After 12 seasons at Hustle Belt, it’s time to move on.
After more than a decade at Hustle Belt, I have made the difficult decision that it is time to step away from writing.
I grew up a fan of the Northern Illinois Huskies. My mom went there, both my older siblings— nine and seven years older than me, respectively— went there. I spent a lot of time around DeKalb as a kid and became a huge fan early on so naturally, I went there too.
I was obsessed with the team, but noticed there was very limited coverage on the Huskies during their Orange Bowl run in 2012, so the next year I applied to be the NIU contributor to make sure we had a larger presence on this site.
For my first game back in 2013, I got to travel to West Lafayette and watch Jordan Lynch and the Huskies dismantle Purdue 55-24. At the time, it was the most points an opponent had ever scored against the Boilermakers at home.
And since that game, I have been lucky enough to be the voice of NIU football on Hustle Belt. I have covered all 148 games since – from MAC Championship games to Famous Idaho Potato Bowls, to midweek action against Eastern Michigan, to upsets over Nebraska, Georgia Tech, Boston College, and Notre Dame (among others). I have gotten to travel across the country; from Ann Arbor to Wyoming, from Nashville to Atlanta and watch the Huskies play. I even got to to experience a few games from the press box at Huskie Stadium.
Those memories will stay with me forever.
As a huge craft and independent beer lover, Hustle Belt also allowed me to start my own weekly craft beer segment, Belt’s Beer Garden, back in October of 2014. And for more than 10 years I published a beer review or related article every Friday – never missing a single week in all that time. In that time, I showcased 771 different beers from 519 breweries across all 50 states and 14 countries.
But after 12 seasons and nearly 800 beer reviews, it’s time to step back. Between life becoming more hectic and finding less time and passion in writing, this was something I had been thinking about since long before the Mountain West rumors were even a thing. But now that NIU is indeed leaving the MAC (even if it isn’t until 2026), this certainly feels like the right time to step aside as well.
I’m so honored to have been one of the longest tenured writers ever at Hustle Belt and gotten to see so many amazing #MACtion moments. I’m also so proud to have worked with many amazing people here and have become much closer to my fellow writers, both past and present, than I ever thought I would. And I am so appreciative that I have been able to cover the greatest conference in college football.
But the biggest thank you goes out to all those have that have continued to read my work and listen to me over the years. Thank you all so very much. There are so many great and passionate fans in the MAC and I loved interacting with each and every one of you that took the time to reach out to me.
Thank you.
#MACtion for life,
Dave Drury