Former Gopher with massive upset win as NIU’s head coach over Notre Dame

Former Minnesota Golden Gophers assistant coach Thomas Hammock scored a big win, defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend, Ind. 16-14 on Saturday afternoon.

The victory left Hammock fighting through tears as he spoke about his team during a postgame interview.

"I'm so proud of our kids, our coaches, just everybody," Hammock said. "They believed. They believed. And they came here and got it done."

The Huskies' upset bid was prevalent throughout the afternoon but shifted toward NIU when Amariyun Knighten intercepted a Riley Leonard pass with 6:07 left in the fourth quarter.

NIU proceeded to grind down the clock, mounting an 11-play, 31-yard drive that lasted five minutes and 24 seconds before Kanon Woodill hit a 35-yard field goal that gave the Huskies the lead.

The win triggered all sorts of emotion from the Huskies' faithful including a call by radio play-by-play man Andy Garcia.

The second half of Hammock's interview with Zora Stephenson also brought another wave of emotion.

"All these guys that have been with our program, been through the ups and downs, and they continue to fight, it's like they're my kids," Hammock said. "I'm happy for the adversity, the push-through no matter the situation. I just couldn't be more proud."

Hammock is in his sixth year as the head coach at NIU, where he played from 1999-02. The 43-year-old went on to begin his coaching career as a graduate assistant (2003-04) and the running backs coach at NIU (2005-06) before becoming the Gophers' running back coach under Tim Brewster from 2007-09 and the co-offensive coordinator in 2010.

When Brewster was fired in 2010, Hammock returned to Wisconsin to serve as the assistant head coach and running backs coach from 2011-13 before spending five years (2014-18) as the running backs coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

Hammock has gone 26-33 at NIU and won the MAC championship in 2021. The win over the Irish also made him the first MAC coach to upset a top-five opponent.