Rockford native Brock Spack, who played and coached at Purdue, took over as Illinois State’s head coach for the 2009 season. He is the Redbirds’ career leader with 111 wins. (Photo by GoRedbirds.com)
By Dan Verdun
Illinois State’s Brock Spack is now the dean of head coaches in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
Spack, 63, beginning his 17th season at ISU, took over the title following the retirement of Northern Iowa’s Mark Farley last fall.
Next in line is 40-year-old Nick Hill, who starts his 10th season at Southern Illinois. Meanwhile, the MVFC welcomes four new head coaches into the fold this fall.
During Monday’s MVFC media day proceedings, Spack was the “sage of the stage” as he fielded a wide variety of questions. Many of the queries weren’t necessarily about the prospects of his Redbirds this season.
Asked about the “new age” of college football featuring everything from the transfer portal to NIL to realignment to the House settlement to the inevitable followup lawsuits, Spack was a long way from his days as a high school recruit in the late 1970s.
“I wish I had a crystal ball, but all I know is once you open Pandora’s box and start paying players, you’re not going back,” he said. “You have to get with the program or get out.”
Farley, who spent 24 years at Northern Iowa and is the MVFC career wins leader, got out.
One day after Illinois State defeated Farley’s Panthers last November, Farley announced his retirement.
“It’s kind of sad. I like him a lot. He’s had a Hall of Fame career. He’s got a lot to be proud of,” Spack told Prairie State Pigskin at the time.
Farley cited the transfer portal and growth of NIL as major factors in his decision, further stating the purity of the game had been taken away.
“I totally get it,” Spack said.
Still in the game
Despite all this, Spack remains in the game. In April, he signed a contract extension that will keep him at Illinois State through the 2027 season.
Certainly the team that he and his staff have assembled for the upcoming season is a key factor. The Redbirds were picked fourth in the preseason MVFC poll, their highest ranking in six years. Fourteen ISU players were on the conference’s players to watch list.
“We’re very excited to get started,” Spack said. “I’ve been very pleased with our progress. We got back in the playoffs a year ago and won 10 games and have the majority of our team back. They’ve been working very, very hard.”
Yet, for all the on the field success, the everchanging world of collegiate athletics hasn’t stopped its twisting roller coaster ride.
“If we can get some parameters around it, I won’t say rules but some guardrails, it would be helpful. I think we’re a little better towards that than we were a year ago,” Spack said.
Yet, much has changed from the start of his coaching career, a great deal of it in recent years.
“That hard part for us as players and coaches is that the rules change so much, particularly when you have roster limitations now. With the way they’ve set it up with the designated student-athlete PSAs, they’ve made a pretty wise decision,” he said.
PSA stands for Prospective Student-Athlete, which is defined as a high school student actively being recruited by college coaches. In NCAA terms, this generally applies to students starting their ninth grade year, or earlier, if they receive financial aid or benefits not available to other prospective students.
That’s something Spack the athlete didn’t deal with coming out of Rockford and signing with Purdue in the early 1980s.
“Resources are tough out there now, but if you’re going to be a good football program you’ve got to have resources. I don’t care what level you’re at, and that will always be the case,” he said.
That also impacts players on a daily basis.
“It’s hard to keep track of all of it,” ISU defensive lineman Jake Anderson said. “But (ISU) does a good job holding meetings and stuff to make sure we know everything that’s going on as much as we can – until they change it the next time.”
Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.
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