ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO/WQRF) — There was a whole lot of Northern Illinois University sports talk in Rockford Wednesday evening. NIU’s Summer Circuit visited our city stopping at Rockford Casino’s Hard Rock Opening Act location off Bell School Road.
Four head coaches, men’s basketball coach Rashon Burno, women’s basketball coach Lisa Carlsen, volleyball coach Sondra Parys and football coach Thomas Hammock, plus Director of Athletics Sean Frazier were there. It was an opportunity for fans and alumni of NIU to visit with them and learn more about what’s going on with their teams.
This was the third stop in three days on the circuirt. They were at St. Charles on Monday and Oakbrook Terrace on Tuesday. The coaches say it’s a good time to visit with fans, and it’s also a good time for the coaches themselves to do a little bonding when they’re traveling on the bus together to the locations.
“We get the opportunity as head coaches to all be on the bus together as we travel back and forth, and very rarely do we get to spend that type of time together just bouncing ideas off of each other, enjoying each other’s company,” said Carlsen.
Burno agreed. “We just have fun, relax, get to know each other better because during the course of the year, we’re like racehorses. Everyone has their blinders on literally just focusing on their tasks, so it’s good to see guys in their own element.”
