in the future.”
Hammock, a former running back at NIU, went 35-47 with a 2-1 bowl record in his tenure. The Huskies won the MAC championship in 2021, and Hammock’s 2024 team made waves when it upset eventual College Football Playoff finalist Notre Dame 16-14 in Week 2. The Huskies went on to win the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl that season.
NIU had three winning seasons under Hammock, but in the name, image and likeness era, the Huskies never quite returned to the level of success they experienced during five straight seasons with at least 11 wins from 2010-14 under three head coaches.
Hammock served as running backs coach for NIU under Joe Novak and for Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Ravens, the latter from 2014-18 until NIU hired him as head coach.
“Representing the Cardinal and Black of Northern Illinois University as a player, alumnus, assistant coach, and head coach has been the honor of my life,” Hammock said in a statement. “To Sean Frazier, my mentor, thank you for the incredible opportunity to lead, guide and mentor the young men in this program over the past seven years. I hope I have left a lasting impact on our players the way Coach Novak left one on me.”
NIU went 3-9 in 2025 after a slew of players transferred, including quarterback Ethan Hampton, who was the backup at Illinois.
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Hammock went viral over the summer for his comments imploring athletes to take into account more than just money and attention when transferring.
“I have a tremendous passion for helping student-athletes, and that’s why I came back to college, just to help mentor and guide and lead young men,” Hammock told the Tribune in August. “That’s been my life’s work and something I think is important.
“When this is something that you’ve been committed to for 20-something-plus years, and all of a sudden the values and things that you grew up on no longer matter, that’s what’s kind of hard to take.”
Harley joined NIU’s staff in January 2025 after four seasons as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Arkansas State. The former Ohio State safety from Elmhurst also spent six seasons as linebackers coach at Pittsburgh.