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Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016 | www.NorthernStar.info/Sports
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Football hosts its first home game at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 17 against San Diego State University at Huskie Stadium. Tickets are free for students with their OneCard.
Former NIU coach Christie Chappell had to earn males’ respect before she could coach them. Read more on Page 11.
Men’s golf begins season in Indiana Wolf Run Golf Club is mentioned as one of the best golf DeKALB | Men’s golf looks to start courses in the midwest in Golf off its season on a high note as they Digest’s Top 100 courses list and travel to Zionsville, Indiana, for the is also listed in the top 25 most Wolf Run Intercollegiate Saturday difficult courses and one of the and Sunday at Wolf Run Golf Club, best playing memberships in the 601 S. 900 E. in Zionsville, Indiana. country, according to the golf Wolf Run Golf Club was creclub’s website. ated by Dr. Jack Leer, a former The Huskies look to rewrite amateur golfer whose dream was history at the course this year as to build a challenging golf course. they did not have a good showing Leer did this by adapting the at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate course to the unique landscape in 2014. of the property, making the The Huskies finished the 2014 elevations and lies difficult for Intercollegiate with a three round the players. total of 949 (314-320-315) and “It’s a very demanding golf rounded out a field leaderboard course that makes you use all that partially consisted of the of your clubs,” said NIU Head Mid-American Conference and Coach Tom Porten. “The greens a few Big 10 Conference schools, are fast and very well protected.” including the best team in the Tom Burton Staff writer
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Courtesy NIU Media Services
Tom Porten, men’s golf head coach, looks forward to season ahead.
country at the time, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The team knows they are
talented, and that getting off to a good start is critical to the team’s success this year.
“I think we’ll have a great season,” senior Pierrick Fillon said during an August interview. “We have a great group of guys and a few new guys.” The Huskies will send out a group headlined by senior JooYoung Lee, senior Charlie Cameron and sophomore Salvador Rocha. “I can say with confidence that this [year’s team] is the deepest and most talented group since I have been here,” Porten said. “It’s an interesting bunch of guys, and their early signs [of progress] have been really good.” After this weekend’s Intercollegiate, men’s golf will be idle for a weekend before they participate in The Windon on Sept. 25 and 26 at the North Shore Country Club, 1340 Glenview Road, in Glenview.
Former player turned coach
Keelen Holcomb Staff writer
DeKALB | Melvin Rice returned
to NIU, his alma mater, this summer to take over as assistant cornerback coach. Rice, a letter-winning cornerback for NIU from 2005-08 , was a solid threeyear starter for the Huskies defense from 2006-08, Melvin Rice accruing 175 Cornerback Coach tackles, two interceptions and 18 pass breakups in his career. He went on to graduate with a degree in sociology and criminology in 2009 but returned to the Huskies after being away for five years. Former players often come and give back to their alma mater by doing a variety of things such as donating to the school, providing
workout equipment for gyms or, as is the case with Rice, returning to coach. The differences between playing football for the Huskies and coaching for them seven years later boils down to one major difference - free time. “The experience of a student athlete gives you a lot more free time,” Rice said. “Being a coach, we spend a lot of hours in that film room breaking down opponents, getting our guys right, so you know we spend a lot of time in this building, and I enjoy every moment of it.” Rice finished his first training camp as a coach when practice concluded Aug. 27, and he said the feeling wasn’t too different from when he was a player. “It’s the same, [the coaches] demand a lot from the players, so the players demand a lot from the coaches as well,” Rice said.
“So it’s our job to put them in the right position and it’s [the players] job to make the plays, so I don’t see any big difference.” One difference Rice noticed when he came back to NIU was the upgrade with the athletic facilities since he had been a player. “The biggest thing is the Yordon center, I was the first team that was in that building, but the indoor [football field] is tremendous,” Rice said. “It has a new scoreboard, new turf, got new graphics on the field, graphics in the stadium, so you know that helps in recruiting and bringing players here.” NIU is away for the second week in a row when they play at 6 p.m. Saturday against University of South Florida at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Rice and the Huskies have their home opener at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 17 versus San Diego State University.