Thomas Hammock
Thomas Hammock went 35–47 as a head coach, 2019–2025, at Northern Illinois. Share
- Record
- 35–47 career
- Seasons
- 7
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Jul 7, 1981
- Alma mater
- Northern Illinois 2002
- Best season
- 2021 9–5
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Northern Illinois | 5–7 | T–3rd (West) | |||
| 2020 | Northern Illinois | 0–6 | 6th (West) | |||
| 2021 | Northern Illinois | 9–5 | T–1st (West) | Cure Bowl L | ||
| 2022 | Northern Illinois | 3–9 | 6th | |||
| 2023 | Northern Illinois | 7–6 | 2nd | Camellia Bowl W | ||
| 2024 | Northern Illinois | 8–5 | T–6th | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl W | ||
| 2025 | Northern Illinois | 3–9 | T–11th |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 4 | 1–3 | 25% |
| Against top-10 teams | 2 | 1–1 | 50% |
| Against rivals | 7 | 2–5 | 29% |
| Conference games | 54 | 23–31 | 43% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 3 | 2–1 | 67% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 45 | 19–26 | 42% |
| At home | 38 | 17–21 | 45% |
| On the road | 40 | 15–25 | 38% |
| At neutral sites | 4 | 3–1 | 75% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 28 | 14–14 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 54 | 21–33 | 39% |
His own 82 games on file, 2019–2025, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Candle 2019–2025 | 2–5 | Toledo | 7 | |
| Chris Creighton 2019–2025 | 3–3 | Eastern Michigan | 6 | |
| Jim McElwain 2019–2024 | 2–4 | Central Michigan | 6 | |
| Mike Neu 2019–2024 | 1–5 | Ball State | 6 | |
| Tim Lester 2019–2022 | 2–2 | Western Michigan | 4 | |
| Chuck Martin 2019–2025 | 0–4 | Miami (OH) | 4 | |
| Joe Moorhead 2022–2024 | 2–1 | Akron | 3 | |
| Lance Taylor 2023–2025 | 2–1 | Western Michigan | 3 | |
| Sean Lewis 2021–2025 | 1–2 | Kent State, San Diego State | 3 |
Thomas Hammock’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Western Michiganseries | 7 | 4–3 |
| Ball Stateseries | 7 | 2–5 |
| Toledoseries | 7 | 2–5 |
| Eastern Michiganseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| Central Michiganseries | 6 | 2–4 |
| Akronseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| Ohioseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Kent Stateseries | 4 | 2–2 |
Other roles
- Team captain, Northern Illinois 2002
From each season’s Wikipedia article.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | Wisconsin | Graduate assistant | |
| 2005–06 | Northern Illinois | Running backs coach | |
| 2007–09 | Minnesota | Running backs coach | |
| 2010 | Minnesota | Co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| 2011–13 | Wisconsin | Assistant head coach and running backs coach | |
| 2014–18 | Baltimore Ravens NFL | Running backs coach | |
| 2019–25 | Northern Illinois | Head coach | |
| 2026–present | Seattle Seahawks NFL | Running backs coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Barry AlvarezWisconsin
- Joe NovakNorthern Illinois
- Tim BrewsterMinnesota
- Jeff HortonMinnesota
- Bret BielemaWisconsin
- Gary AndersenWisconsin
- Mike MacdonaldSeattle Seahawks
Assistants who became head coaches
- Eric EidsnessSouthwest Minnesota State
- Dan JacksonSouth Dakota State
- Wesley BeschornerWisconsin Eau Claire
- Quinn SandersCharleston (WV)
- Rob HarleyNorthern Illinois
Worked under (7)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barry Alvarez | Wisconsin | 2003–12 | 2003–04: graduate assistant; 2012: assistant head coach and running backs coach | |
| Joe Novak | Northern Illinois | 2005–06 | Running backs coach | |
| Tim Brewster | Minnesota | 2007–10 | 2007–09: running backs coach; 2010: co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| Jeff Horton | Minnesota | 2010 | Co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| Bret Bielema | Wisconsin | 2011–12 | Assistant head coach and running backs coach | |
| Gary Andersen | Wisconsin | 2013 | Assistant head coach and running backs coach | |
| Mike Macdonald | Seattle Seahawks NFL | 2026 | Running backs coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (5)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eric Eidsness | Northern Illinois, 2019–24: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Southwest Minnesota State | |
| Dan Jackson | Northern Illinois, 2020: cornerbacks and co-special teams coach; 2021: cornerbacks and co-special teams coach and defensive passing game coordinator | South Dakota State | |
| Wesley Beschorner | Northern Illinois, 2023: running backs coach; 2024: offensive coordinator and running backs coach | Wisconsin Eau Claire | |
| Quinn Sanders | Northern Illinois, 2025: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Charleston (WV) | |
| Rob Harley | Northern Illinois, 2025: defensive coordinator | Northern Illinois |
Other assistants under him (2)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Derrick Jackson | Northern Illinois, 2019–23: defensive coordinator | |
| Nick Benedetto | Northern Illinois, 2022–23: co-defensive coordinator; 2024: defensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Hammock’s teams went for it on 27% of fourth downs and on 47% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 43% of plays and took 27.5 seconds a play, 2019–2025.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 12 g | 23 of 109 21% | 42% | 48% | 27.8 | −0.06 | |
| 2020 6 g | 19 of 60 32% | 45% | 53% | 26.8 | −0.07 | |
| 2021 13 g | 30 of 101 30% | 52% | 37% | 27.0 | +0.17 | |
| 2022 12 g | 20 of 91 22% | 38% | 42% | 26.9 | +0.06 | |
| 2023 13 g | 20 of 95 21% | 38% | 46% | 28.8 | +0.04 | |
| 2024 13 g | 32 of 100 32% | 51% | 42% | 27.6 | +0.03 | |
| 2025 12 g | 36 of 113 32% | 59% | 35% | 27.5 | −0.08 | |
| All 81 g | 180 of 669 27% | 47% | 43% | 27.5 | +0.02 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.