The MAC Champion Northern Illinois Huskies and the Sub Belt Champion Arkansas State Red Wolves are preparing for the GoDaddy.com Bowl on January 8th, 2012, but Huskies coach Dave Doeren is looking even farther into the future as well. After leading the team to a 10-win season and a MAC Championship in his first year on the job, Doeren earned a contract extension with the school that now runs through 2017. After signing the deal earlier in the month of December, Doeren is now looking to create a perennial powerhouse at NIU, and it all starts with the GoDaddy.com bowl. With his extension in hand, the Huskies head coach spoke about what it means to him and what it says about NIU:
It shows they want to have another championship instead of waiting. Anytime you can have continuity within your coaching staff, which we're trying to do not just with me, but with the assistant coaches, it helps the process. It shows recruits that the administration is happy with what we've done this year and they want to continue the trend. For our recruits to see that they've extended my contract to five years just helps reinforce what I'm telling them - that we're here, we're excited about being here and the administration is excited about us being here.
via NIUHuskies.com. Northern Illinois is 10-3 on the season and will take on the 10-2 Arkansas State Red Bears in Mobile, Alabama on Sunday, Jan. 8 at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
For more on Northern Illinois, keep it locked to SB Nation Chicago and our Huskies team blog, Red and Black Attack. For more on Mid-American Conference football, visit Hustle Belt.