Three-time alumnus Tim Mack reflects on eight years at NIU, wisdom of moms

Tim Mack
Tim Mack

“Dear NIU,” the letter begins. “I can’t believe these past eight years have come to an end. I still remember calling my mom after my very first semester at NIU, contemplating whether college was for me because I barely finished above a 2.0 GPA.”

Monique Carroll – the mom in question – listened compassionately as her youngest child expressed his anxiety over whether he could carry on at the university where his grandparents, Clinton and Hazel Anthony, met 45 years earlier.

She’d raised him with “not a lot of freedom but the opportunity to be free in my own way.” To come home at a responsible time despite no real curfew. To live the life he wanted, one filled with football, baseball and basketball. To take responsibility for his choices and their outcomes.

And when he left Oak Park for DeKalb to begin his freshman year, that is exactly what Tim Mack did.

He thought he could handle living on his own, taking college-level coursework and pledging a fraternity, but it proved overwhelming. His grades suffered.

“I’m not going to lie. It was all about having fun. No parents. Go out and have a good time,” he says of what he now refers to as “nonsense.”

“Joining a fraternity and trying to balance school as a freshman, first-semester, probably wasn’t the greatest idea,” he adds. “My grades weren’t bad – it wasn’t like I was on academic probation or anything – but they just weren’t up to my standards. I remember just calling her, like, ‘Mom, I’ve never been a bad student before. I don’t know what’s going on.’ ”

Tim Mack and his mother, Monique Carroll
Tim Mack and his mother, Monique Carroll

Carroll wasn’t worried, pointing her son to the philosophies she had instilled in him as a child.

“Reminding me of who I am, how I was raised and where I came from. To just trust myself. To just trust the process,” he says. “The way she raised us was to bounce back and get back on our feet. She didn’t like to see me making mistakes, but it was going to happen, especially in college, that’s probably where I had the most room to grow. Ultimately, it’s pretty much what made me turn over a new leaf.”

Or, as he writes more succinctly in his letter, “My mother assured me to trust the process and told me that things would pan out. Fast-forward eight years later and I have accomplished the unimaginable.”

THE SO-CALLED “UNIMAGINABLE” is true.

Graduating in December with his M.S.Ed. in Sport and Exercise Psychology, Mack added a third NIU diploma to his impressive collection of degrees, which began with his B.S. in Kinesiology in 2018 and his M.S. in Sport Management in 2020.

Mack’s years as a Huskie also include helping Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education faculty Jenn Jacobs and Zach Wahl-Alexander to launch Project FLEX, for which Mack served as the first graduate assistant.

Jacobs gushes with descriptors for Mack.

“One of the good ones.” “A stellar human.” “A true pride of our department.”

“Tim is one of those rare students who an educator will channel when their motivation is low or times too tough,” Jacobs says.

He was there from Day One of Project FLEX and will forever be someone who helped shape the impact of the program. His contributions will be felt for years to come,” she adds. “Dr. Wahl and I thank him for his unwavering commitment to the youth of FLEX; his jokes and moral support; and some really memorable adventures in between, such as hiking in Colorado after his first national conference presentation or attending a national cricket game in Sri Lanka.”

Tim Mack
Tim Mack

Past accomplishments inform high expectations and confidence.

“Because of who Tim is and how he connects with others, we know he will be successful in whatever professional role he ends up in,” Jacobs says. “We can’t wait to see him ‘flex’ his fantastic skills in his exciting future!”

IT’S A FUTURE FOUNDED on a phone call and a mother’s comforting wisdom.

Knowing that “things couldn’t worse than this” in December of 2013, Mack decided to view that first semester as “a wake-up call.”

“I just buckled down more in school,” he says. “Honestly, it just made me listen more in class. I started to meet more people near my major. It was study tables in the library during the library study hours. It was connecting with more people who would eventually take that same route through the KNPE department. It was just getting more accustomed to the campus.”

He leaned on his cousin, who as a senior at NIU that year. He leaned on his fraternity brothers “to keep me on the right path.”

Four years later, and on schedule, Mack completed his bachelor’s degree.

“My time spent in DeKalb was key to becoming a better functioning member of society. I was presented with opportunities to fail, learn from my mistakes and to be a leader. Luckily, with a little help from the people in my corner, I was able to turn the tide of things.”

During that final semester – Spring 2018 – Mack’s internship with Health Fitness Corp. stoked his curiosity about the professional opportunities in the sports industry. He had developed skills in exercise science but realized “it wasn’t my path.”

Tim Mack
Tim Mack

Conversations with Jacobs motivated Mack to stay on campus for graduate studies.

“Dr. J. told me about Sport Management,” Mack says. “I met Dr. (Steve) Howell through just emailing him about the program and then, eventually, I was like, ‘This is exactly what I want to do.’ I didn’t know exactly what in Sport Management I wanted to do, but I definitely wanted my future to revolve around sports. And that’s when Project FLEX started up.”

Launched in the fall of 2018, Project FLEX (Fitness Leadership Experience) provides structured physical activity to young men and women who are incarcerated and helps to prepare them to lead more productive lives upon their eventual release.

Since its successful debut, it has grown beyond the original facility in St. Charles to add Warrenville and has expanded its scope to include personal fitness training and even NIU campus visits for some of the participants.

Jacobs, whom Mack calls “a rock in my corner since I met her sophomore year,” needed no convincing when Wahl-Alexander suggested the young master’s student as “our guy for FLEX.”

“Dr. J. reached out to me,” Mack says. “I trust her and her opinion, and when she expressed what they were trying to do, and how it could help me in my future, that trust I had in her and the trust that this make for a better future is what got me into it.”

WORKING WITH PROJECT FLEX has taught Mack so much.

“The No. 1 thing is, first and foremost, that they’re all kids. I’ve learned that whatever their background is – whatever is going on with them – that everyone is dealt a different deck of cards in life. They’ve taught me that, and they’ve taught me to not judge,” he says.

“It could be some of the most hardcore criminals in the facility, and these kids love playing Uno. They love playing Go Fish,” he adds. “It almost brings you to, ‘Man, how did these kids end up in here?’ ”

From left: Jennifer Jacobs, Zach Wahl-Alexander, Tim Mack, Gabrielle and
Presenting research at the American Society of Criminology Conference in Chicago, November 2021: Jenn Jacobs, Zach Wahl-Alexander, Tim Mack, NIU Ph.D. student Gabrielle Bennett and Rosie Meek, professor of Criminological Psychology at Royal Holloway University of London and the world’s top scholar on sport in prison.

FLEX also “taught me about myself,” he says. “It’s very easy to go in and hear a background about somebody and instantly judge them, but it’s about taking a step back to be open to everybody’s different situations. It’s taught me to not take everything literally and to just give everyone the benefit of the doubt. And I think it’s carried on in my life.”

Mack believes it important to show the young men “a role model of color.”

“That’s the biggest thing,” Mack says. “You know, it’s so easy to have somebody come in and preach, ‘Do this. Do right. Do good.’ But then they don’t look like you? I’m not that much older than them, and to see me as a Black man, they can relate.”

He points to Mike Tomlin, his childhood idol. Tomlin, the NFL’s only Black head coach, has never posted a losing season in his 15 years leading the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Tim Mack
Tim Mack

“That just shows how his guys want to play for him and want to play hard for him,” Mack says. “I relate that back to myself, growing up as a young Black kid. It’s something I could point to and say, ‘Hey, that could be me one day’ – and so I think that me being someone who looks like these kids is something that will resonate with them for years to come.”

FLEX’s future is bright, he adds.

Jacobs and Wahl-Alexander now are supported by a team of six graduate assistants. They’re attracting financial sponsorship from generous donors who believe in the potential of their work and, importantly, are reaping the emotional advocacy of partners with the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice who feel the same.

Dr. J. and Dr. Wahl had a vision and they trusted me with it, and now it’s just going above and beyond,” Mack says. “It’s really incredible, it’s only improving and it’s only up from here. I wish them nothing but the best.”

“I am forever grateful for this opportunity. We achieved greatness in the program and even presented side by side at the Engage Global Conference in Denver which was a memorable experience. I am excited that one day I will be able to tell my kids all about it.”

MACK’S OWN FUTURE REMAINS wide open.

He’s hunting for a job, hoping for a gig in community relations with a sports organization – or, he says, maybe outside of sports.

From his time involved in engaged learning, which includes an Engage Global trip to Sri Lanka and presentations at national conference, his résumé brims with practical experiences.

Jennifer Jacobs, Tim Mack and Zach Wahl-Alexander
Jenn Jacobs, Tim Mack and Zach Wahl-Alexander

From the mentorship and advising of Howell, his résumé demonstrates an awareness of the need to volunteer and network.

From his time in the Omega Delta fraternity, which he served as president during his senior year, his résumé brims with leadership qualifications.

Mack is ready to turn it all into a career that exemplifies his life as a Huskie, an adopted member of KNPE’s “big happy family” and a biological son of Monique Carroll.

“Everybody in the KNPE department just gives that warm, welcoming mentality that allows a student to grow, and I think in my future, that’s just going to make me more welcoming and open. I take pride in being approachable. I take pride in being someone people feel comfortable coming to to ask for help,” he says.

“Part of the work I want to do is mentoring – being that voice in the community – and taking my experience to build new partnerships and shaping the world for a better future,” he adds.

“It all stems from my mom, and from her raising three boys on her own until my stepdad came around. It’s just that grit that she has. We’ve had friends who had bad backgrounds come to live with us. We adopted a cousin of mine growing up because he came from a bad background. It’s just that loving mentality that my mom instilled in all of us.”

“To stand here knowing I achieved something great still hasn’t completely sunk in. Knowing that I left behind my NIU family has also been difficult to accept. To my family and friends, thank you for standing by my side through it all. This current success represents every one of you. While the door of my college career officially closes, my future endeavors are closer than ever. We did it! So goodbye Huskie nation and thank you again for this life changing journey. #TheHardWay.”

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