DE KALB, Ill. -- Jim Phillips will be introduced Monday as the new athletic director at Northern Illinois University, according to the Chicago Tribune.
NIU officials planned two introduction ceremonies -- the
first at Mike Ditka's Restaurant in Chicago on Monday morning,
and the second at NIU's Convocation Center at 3 p.m.
Phillips succeeds Cary Groth, who resigned in
March to become AD at the University of Nevada-Reno.
It is expected that Phillips, who spent the past five years as an assistant athletic director at Notre Dame, will help with recruiting efforts in the Chicago area.
Phillips also served as an assistant AD at Tennessee between 1998 and 2000, and worked as an assistant basketball coach at Arizona State between 1992 and 1997.
Groth is one of the few women to oversee sports programs at a
major university and is considered an authority on gender equity in
athletics.
Groth is a Northern Illinois alumna who began working for the
school in 1981 as an assistant tennis coach. She eventually rose to
the top of the women's athletic department at the school and became
AD in 1994.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.