New Northern Illinois head coach Thomas Hammock has completed his inaugural defensive staff with a pair of hires, announced Tuesday by the program.
Travis Moore has joined the program as the Huskies’ defensive line coach, while Aaron Wilkins will coach the cornerbacks.
A former Huskie himself, Moore has been the head coach at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, a south Chicago suburb, for the past 12 years.
“It’s a dream come true to come back to NIU,” Moore said in a statement. “I’ve come full circle. This is a program and a university that has given me so much, from the birth of my daughter, the marriage to my wife, who I met here at NIU, to coming out with a degree and having four years of joy on the football field. It’s literally a dream come true to be back and to work alongside someone as great as coach Hammock.”
Wilkins spent the past four years on the defensive staff at Liberty.
Aaron Wilkins is a guy that I’ve come to know through Coach [Robert] Wimberly,” Hammock said. “He was a volunteer at Liberty, then an intern, became a quality control assistant, and then a position coach. I love to have guys that have worked their way through the ranks to a position of being an assistant coach. As a recruiter, he signed 11 kids from California to go to Liberty so he must be a good recruiter to do that. He brings a level of knowledge to the secondary that is going to benefit our cornerbacks, and he will work with Coach Jackson on that back end of our defense. I think the guys will gravitate to him, and we’re happy to have him as a Huskie.”
Moore and Wilkins will join the previously-hired Jordan Gigli and Robert Wimberly on Hammock’s defensive staff.
Hammock was hired as NIU’s head coach on Jan. 18 after Rod Carey left for Temple, replacing the Owls’ old-new head coach Manny Diaz, who reversed course on Temple after Mark Richt‘s abrupt retirement.