February is never a good time to lose a head coach in college football. That’s what happened to Northern Illinois, though. Thomas Hammock is on his way out to be an administrative offensive assistant with the Seattle Seahawks, per Brett McMurphy of On3.
In the wake of that move, Northern Illinois will have the transfer portal open again for its players to leave and there won’t be a spring portal window to replace those players. Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Rob Harley will be promoted to interim head coach as the Huskies move to the Mountain West.
It’s a rough spot to leave the school in, but it’s becoming more common. Today, the trend hit Northern Illinois, but it’s an issue across the country.
The value of Group of Six jobs is changing
It wasn’t that long ago that the path to being a power conference head coach was clear. Take a lower-level job in what today would be called the Group of Six. Find success there and land either a better G6 job or a Power 4 job. However, coaches are having a harder time moving up from those lower-level jobs in the G6.
Sure, top-tier G6 jobs can still send coaches to the upper ranks. Think Alex Golesh going from USF to Auburn. However, the MAC isn’t doing that anymore. A conference that produced the likes of Matt Campbell and P.J. Fleck now can’t get its coaches better jobs. Jason Candle, the longtime Toledo head coach, had to leave for UConn this past cycle. He’s the only MAC head coach to get a new head coaching job directly from their previous stop since Lance Leipold following the 2020 season.
The Mountain West has a similar issue. No Mountain West head coach has directly landed a P4 or better head coaching gig in the 2025 cycle.
This trend comes amid a a time of major change in college football. NIL and the transfer portal are very difficult to keep up with in the lower levels of the G6. So, with seemingly no path forward, fewer coaches are going to want those lower-level jobs. That becomes a dangerous cycle, where fewer coaches being available leads to worse results, which leads to fewer interested coaches.
Even some P4 coaches are jumping to be NFL assistants. New Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley left Boston College to become an assistant with the Green Bay Packers, a move that has clearly worked out well for him.
That isn’t to say there’s no appeal here. Plenty of coaches just want an opportunity to be a head coach. Three MAC coaches even made over $1 million in 2025. Northern Illinois is moving to the Mountain West, where all but one coach made over $1 million in 2025, though the conference is going through a major shift in schools.
Thomas Hammock had an up-and-down tenure at Northern Illinois
Hammock first got to Northern Illinois in 2019. He went 35-47, won the MAC in 2021 and beat Notre Dame in 2024. However, recent struggles put pressure on him to win now.
Amid the transition to the Mountain West, financial uncertainty and the difficulty in putting together a G6 roster, it’s easy to see why he took an opportunity to get out.
The reality is, there are still only so many FBS head coaching jobs. So, somebody will still take them. However, it’s clear not every coach wants that lifestyle anymore.
Whether or not Hammock can make a jump like Hafley did, however, remains to be seen.
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