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The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

The Student News Site of Northern Illinois University

Northern Star

Bridging the gap

By Melissa Blake | April 18, 2005

After the passage of Title IX 33 years ago, 59 percent of NIU athletes are male and 41 percent are female, official records show. "We take [gender equity] very seriously, and we very much believe in gender equity," Athletics Director Jim Phillips said....

NIU may lose scholarships

By Michael Marot and Ian Waddick | March 2, 2005

INDIANAPOLIS - NIU has six of the more than 400 sports teams at the nation’s Division I level that could lose scholarships next year under the NCAA’s new academic standards, according to a report released Monday. Most of the scholarship losses, which...

Utschig nabs bowl award

By Ian Waddick | January 19, 2005

SAN JOSE, Calif. - An unfamiliar name was one of two NIU football players to take home MVP honors at the Dec. 30 Silicon Valley Football Classic. Thanks to a key blocked punt and a couple big tackles on kickoffs, sophomore strong safety Dustin Utschig...

Taking a trip of a lifetime

By Ian Waddick | January 18, 2005

SAN JOSE - While most were sleeping or shopping the day after Christmas, the NIU football team was ready to go. After leaving Huskie Stadium at 8 a.m., the Huskies departed on a four-day trip that saw bridges, jails, schools, a lot of rain, and culminated...

Fans make cross-country trip to show support

By Frank Rusnak | January 18, 2005

Terrance Smith’s trip to NIU’s bowl game was a long time coming. A 64-year-old Big Rock native, Smith is a long time NIU fan who has bought football season tickets since 1996. Why would he buy season tickets to a team who was beginning a 23-game losing...

Turning bowl dreams to reality

By Steve Brown | December 6, 2004

For three roommates and self-proclaimed avid Huskies football fans, a Bowl game has been a long time coming. To Jason Braddock, Adam Smith and Zach Alesandrini, the cost of a trip to San Jose, Calif., to see NIU play in the Silicon Valley Football Classic...

Longtime Huskie says goodbye

By Steve Brown | November 18, 2004

Usually, stories of having to walk miles to school are regarded as exaggerated, dusty tales from grandparents. But the memory of NIU football’s equipment manager, Dick Townsend, still serves him just fine as he remembers his daily journey to Rockford...

Baseball’s fall world series comes to end

By Bob Grant | October 19, 2004

The deciding Game 5 of the NIU Fall World Series was dominated by pitcher Nick Hall in a 2-1 NIU Cardinal victory over NIU Black in 10 innings Thursday afternoon. The win gave the Cardinals a 3-2 victory in the five-game series. Hall pitched all 10 innings,...

Track and field looking for a coach

By Steve Brown | October 12, 2004

Runners for NIU women’s cross country didn’t expect to be midseason without a coach. But after former cross country and track and field coach Shantel Twiggs took a head track position at the University of Nevada-Reno in mid-September, they decided...

Basketball to host “Madness”

By Bob Grant | October 12, 2004

The first NIU men’s basketball “Midnight Madness” will take place at 11:45 p.m. on Oct. 15 at the Convocation Center’s Victor E. Court. In this free event, students will be able to meet the Huskies players, win prizes and see a team scrimmage....

Huskies News & Notes

By Ben Perez | September 20, 2004

The NIU cross country record books have been rewritten once again. Alicja Czajka ran a time of 18:33 in the five-kilometer course for the second week in a row Saturday at the Central Collegiate Championships in Toledo, Ohio. Both times put her in the...

NIU track coach leaves for Nevada

By Sean Ostruszka | August 30, 2004

NIU track and field coach, Shantel Twiggs, has followed ex-NIU athletic director Cary Groth to the University of Nevada.

The announcement came Friday, to the shock of the NIU track and field team.

“We were all very surprised when she told us because she gave us no warning so we weren’t expecting it,” sophomore sprinter Latoya Friday said.

Twiggs was hired by Groth three years ago to resurrect a program that had not competed in 18 years. Since Twiggs’ hiring 14 school records have been broken.

Twiggs will now have a much different starting scenario as she inherits a Wolf Pack team that has won four conference championships since 2000 and has two individual All-American honors.

“I’m excited to be the next coach to carry the torch and to lead Wolf Pack track and cross country to greater heights,” said Twiggs in a Nevada press release.

Left behind is a NIU team with mixed emotions and no coach.

“At first we all didn’t want her to go, but now we are all extremely disappointed because we had a lot of future plans with coach Twiggs and now we don’t know what we are going to do,” said Friday.

Friday expressed her shock and said she doesn’t feel betrayed by the departure but stated that Twiggs’ credibility as a former college sprinter and coach had influenced her decision to come to NIU.

In the wake of the departure, new NIU Athletic Director Jim Phillips’ job will be to appoint a new coach to replace Twiggs. Until then the NIU track and field team will be under the guidance of assistant coaches Dave Jennings and Gretchen Folck.

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