The Coach Cried

Thomas Hammock is a coach for a university football team I’d never heard of before last Saturday. Since 2019, he’s been the head coach of the Northern Illinois Huskies.

Last Saturday afternoon, on national TV, Coach Hummock cried.

Every year the top college football programs, including USC and Notre Dame, schedule a few early contests against what I think of as “fodder” teams – teams they can easily beat.
I graduated from USC, and I’m a big fan of their football team (so long as they don’t I lose more than two or three games in a season). As expected, on Saturday evening USC easily won their game against the Utah State Aggies 48-0.

But Notre Dame’s afternoon game against Northern Illinois played out a little differently.

For almost 100 years, USC has had a rivalry game against Notre Dame. So, I watched the Notre Dame game hoping that, even though Northern Illinois were the underdogs by 28-1/2 points, that somehow, they would beat the odds. Boy did they ever!

To my amazement, Northern Illinois was the better team, outplaying Notre Dame 16-14 in a stunning victory. Maybe the Notre Dame scholarship players had been studying their reviews rather than their playbooks. Maybe it was just one of those magic moments that the gutsy Northern Illinois players will remember, with pride, for the rest of their lives. Maybe it was a lesson for Notre Dame about hubris.

In any event, thank you Coach Hammock, and thanks to your team.  Since I’m 84 years old I’m sure you all will remember that one September afternoon of college football magic far longer than I will, but you and your team are heroes in my eyes.

And also, Coach, thanks for setting an excellent example for the rest of us. Thank you for teaching your team, and the rest of us “to believe,” and for being real, and crying on national TV.

Alan