As the Huskies ran off the field celebrating for the third week in a row, NIU running back Me’co Brown headed to the sidelines.

The freshman focused straight ahead, as if the offensive line had just opened a hole for him. Fans yelled for Brown’s attention, but he didn’t gaze into the east grand stands. Instead, his eyes were focused straight ahead, on the prize.

But the freshman’s target wasn’t the end zone. Instead, he was jogging to a 5-foot-7 NFL running back. It only took a few seconds, but Brown finally extended his hand out and shook that hand of former NIU running back Garrett Wolfe.

“I just said I wanted to meet him for a long time,” Brown said. “I was glad to meet him.”

All season, NIU head coach Jerry Kill has preached about “team.” The depth chart hasn’t meant a thing for the first-year coach. Instead, it’s about playing the guy who gives you the best chance to win on Saturday.

But this week I learned what Kill truly meant by “team.”

The term doesn’t stop at the players who throw on pads for the first-year coach. And team includes more than those who wear jerseys or who hold clipboards. For Kill, the definition of team extends to everyone connected with NIU football.

“We have a guy playing in the NFL stop in today, we have the president [John Peters], we got our athletic director [Jeff Compher], we got a heck of a group here,” said Kill about the group that lead the fight song in the locker room. “They’re as big as a part as anybody.”

So the question is, are these individuals a reason why NIU has been winning? I’d say yes.

You can’t build a winning program without the support of your athletic department, your university and your alumni. On Saturdays in DeKalb, NIU combines all three elements. Sure, Wolfe hasn’t been at every game, but plenty of alumni have been walking on the field, cheering for NIU right from the sidelines.

And this support comes other days as well.

“Jeff [Compher] is 4-0 on Thursday,” said Kill about the athletic director who gives speeches to the Huskies before home games. “Mr. President, never schedule him for a meeting on Thursday at five o’clock. You can have him the rest of the time, but I need him at five.”

Kill has used the support of the athletic department, the university and the alumni to do something he couldn’t do without it. The coach has used this support to show that he cares about his players.

And it has been this caring, this support, that Kill has used to create a “team.”

“There’s one thing that kids want in life. They want you to care,” Kill said. “If you care they’ll run through the wall for you.”

On Saturday, the first-year head coach had his team running – a lot. To be exact, the Huskies kept the ball on the ground 57 times, 19 of those carries coming from quarterback Chandler Harnish.

But his players did it, without question.

Why? Because they know Kill cares. They know Peters cares. They know the fans care.

And caring is what can make any average team become something extraordinary.

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