Nicholas Ryan Novak (born August 21, 1981) is a former American football placekicker. He played college football at Maryland and was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2005.
Novak has played for the Washington Redskins, Arizona Cardinals, San Diego / Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets, and Houston Texans of the NFL, as well as the Cologne Centurions of NFL Europe, the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League (UFL), the Birmingham Iron of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) and the Los Angeles Wildcats of the XFL. In July 2021, Novak was named Head Football Coach at Maranatha High School in San Diego, California after a season as Maranatha’s Special Teams Coach. In January 2022, he was the Specialist/Assistant Coach on Jeff Fisher’s American Team Staff for the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.
Early years
Novak was born and raised in San Diego, California. After moving to Charlottesville, Virginia in 1994, he attended Albemarle High School, where he was a letterman in football, soccer, and tennis. In football, Novak was a three-year varsity letterman, twice garnering All-District and All-Daily Progress honors, and winning All-State honors following his sophomore and senior seasons. Novak was also an All-District central defender on Albemarle's soccer team. On May 4, 2018, he was inducted into the Albemarle High School Hall of Fame.
College career
Novak attended the University of Maryland. It was during a nationally televised game in 2001 against Georgia Tech that the then-redshirt freshman established himself, successfully completing a 46-yard field goal to send the game into overtime, and earning his nickname, "The Kick". In the second stanza, Novak connected on a 26-yard field goal that ultimately won the game for a resurgent Terrapin team. Novak would go on to establish himself as one of the more consistent and clutch kickers in the country; his leg keyed comeback victories against North Carolina State in 2002 and 2003. Accordingly, Novak was frequently an all-conference specialist and a mainstay on the Lou Groza watchlist. During the first game of his senior season, Novak became the ACC's all-time leading scorer, kicking a field goal and allowing him to surpass Scott Bentley's career total of 324 points. Novak ultimately ended his college career with 393 points, which was best in the league and fifth-best all-time amongst kickers in the NCAA at the time of his graduation.
Novak was awarded the Jim Tatum Award by the ACC, given annually to the top senior student-athlete among the league's football players. He is one of only three Maryland players to receive that award since its inception in 1979. Maryland Coach Ralph Freidgen said, "I don't think there could have been a more deserving recipient for the Tatum Award than Nick Novak. Everything he does in his life is toward the goal of perfection. It has been a pleasure to see the effort that he has given both on the field and in the classroom and he is a tremendous example of the type of person and player we are looking for at the University of Maryland."
While at Maryland, Novak was a two-time member of the All-ACC Academic Football team, a three-time member of the ACC Honor Roll and made Maryland's Dean's List on three occasions. He is a three-time CoSida Academic All-District selection and was named the 2004 LeFrak Scholar, an honor given to a Maryland football player, basketball player, and track athlete who "exhibits extraordinary athletic ability, leadership and athletic achievement."
Novak was also a member of the Maryland Alpha chapter of Phi Delta Theta at The University of Maryland in College Park. In 2007, he was selected to be commemorated in a special edition poster recognizing the top 30 figures in Maryland football history entitled "A Winning Tradition", "honoring and paying tribute to the players and coaches who made a significant impact on the Maryland Football Program, both on and off the field over the past fifty plus years."
Professional career
Washington Redskins
Novak, an undrafted free agent, signed with the Washington Redskins in September 2005, and appeared in five games, notably hitting a game-winning extra point in the narrow season-opening 14-13 road victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football and coming through with a game-saving tackle on the ensuing kickoff. Three weeks later in a 20-17 victory over the Seattle Seahawks, he kicked a game-winning field goal in overtime, which kept the Redskins undefeated and atop the NFC East. Since Novak was signed that year for the limited purpose of filling in for an ailing John Hall, he was released shortly after Hall returned to form.