Hall of Famer, Joe Novak Passes Away
7/29/2026 12:30:00 PM | Football
Former Miami University player and coach, Joe Novak, passed away this week. He was 81 years old.
Novak spent nearly four decades coaching on the gridiron at the high school and collegiate levels. He returned to Miami as an assistant coach from 1974-76. During that time, Miami won two MAC titles, going undefeated in MAC play in 1974 and 1975, while winning the Tangerine Bowl both of those seasons.
Prior to his time at Miami as a coach, Novak began his prep coaching career as an assistant at Warren Western Reserve High School in 1968. Elevated to head coach five years later, Novak led Western Reserve to a 12-0 record and Ohio's large school division state title to earn 1972 Coach of the Year honors. He took Western Reserve back to the state finals a year later with an 11-1 record before joining the collegiate ranks. After a combined 22 seasons as an assistant coach at Miami (1974-76), Illinois (1977-79), Northern Illinois (1980-83) and Indiana (1984-95), Novak assumed the head coaching position at Northern Illinois in 1996 and spent 12 seasons guiding the Huskies. Novak inherited a struggling NIU program that he led to four MAC West Division titles (2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005) and two bowl game appearances. The Huskies won the Silicon Valley Bowl during the 2004 season and earned a berth in the Poinsettia Bowl in 2006.
He earned Mid-American Conference (MAC) Coach of the Year honors in 2002 and was named the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Region 3 Division I-A Coach of the Year in 2003. After leading Northern Illinois to victories in its first seven games of the 2003 season, which included landmark upsets of No. 15 Maryland and No. 21 Alabama. The Huskies went on to climb as high as No. 12 in the Associated Press Poll and No. 14 in the Coaches Poll.
Novak concluded his coaching career ranked among the top 10 in MAC history in both overall victories (63) and conference wins (47). A standout defensive end at Miami, he helped lead the RedHawks to MAC Co-Championships in 1965 and 1966 before being inducted into the Miami Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007–08.
