Hello Huskies!

May brings the end of another year of athletics competitions, a steady stream of graduates – both from NIU and from 18 local high school ceremonies – passing through the NIU Convocation Center, and the perfect time to look back at the accomplishments of the past year.

While the results of the on-the-field achievements of NIU teams and student-athletes are celebrated throughout their seasons, this is the time of year when each of our departments in Athletics, Recreation and the NIU Convocation Center, compile a list of their “greatest hits” of 2024-25.

In this Frazier’s Corner, I am extremely proud to share just a few of the off-the-field highlights that have come about thanks to the efforts of our hard-working staff, and thanks to many of you.

I already mentioned the graduations, which wrapped up a year that saw NIU Athletics facilities host 184 events, from Huskie games to cheer competitions to career fairs and shows as more than 350,000 people came through the doors and/or entered the gates. Wow!

Of course, many of those 350,000 were here for NIU games and the NIU Athletics Ticket Office reported increases in attendance and ticket sales across all four of our ticketed sports. Football saw a 31 percent increase in attendance compared to last year with a 19 percent increase in total revenue. Volleyball season tickets rose by 40 percent with over 1,000 tickets sold to the match versus Northwestern. Group ticket sales for both men’s and women’s basketball saw significant increases, helping grow women’s basketball attendance by 20 percent.

No department saw more growth over the past year than our equipment and retail operations! From launching the permanent Victor E. Threads store in the NIU Recreation Center, to outfitting two mobile trailers for use at Huskie games and outside events to creating the online store with Athletic Solutions, it has been a banner year. Victor E. Threads saw sales of approximately $220,000 from 9,000 items with staffing at 342 different games and events. That doesn’t even include the annual Surplus Sale with an additional 1,500 items sold and $12,000 collected. Look for the Victor E. Threads trailer at local events this summer

To anyone who attended an event, bought a ticket – especially a season ticket – ordered Huskie gear online or made a purchase from a Victor E. Threads location over the past year – THANK YOU!

I don’t know where we would be without our donors, who have really stepped up in response to the new membership structure launched by the Huskie Athletic Fund in February. Compared to this time a year ago, membership is up 61 percent with a 30 percent increase in unrestricted dollars! Thanks, especially to the six members of the new Huskie Circle.

Now is a great time to get involved with the HAF as one of NIU Athletics’ premiere fundraising events, the SEF Huskie Royale, is set for Saturday, June 6 at the Barsema Alumni and Visitors Center.  Come out and play casino games, enjoy a Brazilian steakhouse buffet, cocktails and more with the coaches and staff.  Proceeds benefit Huskie Athletics and the Sycamore Education Foundation. Get all the details here and I look forward to seeing many of you on June 6th.

No list of highlights for this year would be complete without talking about NIU’s move to the Mountain West in football and to the Horizon League for 14 sports beginning in 2026-27!  It seemed like our Strategic Communications and Marketing Office was rolling out one major announcement a month this year, most recently with the introduction of new women’s basketball head coach Jaycey Brooks in April. In all “StratComm” was responsible for writing and publishing more than 800 stories, producing, in conjunction with NIU Media Services, a school-record 45 ESPN+ broadcasts, 23 radio shows, and live streaming 53 games on NIUHuskies.com.

The NIU Athletics Official YouTube Channel, as well as the official athletics social media platforms on X, Facebook and instagram, enjoyed record growth with a social media reach of over 48 million over the last year.  In addition to coordinating promotions and advertising, the marketing department developed a great relationship with our campus partners, collaborating on 23 separate events while also doubling membership in the Pup Club.

An integral part of the campus community, NIU Recreation continued its mission to expand programming for Huskie students and the local community with efforts like Free Fire Fridays, the Cancer Fit Program and even cooking classes. The Rec Open House in the fall helped introduce students to the programming available and events like Rec Fest, Spring into Wellness Week and the NIRSA Rec and Fitness Day, along with the traditional intramural and club sport offerings have seen a rebound in participation. The Rec saw over 188,000 check-ins this year with more than 3,000 students participating in the popular Adventures program.

At the end of the day, helping student-athletes reach their full potential athletically, academically and socially continues to be at the center of everything we do.

I’m extremely proud to report that NIU student-athletes finished the spring semester with a cumulative grade point average of 3.384 with 15 teams above a 3.1. More than 80 student-athletes representing every sport program graduated with either a bachelor’s or master’s degree during May commencement ceremonies. In this transfer portal era, 10 Huskie teams posted a perfect 1,000 Academic Progress Rate, the NCAA’s measuring stick for eligibility and retention and NIU’s graduation success rate for student-athletes stands at an outstanding 88 percent.

This past year, NIU student-athletes participated in 3,700 hours of community service, that is an increase of 500 hours from a year ago with 375 individuals participating.

I hope this departmental highlight reel fills you with Huskie Pride as we take a moment to catch our breath. And I do mean a moment as in less than three weeks, many student-athletes, including a new group of Huskies, will be back on campus for summer school and summer workouts, and 2025-26 will be underway!

Finally, I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank and congratulate Donna Turner, associate athletic director for strategic communications and marketing, who will be retiring this July after 19 years of amazing service to NIU and to Huskie student-athletes, and 38+ years in college athletics.

During her time, the duties of the communications/public relations arm of the department have expanded from traditional media relations, managing the NIU Athletics website and statistical and press operations for all 17 Huskie programs to producing ESPN+ broadcasts, live streams and radio shows, as well as oversight of social media platforms including creating content and shows for the NIU Athletics Official YouTube Channel. I want to specifically mention her tireless – and hugely successful – efforts to promote and publicize the NIU Football program throughout the region and throughout the country. I have been from Alabama to NIU and have worked with a lot of football communication professionals, Donna is the real deal and one of the best I have ever worked with! She will be missed.

Wishing you all a safe and relaxing summer.

Go Huskies!

Sean T. Frazier

Vice President/Director of Athletics and Recreation