Top 25
2-10
- Games
- 12
- Win rate
- 16.7%
Back to Coaches
Volatile BuilderOffense-FirstLong Career
Coach Profile
Joe Novak
1996-2007 • Northern Illinois
One defining program at Northern Illinois.
Joe Novak coached 12 seasons, won 45.3%, and posted an average SRS of -8.3. Best season: 2005 Northern Illinois. The profile was offense-first with a highly volatile profile. One primary stint defined the run.
- Career record
- 63-76
- Career win rate
- 45.3%
- Average SRS
- -8.3
- Peak SRS
- 6.0
Career Dossier
One glance at the full arc.
The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.
- Seasons coached
- 12
- Career span
- 12 years
- Best finish
- —
- Consistency
- 7.0
Primary school anchor
Northern Illinois
Offense-First profile with 1 program stop and a peak score of 50.8.
Career Arc
Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.
Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.
Joe Novak
EliteStrongAverageLean
1996Actual season year • SRS range -30.4 to 6.02007
Active comparison point
Joe Novak • 2005
2005 Northern Illinois
Best season7-5 • SRS 6.0 • SP Overall 5.9
Win %
58.3%
YoY SRS
+6.2
SP Off / Def
34.4 / 28.5
Finish
Unranked
Comparison context
Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.
Ranked opponent record
Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.
Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.
Top 10
0-3
- Games
- 3
- Win rate
- 0.0%
Top 5
0-2
- Games
- 2
- Win rate
- 0.0%
View ranked game results12
| 2006 Postseason Week 1 | Northern Illinois | TCU | #22 | L7-37 |
| 2005 Regular Week 1 | Northern Illinois | Michigan | #4 | L17-33 |
| 2003 Regular Week 10 | Northern Illinois | Bowling Green | #23 | L18-34 |
| 2003 Regular Week 5 | Northern Illinois | Alabama | #21 | W19-16 |
| 2002 Regular Week 12 | Northern Illinois | Bowling Green | #20 | W26-17 |
| 2002 Regular Week 4 | Northern Illinois | Wisconsin | #22 | L21-24 |
| 2001 Regular Week 6 | Northern Illinois | Toledo | #25 | L20-41 |
| 2000 Regular Week 5 | Northern Illinois | Auburn | #20 | L14-31 |
| 1999 Regular Week 10 | Northern Illinois | Marshall | #13 | L9-41 |
| 1998 Regular Week 3 | Northern Illinois | Kansas State | #5 | L7-73 |
| 1997 Regular Week 3 | Northern Illinois | Kansas State | #21 | L7-47 |
| 1996 Regular Week 4 | Northern Illinois | Penn State | #6 | L0-49 |
Tenure map
Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.
Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint
Northern Illinois
1996-2007 • 12 seasons
Avg SRS -8.3 • Win % 45.3%
- Longest tenure
- Northern Illinois • 12 seasons
- Best tenure
- Northern Illinois • -8.3 SRS
- Best tenure win rate
- Northern Illinois • 45.3%
Style and Strength Profile
Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.
These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.
Overall Strength
Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.
Joe Novak sets the reference point in overall strength.
Overall Strength
Decisive edgeJoe Novak sets the reference point in overall strength.
Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.
Joe Novak
Lower end
- Raw avg SP Overall
- -7.6
- Percentile
- 33th pct
Lower end
Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.
Impact by school
See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.
Northern Illinois
1996-2007 • 63-76
Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).
Avg SRS -8.3Win % 45.3%
Avg wins
Higher is better
5.3 during vs 3.6 baseline
+1.6
Avg SRS
Higher is better
-8.3 during vs -15.5 baseline
+7.2
Avg SP Overall
Higher is better
-7.6 during vs -16.3 baseline
+8.7
Ranked finish rate
Higher is better
0.0% during vs 0.0% baseline
+0.0%
Career highs and lows
High Points
Best Season
Northern Illinois 2005
7-5 • SRS 6.0
Biggest Improvement
Northern Illinois 2000
6-5 • 11.7 SRS
Best Offensive Season
Northern Illinois 2000
6-5 • SP Off 40.6
Best Defensive Season
Northern Illinois 2006
7-6 • SP Def 25.2
Setbacks
Worst Season
Northern Illinois 1996
1-10 • SRS -30.4
Biggest Drop
Northern Illinois 2007
2-10 • -16.7 SRS
Season-by-season results
Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.
| Northern Illinois | 2007 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 16.7% | — | — | -19.8 | -17.0 | 18.7 | 35.1 | -16.7 | -37.2% |
| Northern Illinois | 2006 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 53.8% | — | — | -3.1 | -2.5 | 22.6 | 25.2 | -9.1 | -4.5% |
| Northern Illinois | 2005 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 58.3% | — | — | 6.0 | 5.9 | 34.4 | 28.5 | +6.2 | -16.7% |
| Northern Illinois | 2004 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 75.0% | — | — | -0.2 | 4.0 | 39.3 | 36.0 | -2.0 | -8.3% |
| Northern Illinois | 2003 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 83.3% | — | — | 1.8 | -2.9 | 31.1 | 34.0 | +1.0 | +16.7% |
| Northern Illinois | 2002 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 66.7% | — | — | 0.8 | 4.0 | 35.7 | 33.3 | +5.8 | +12.1% |
| Northern Illinois | 2001 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 54.5% | — | — | -5.0 | -2.0 | 32.1 | 33.9 | -6.1 | 0.0% |
| Northern Illinois | 2000 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 54.5% | — | — | 1.1 | 5.6 | 40.6 | 36.6 | +11.7 | +9.1% |
| Northern Illinois | 1999 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 45.5% | — | — | -10.6 | -14.5 | 26.5 | 37.7 | +7.1 | +27.3% |
| Northern Illinois | 1998 | 11 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 18.2% | — | — | -17.7 | -12.6 | 22.3 | 33.3 | +5.4 | +18.2% |
| Northern Illinois | 1997 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0.0% | — | — | -23.1 | -23.6 | 17.0 | 37.9 | +7.3 | -9.1% |
| Northern Illinois | 1996 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 9.1% | — | — | -30.4 | -36.0 | 14.8 | 45.9 | — | — |
Similar coaches
Related profiles are matched by style, strength band, volatility band, peak range, and career length.
Hal Mumme
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.4
Avg SRS -8.8 • Peak SRS 7.6 • 8 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 11.6
Open profile →Terry Shea
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.5
Avg SRS -9.9 • Peak SRS 11.2 • 7 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 11.5
Open profile →Al Kincaid
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.0
Avg SRS -7.3 • Peak SRS 10.5 • 7 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 10.4
Open profile →Dennis Green
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.5
Avg SRS -6.8 • Peak SRS 16.5 • 8 seasons
Best finish #22 • Volatility 12.8
Open profile →David Rader
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 0.3
Avg SRS -8.1 • Peak SRS 5.2 • 12 seasons
Best finish #21 • Volatility 7.1
Open profile →Kevin Wilson
same offense-first identity • avg SRS within 1.3
Avg SRS -7.0 • Peak SRS 3.6 • 8 seasons
Best finish Unranked • Volatility 8.8
Open profile →