Joe Novak (born April 19, 1945) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

from 1996 to 2007, compiling a record of 63–76. Novak played college football as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public university, public research university in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the second-oldest List of colleges and universities in Ohio, university in Ohi ...

under head coach

Bo Schembechler Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American college football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the Univers ...

. After beginning his coaching career in the high school ranks, Novak had stints as an assistant coach at Miami, the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, Northern Illinois, and

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

. At Illinois, he served under head coach

Gary Moeller Gary Oscar Moeller (; January 26, 1941 – July 11, 2022) was an American football coach best known for being head coach at the University of Michigan from 1990 to 1994. During his five seasons at Michigan, he won 44 games, lost 13 and tied 3 fo ...

, who had been one of the assistants at Miami under Schembechler. Novak was a longtime assistant of

Bill Mallory William Guy Mallory (May 30, 1935 – May 25, 2018) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1969 to 1973, the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1974 t ...

, another Miami assistant coach and alum. Novak served on Mallory's staffs from 1980-1995. During the 2003 season, Novak's Northern Illinois squad defeated three BCS conference teams: #13

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, #21

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...

, and

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State be ...

. Winning their first seven games, the Huskies were ranked as high as #12 in the AP Poll, #14 in the

Coaches' Poll In the United States, the Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I (NCAA), Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I (NCAA), Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. ...

, and #10 in the BCS rankings. In the 2004 season, Novak led the Huskies to a 9–3 record and their first bowl appearance in 21 years, winning the

Silicon Valley Football Classic The Silicon Valley Football Classic, sometimes referred to as the Silicon Valley Bowl or Silicon Valley Classic, was an NCAA-certified Division I-A post-season college football bowl game that was played at Spartan Stadium on the South Campus of ...

over

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

. On November 26, 2007, Novak announced his retirement from coaching. "Winning is fragile," Novak said, "You've got to enjoy it when you're doing it....People have always said, 'You'll know when it's time,' and I believe that now is the time." His successor at Northern Illinois was

Jerry Kill Jerry R. Kill (born August 24, 1961) is an American college football coach who currently serves as a consultant at Vanderbilt. He was the head coach at New Mexico State University from 2022 to 2023. He played college football at Southwestern Co ...

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Novak, Joe 1945 births Living people American football defensive linemen Indiana Hoosiers football coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Miami RedHawks football coaches Miami RedHawks football players Northern Illinois Huskies football coaches High school football coaches in Ohio