Come the end of the week, four-year NIU men’s tennis coach Steven Rodecap officially will be moving out of his office at the Convocation Center and to his new home in Milwaukee, Wis., with the Marquette Golden Eagles.

This past season, the Anderson, Ind., native led the Huskies to a 16-10 record and a runner-up finish at the MAC Tournament.

“He’s done a tremendous job over the years,” NIU Athletics Director Cary Groth said.

Rodecap’s four-year record record in DeKalb was 50-46 with three consecutive seasons over .500 after his first year of 7-15.

Rodecap is a graduate of the MAC, having played from 1992-96 at Ball State where he earned the MAC Commissioner’s Award in 1994.

“Steve has been very successful as both a player and coach and we look forward to his new career as head men’s tennis coach at Marquette,” said MU Athletics Director Bill Cords in the school’s press release.

“I would like to express my appreciation for Cary Groth and the players who I coached there,” Rodecap said. “I received a great deal of support from them and appreciate all that they did for me.”

Groth is saddened to see him go, but understands because of the MAC’s lack of support toward men’s tennis as opposed to that of Conference USA, which Marquette is a member of.

In order to be eligible for an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Championships at least 50 percent of the conference’s schools have to have men’s tennis programs, Groth noted.

“Even though it appears to be a lateral move, there are just the minimum number of schools in the MAC,” Groth said. “Steven is concerned about the future of men’s tennis in the MAC. Marquette also has great facilities [for men’s tennis] and that’s something we don’t have at Northern.”

Ideally, Groth hopes to have a replacement named by the first of September and said that about 20 people have inquired about the opening.