Alumni Relations is back with another installment of their online webinar series Northern Now. The current installment of the series, titled “Northern Now: NMU Football Chat,” will be held on Wednesday, April 12 at 7 p.m.

The chat features the new NMU football head coach and NMU alumni, Shane Richardson ‘01 BS and will be moderated by NMU alumni Steve Mariucci ‘77 BS, ‘83 MAE, an analyst for the NFL Network. Richardson and Mariucci will be joined by featured guests and NMU alumni Rob Saleh ‘01 BS, head coach of the New York Jets, and Rick Comley ‘73 MAE, NMU athletic director. A question and answer segment of the event will also be held, offering the audience the chance to ask questions. 

The webinar focuses on Richardson becoming the new head coach of the NMU football team, which was announced in Dec. 2022. The webinar is an opportunity for alumni and students to get to know Richardson, as well as to understand his vision for the future of the football team. An alumni, Richardson played football during his time at NMU. Mariucci also played football during his time at NMU, allowing the opportunity for the moderator and featured speaker to share stories and see commonalities. 

The chat came to be due to alumni wanting to know about Richardson as well as wanting to hear directly from him, Alumni Relations Director of Alumni and Foundation Communications Kylie Bunting said. 

“They were really excited to see that a former Wildcat was at the helm of the football team,” Bunting said. “We wanted to give him a proper Wildcat welcome.” 

Since being appointed the new head coach, Richardson has already done some recruiting for the team, as well as some staff changes including new assistant coaches. The webinar will offer Richardson a chance to discuss and share the things he has already done as head coach. Comley will be joining the chat in order to give insight into the decision to bring Richardson on as head coach, as well as give his perspective on how things have been going so far. 

The Northern Now series has been hosted by Alumni Relations since 2020. Online webinar events occur at various points throughout the year, almost every month. These webinars cover a variety of topics, ranging from cooking segments to archaeology talks. The virtual aspect of the webinars help to make it accessible to all who are interested in attending. 

Northern Now gives Alumni Relations a way to reach alumni in different pockets of the country, Bunting said. 

“Not everybody gets to come back here during the summer, or [can] visit here frequently,” Bunting said. “This is an opportunity to get an inside look at what is going on here on campus and the things that our alumni are doing now.” 

This specific installment of the webinar series both showcases what’s going on around NMU’s campus as well as sharing what some of the alumni have gone on to do. The series helps alumni to stay connected to the community as well as keeping attendants updated on current events around campus. 

There are currently 200 people registered for the event as of Tuesday, April 11. Those wanting to attend can register for the event on the HUB or through the Alumni Relations website and will be sent a link to join the live stream.