DeKALB, Ill. -- After Northern Illinois went 5-7 in 2019, coach Thomas Hammock asked his players to start "buying the dip."
Hammock wasn't making a condiment request for NIU's football team banquet. He saw a senior-laden group that would get much younger over the next few seasons. More losses were likely before NIU could turn things around.
"Buying the dip meant there's going to be some rough roads ahead," Hammock explained to ESPN on Monday. "I said, 'Just continue to buy into the process, buy into the culture and you will be rewarded tenfold.'"
Hammock had no way of knowing how rocky the road would become for his team.