Welcome to the enemies list, NIU

After hiring Southern Illinois University’s football coach Jerry Kill to the same position, Northern Illinois University joins my enemies list (university edition).

This comes less than a week after Kill lead the Salukis to the FCS semifinals and within three points of the championship game. Kill will inherit a mess at NIU. The Huskies are coming off a 10 loss season; of course one of their losses came at the hands of Kill and the Salukis.

All is not lost for Kill who will get a substantial raise at NIU, not to mention the top-notch facilities that come with a D-1 football program (including a new stadium). Coach Kill will also receive some great health benefits, which SIU fans can appreciate especially knowing about his health history.

Coach Kill will also get the (well deserved) full attention of the athletics department because NIU is definitely a football school unlike SIU, which is considered to be a basketball school.

Still, it doesn’t stop me from putting NIU on the list. They were already on my “un-happy list” for putting me on a waiting list for entrance to their university, which is fine by me because SIU has much more going on in the journalism department than NIU ever will.

And honestly, if it wasn’t for its proximity to the Chicagoland area, NIU would be nothing but cement in the middle of a cornfield. And don’t even think about saying Carbondale is the same because technically, SIU is in the middle of a national forest.

There are so many reasons that coach Kill should have stayed a Saluki. He built this program into a perennial championship contender that has produced productive NFL players such as Baltimore Ravens linebacker Bart Scott and New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs.

At one point, the SIU football program was on the brink of being eliminated before Kill came to town and turned around the Saluki football program.

I have two concerns about Kill’s hiring at NIU.

My primary concern is the Salukis. Where do they go from there? Athletic director Mario Moccia said that there will be a nationwide search for Kill’s replacement, though I have no clue where SIU would start. It was a much easier transition for the basketball team when Bruce Weber’s top assistants Matt Painter (who since has moved on to Purdue) and Chris Lowery stepped in after Weber left for the University of Illinois.

The basketball program has one of the nation’s most notable coaching trees which starts with Weber and branches off with Painter and Lowery. It is a coaching tree that could branch out more if top-notch assistants Rodney Watson and former Saluki star Brad Korn are offered D-1 jobs.

I digress. Next concern.

What if he is unable to revitalize the Huskies? I don’t doubt that he can, his body of work at SIU can speak for itself. However, it’s a different ballgame recruiting D-1 talent, especially up north where he will be battling Ron Zook and the Fighting Illini for the top recruits. What if his health gets in the way of his coaching or recruiting?

If somehow Kill fails, all you will hear from the pundits up north is that Kill was a terrible hire who was out of his league at a D-1 school. However, all of southern Illinois will know about how coach Kill saved a program that was nearly wiped off the map.

And really, why leave SIU? The Salukis lost two games in 2007. The Huskies won two. Besides, the Saluki is a much cooler dog than a Huskie.

For your entertainment, the enemies list (university edition):

1. Duke University men’s basketball. I’m a big North Carolina fan. Had it not been for cost, I would have attended UNC-Chapel Hill instead of SIU. Both have top journalism programs.
2. Ohio State University football. I’m also a big fan of Michigan football, mostly because it seemed like they were on TV every week and winning big games. It’s called a rivalry, and they’re at the top of the list.
3. University of Illinois basketball. They took Bruce Weber from SIU, which started three consecutive years of SIU having a different head coach. They also will not play SIU’s men’s team, and really have no reason not to.