You want NIU press, well you need to read Rozner. He has his Maddux-esque chubby for NIU. It seems like every third column is about the Huskies. I am glad I pay $39.60 a month for this junk.
"When Northern Illinois unveiled a privately funded, $138-million plan to build new athletic facilities and double the capacity of Huskie Stadium a few weeks ago, there was widespread enthusiasm among the alumni base.
After all, it has been nearly 25 years since NIU devised an "Athletics Facility Master Plan," and it naturally got fans wondering if there was something more afoot.
And that was before TCU and Baylor were shut out of the College Football Playoff in large part because the 10-team conference no longer has enough schools for a conference championship game.
Since then, the Big 12 has reportedly contacted Cincinnati to gauge interest, and many wonder if NIU is next.
The Huskies sport the largest alumni base in the Chicago area, some 200,000 strong, and could offer the Big 12 a TV market and presence it currently doesn't possess -- not to mention a football team with more wins (57) than any FBS team since 2010, except Oregon (59), Alabama (58) and Florida State (58).
When asked, however, NIU athletic director Sean Frazier would not bite.
"We're very loyal to the Mid-American Conference," he said. "The MAC history and the history of NIU in the MAC, there's just too much there."
The stadium might expand to as much as 42,000, which could potentially fit in the Big 12, where the average capacity is currently 60,000, including 45,000-seat stadiums at TCU and Baylor, which just opened a new McLane Stadium in 2014.
"Our focus is on the being the best comprehensive athletic and academic program in the MAC," Frazier said. "We've had great success in football and now we have to equal that in other sports. We need this plan in order to compete."
The plan provides new facilities for baseball, tennis and Olympic Sports, and upgrades to the softball field, soccer and track complex, and the Convocation Center.
Huskie Stadium would receive a major makeover with the creation of an enclosed south end zone, improvements on the west side and major upgrades on the east with premium suites and club seating.
"That can give us the competitive advantage we need to be on the national stage," Frazier said. "But this is about much more than football."
Obvious long before this study was the fact that the athletic campus is not generally available to NIU students and community because of its location. It's not a lively part of the campus atmosphere, something Frazier desperately wants to change and make available to everyone in DeKalb and the surrounding communities.
"The whole idea here is to make the Huskie Stadium section of the plan include housing and academic and administrative, not just a football stadium for six or seven games a year," Frazier said. "Our vision is to have that part of the campus open 365 days a year.
"We hope to have people come to the stadium complex and be part of the fabric. I love that idea. I love those pieces. It's all part of the discussion, so hopefully we can create that synergy. We want everyone engaged in what we do."
Engaged is a Frazier trademark. He is frenetic at his quietest, always aggressive and looking to upgrade. He's why NIU didn't take the easy way out (Arkansas State) with the obvious bowl game (GoDaddy), upgrading to a tougher opponent (Marshall) in an attractive location (Boca).
And it's why you shouldn't doubt that Frazier will set his sights high, regardless of circumstances or skepticism.
"The most exciting thing is we have a road map for the future," Frazier said of the new facilities plan. "There hasn't been a new one since 1991, this type strategic thought and process.
"It's the kind of coordinated effort with the campus and all sports that we need in order to grow, but it involves more than sports. It's a comprehensive plan for athletics within the fabric of the institution. It's really exciting."
And the reason it can work, says Frazier, is NIU president Doug Baker.
"He is the definition of a visionary," Frazier said. "He has high energy and high expectations. He's all about the student experience, and he's one of those guys who has an infectious attitude about it.
"He wants to get it right for the student. That's what it's about. It's all rooted in the quality student experience. We want all students to have that excitement factor, and we want our alumni to come back and feel that and be a part of that and be prideful in what they see and experience.
"That builds so much energy on campus when you have that synergy with the students. I've seen it elsewhere and we want that here."
Private money also financed the study, and Frazier says the time is now to move on it.
"This is for the greater good of student engagement and enrollment. It's essential," Frazier said. "You're either moving forward or moving back. There's no such thing as standing still."
That's something Frazier wouldn't know anything about.
brozner@dailyherald.com• Hear Barry Rozner on WSCR 670-AM and follow him @BarryRozner on Twitter."
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