Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock reportedly leaving Huskies to become a Seattle Seahawks assistant
Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock is heading to the NFL.
According to ESPN, Hammock is becoming the Seattle Seahawks’ running backs coach. Hammock has been the head coach at Northern Illinois for the past seven seasons and, per the report, had “multiple NFL opportunities.”
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NIU went 35-47 in Hammock’s time with the school and was 3-9 in 2025. Before last year’s struggles, the Huskies had made it to consecutive bowl games in 2023 and 2024 and pulled the upset of the 2024 season when they beat Notre Dame in Week 2.
That was Notre Dame’s only loss of the season before the Fighting Irish lost to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff national championship game.
Northern Illinois’ best season under Hammock came in 2021, when the Huskies went 9-5. NIU won the MAC title that season with a 41-23 win over Kent State in the conference title game before a 47-41 Cure Bowl loss to Coastal Carolina.
Hammock leaves Northern Illinois as the school embarks on a new football era. NIU, a longtime member of the MAC, has joined the remade Mountain West Conference in football for the 2026 season. The Huskies’ shortest road trip will be to Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Its other three road games are at New Mexico, San Jose State and UNLV.
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While NIU is off to the Mountain West, the MAC took a lucrative financial offer from Sacramento State for the California school to join the conference in football. Yes, a team from Illinois is in the Mountain West and a team from the capital city of California is in the Mid-American Conference. College sports do not make sense, sometimes.
Hammock replaces Kennedy Polamalu, who took a leave of absence from the Seahawks in December and was not set to return in 2026. The Seahawks secured the No. 1 seed in the NFC late in the season and went on to win Super Bowl LX over the New England Patriots.
