Earlier
this season Northern Illinois Head Coach Ed Mathey became
the winningest coach in NIU history with his 144th Husky
victory in a win over Buffalo. During his five seasons as
head coach, Mathey has guided the team to unprecedented
success with the Huskies’ three highest single-season
victory totals taking place with Mathey at the helm. Last
season the Huskies established new school records for Division
I wins (34), MAC victories (16) and had their best ever
finish at MAC Tournament, finishing third (just one win
away from playing for the title) in the unyielding and increasingly
competitive Mid-American Conference postseason.
Additionally two of Coach Mathey’s coached student-athletes
achieved tremendous personal success with closer Matt German
becoming the school's first Division I All-American and
first baseman Scott Simon who became the MAC's career hit
king.
With
16 returning letterwinners and a well stocked pitching staff,
Mathey and the Huskies were looking forward to taking the
field in 2008 when the start of the season was tragically
delayed after the inexplicable deadly shooting rampage at
the DeKalb campus which left seven students dead and more
than a dozen others injured. In the wake of the tragedy
Coach Mathey and the Huskies have used baseball as a way
of healing, playing not for the victories, but with new
perspective and as a way of returning their lives to some
semblance of normalcy after the unfortunate events of February
14th. Additionally, the Huskies have been given an opportunity
to return some of the outpouring of support they’ve
received from across the nation as they will play Notre
Dame on April 16 at the Chicago White Sox home field of
U.S. Cellular Field, with all proceeds benefiting the NIU
February 14 Scholarship Fund.
Coach Mathey recently took some time to
reflect on the team’s bittersweet season and the Northern
Illinois baseball program.
PING!: NIU
started the season with a sixteen inning heartbreaking loss
to Portland, then had to follow it up with another game
(and loss) with Hawaii later that same day. Yet the Huskies
were able to came back to defeat one of the best pitchers
in the Midwest in SIU’s Cody Adams just two days later.
This is all after the first official weekend of the season
was canceled due to the campus tragedy on Feb. 14. Can you
speak on your team’s tenacity?
Mathey: Our team has some
toughness to it and that starts with the leadership core
that is in place which involves not just our captains, but
our entire junior and senior classes and the returning players
who have been in the program. That has been one of our strengths
the past couple years. We have had some guys with mental
and emotional toughness who worked hard to get ready for
the season and one of the by products of that is dedication.
They are putting forth their best effort every time they
take the field. One of the other things with our team is
that we have assistant coaches who have some toughness to
them as well. Steve Joslyn coached high school basketball
very successfully and his teams may not have been the most
talented, but they played hard from start to finish in every
game. Tom Carcione and Ray Napientek were baseball players
who came to compete and took pride in that challenge of
competition and that rubs off on our players.
PING!: What
kind of impact did the reaching out by the White Sox and
Royals (each honored the NIU baseball team prior to their
Cactus League openers with the Sox sporting NIU baseball
hats for the game) have on helping the team’s emotional
recovery after the campus tragedy?
Mathey: I cannot say enough
in terms of what those organizations have done and how it
has affected our team and coaching staff. It really has
helped us refocus our attention and take what was a tremendous
negative and build some positive baseball things out of
it. On our trip to Surprise, Ariz., the Royals were incredible
and their manager Trey Hillman spoke to our team and when
he did, he not only spoke to them mentally but to their
heart about the game of baseball and how it translates to
life.
 |
| Chicago White Sox' John Danks,
wearing an NIU Huskies hat, throws the first pitch
during the first inning of a spring training baseball
game against the Colorado Rockies. (AP Photo/M.
Spencer Green) |
|
Their Director of Player Development J.J.
Picollo spoke to our kids and several of the Royals staff
stopped by our practice and were just incredible. Our players
still speak about it. The White Sox invited some of our
players and coaches down to their spring training opener
and we threw out the first pitch. The team opened up the
doors to their clubhouse and made themselves accessible
to us. Not only did they wear our hats in that game but
their fundraising effort with auctioning autographed jerseys,
hats and baseballs brought in $10,000 for the NIU February
14 Scholarship Fund. In addition, the White Sox are opening
up their stadium for us and Notre Dame, one of the top programs
in the Midwest, to play a night game on April 16 with proceeds
going to the scholarship fund. I don’t know that there
are words to thank them, not only on behalf of our kids,
but for the university and alumni throughout the area. All
of this has helped refocus our kids’ attention away
from a negative situation. One of our kids mentioned how
isolated and alone you felt after that tragic event happened.
Since then you realize that is the furthest from the truth
because you find out how caring the world of baseball can
be. You get caught up in competition, but then you learn
that there is a great deal of compassion there as well.
PING!: The
Huskies lost some vital players over the off season with
the departure of MAC all time hit leader Scot Simon and
NCBWA Stopper of the Year finalist Matt German among others.
What players have been developing to take their place as
team leaders?
Mathey: We really lost
four key players and a couple other good players, who were
not only a presence statistically, but a presence on our
team as well. When we had the all-time hits leader in our
lineup, other teams wouldn’t let him beat them. Jesse
Seykora picked up a lot of the slack and put pressure on
the other teams. Matt German was a comfort to have at end
of bullpen and Mark Badgley was very versatile in that he
could start, close (he was the NIU career saves leader until
German broke his mark), or set up and those are tough guys
to replace. Even with those losses, we’ve got a lot
of guys back who got serious experience on the field last
year and are a year older after being part of our leadership
core. 
When
you transition out seniors, as you do in this game, you
have to have a group who has helped make decisions and who
can be the “lead dogs on the sled”, which is
something we’ve tried to do for a while. It is something
I picked up while at North Central College and learned from
Al Carius, who won 17 national titles as the cross country
and track and field coach. We talk a lot about leadership,
values and things you cannot take from statistics but make
a difference on how your team plays and performs, which
are huge assets to have.
PING!: How
pleased were you after senior pitcher Trevor Feeney decided
to bypass an opportunity to play in the Royals’ organization
after being drafted to return to NIU?
Mathey: We were ecstatic
about Trevor coming back to our team for his senior season.
He was our Friday starter throughout last season and coming
back with that experience puts him in a role as the cornerstone
of what has the makings of a potentially strong staff. Not
only is Trevor very talented, but he is a great kid as well.
He doesn’t say a lot but goes about his job and handles
the responsibilities of a lead guy by taking the ball on
Friday and setting the pace of our pitching staff. It is
very beneficial to have a guy like that come back and be
able to set the tone for a weekend series.
PING!: Illinois
and the Great Lakes region have an abundance of Division
I baseball programs competing for players. What factors
do you use to sell NIU to recruits?
Mathey: Kids have a lot
of options and we have some very talented players around
the Chicagoland area and throughout the region. As a staff
and program, we try to promote to the kids that they will
have an opportunity to develop and to get playing time at
Northern Illinois. We keep our roster at a useable number
so that each player gets reps in practice and games. We
don’t overload our roster so that we can do that.
We stay true to our word on the recruiting trail and that
helps over time. We talk to recruits about our approach
to academics, our managerial approach and when you are up
front about those things that helps your reputation. Our
university and its location are on the rise and it is getting
closer to the Chicago base. We talk a lot about the quality
of the Mid-American Conference and the numbers of players
drafted and how it compares very favorably to other Midwest
leagues. Our quality of the schedule that we attempt to
play year in and year out with teams like Nebraska, Texas
Tech, Arizona State and Oklahoma gives our kids a chance
to showcase their abilities. The kids in our program are
going to have the opportunity to showcase their abilities
to pro scouts, but are also prepared for the real world
and the non-baseball world. We have a very approachable
coaching staff with an open door policy when it comes to
talking about baseball, school, and the things going on
in their lives that are important to them.
PING!: Once
the final out was recorded for win number #144, do you do
anything special to celebrate?
Mathey: Nothing too crazy.
My oldest son Patrick (12) was with us and selfishly I was
hoping that he would be able to come on the trip because
it’s not often in this business that you get to share
that type of moment with your family right away. Having
him there was special. After the game, I got a hug from
my son and a “congratulations” and “way
to go”, and that meant a lot. I received handshakes
from our assistant coaches and players, but it’s not
about me, it’s the whole group who shares in the success.
PREVIOUS PLAYER SPOTLIGHTS
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Previous Years
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PREVIOUS COACH SPOTLIGHTS
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