Cushing brings old friends from NU to his new job at EIU
How long had Adam Cushing worked at Northwestern?
So long that his first full-time coaching gig was on the late Randy Walker's staff. Long enough that his family managed to live in the same house for six years.
It may not seem like much, but that's practically an eternity in the world of assistant college coaches.
So why did Cushing pack up his office, give Willie the Wildcat a friendly pat on the back and move his family to Charleston?
Flanked by nine assistants who spent time at Northwestern, Cushing is about to begin his first season as head coach at Eastern Illinois. As comfortable as he was in Evanston, Cushing felt his challenge needed to be steeper.
"I got really, really comfortable and I wanted to push myself," he said. "I wanted to be able to look my kids in the eye and tell them that when you've got to take a risk, you take a risk to live out your dream.
"The biggest reason I'm here is I work my tail off as much as I can on a daily basis and feel like when I put my head on the pillow at night I did more for more people, had more positive influence on more people on this football team. It's a great feeling."
At EIU, Cushing has created sort of a year-round Wildcat reunion weekend by hiring so many of his former co-workers. Defensive coordinator Chris Bowers spent eight years at NU, most recently as head of recruiting.
Offensive coordinator John Kuceyeski and quarterbacks coach Chris Batti were NU grad assistants at the same time roughly 10 years ago. Nothing like menial, entry-level tasks to create a lifelong friendship.
"They call those GA jobs," Kuceyeski said. "You obviously have to be an expert in making coffee. If you can have a sense of how to get the copier unjammed, that's probably the No. 1 issue."
Kuceyeski is a Libertyville native, son of longtime Wildcats head coach Randy Kuceyeski. He spent the past three years coaching running backs and offensive line at Cornell. Cushing had no hesitation about handing over his offense to a 32-year-old who has never been a coordinator.
"Of all the guys that passed through Northwestern, John's one of the brightest that I've ever been around," Cushing said. "So no concern whatsoever in terms of his ability to do the job. He's done a great job of putting together a really simple plan, but stayed multiple with the ability to really be flexible."
EIU is coming off a 3-8 season, the school's worst record since 2011. The Panthers aren't too far removed from 2013, when they were the No. 2 seed in the FCS playoffs behind quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and head coach Dino Babers, who is now at Syracuse.
Eastern does have an impressive football history for a school its size, counting Garoppolo, former Cowboys QB Tony Romo, Saints head coach Sean Payton, Bears GM Ryan Pace, and longtime NFL head coach Mike Shanahan among its alums, along with a Division II national championship in 1978.
Cushing feels the team he inherited has some talent but needs more experience and competitive depth. He counted 59 veterans and 44 newcomers on the roster.
Just like Northwestern calls itself, "Chicago's Big Ten team," Cushing decided to try to make EIU Chicago's FCS team. Of the 30 players signed for his first recruiting class, 19 are from the Chicago area. Cushing is himself a Chicago native and played at Mt. Carmel High School.
"I'm 39 years old and for 37 years I've lived in the Chicago area," Cushing said. "I think there really is a high level of football in the Chicagoland area and Illinois in general. That's another one of the reasons this is such a great job and great fit for me."
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