Update >> Northern Illinois has now announced Hammock's resignation and the appointment of Rob Harley as interim head coach. A statement provided by Hammock reads:
"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. "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.
"These are exciting times for the Huskies as they enter the Mountain West Conference. I look forward to watching this team stay united, compete at a high level, and continue building under new leadership. I will always be proud to call NIU my alma mater, and I will always be cheering for the Huskies."
Longtime MAC member Northern Illinois is set to enter uncharted territory as they begin their inaugural season as a football-only member of the Mountain West this fall.
Now they're also set to do it with a new head coach leading the program.
Multiple reports share this morning that Huskies head coach Thomas Hammock is leaving his post to join the staff of the Seattle Seahawks.
ESPN's Pete Thamel shares that his role is expected to be running backs coach / senior offensive assistant, and also adds that he's expected to become the NFL's highest paid running backs coach, choosing to join the reigning Super Bowl champions over multiple other NFL opportunities.
The former running backs coach at Minnesota and Wisconsin before spending a few seasons with the Ravens mentoring their running backs, Hammock took over at his alma mater in 2019.
Hammock went 35-47 leading NIU over the past seven seasons, with one MAC title coming in 2021 with a 9-5 season.
They dipped a bit to 3-9 in 2022 before back-to-back winning seasons of 7-6 and 8-5 in 2023 and 2024 with two straight bowl wins to his credit as well.
Over the past year or so, Hammock has been vocal in his frustrations of losing top players to the transfer portal. Back in August of 2025 Hammock shared a passionate message for players and parents on NIL and the transfer portal that went viral.
Hammock earned a salary of just over $628,000 last season, which ranked 117th out of the 122 schools that report head coaching pay for the USA Today Salary Database. In the MAC, only Matt Drinkall (CMU), Joe Moorhead (Akron) and Mark Carney (Kent State) had lower salaries.
Following the 2024 season, after pulling off arguably the biggest win in NIU football history in knocking off a top five ranked Notre Dame squad, a number of NFL teams inquired about adding Hammock to their staffs to coach running backs, and even serve as pass game coordinator.
The news today comes on the heels of our story yesterday that the Huskies were finalizing a deal for a new offensive line coach.
Multiple reports share defensive coordinator Rob Harley will step in as interim head coach to provide some stability. Harley has previous stops at Pitt, FIU, and Michigan State and he led one of the MAC's best passing defenses last season.
The change at Northern Illinois marks the 34th FBS head coaching change of the year.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for all the latest.