Pam Tyska Position: Head Coach Experience: 23rd Year Alma Mater: Illinois State, '83

Northern Illinois University women's golf head coach Pam Tyska holds the distinction of being NIU's longest tenured head coach as she is in her 23rd year at the helm of the NIU women's golf program after arriving in DeKalb in 1986.

Northern Illinois responded quickly to Tyska's teaching, winning two tournaments and placing in the top five an amazing 10 times in 12 tourneys during the 1986-87 campaign. Tyska and the Huskies have continued that success throughout her career, as she has led NIU to 18 first-place finishes, 27 runner-up marks and 94 top-five showings in 234 tourneys.

The Huskies had one of their best seasons in recent memory last year, posting six top-10 finishes, winning the Huskie Classic and sweeping the Snowbird Intercollegiate. NIU's victory at the Snowbird was the Huskies first at that event since 1987. Kim Hunley took home the individual title, shooting a 147 (72-75). Abbie Many also took home an individual title in the fall, winning the Western Illinois Invitational with a 150 (74-76). Jessica Parmenter had a solid first season of collegiate golf, posting three top-10 finishes, with her best performance coming at the Huskie Classic where she finished tied for second with a 154.

Tyska's expertise has gone well beyond coaching tactics and has extended into her skill as a recruiter. Included in her résumé of talented pupils is Nicole Jeray, selected as the National Player of the Year by both Ram Golf and Golfweek Magazine in 1990-91 as well as a number of other talented golfers. Jeray won eight individual medals for the cardinal and black between 1989 and 1991 before joining the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour. Tyska's other pupils at NIU include Shelley Wendels-Gilk, who earned her LPGA card in 1996. Allison Beam began her first season on the FUTURES Golf Tour in the summer of 2003 and Kara Soderberg started in 2004.

But the Huskies' achievements are not limited to the course. Northern Illinois has had consistent representation on the National Golf Coaches Association Academic All-America honor roll, a prestigious list that includes 15 Huskies sporting grade point averages of 3.50 or higher, including 2008 recipients Abbie Many and Devon Harteneck. Many became the 11th Huskie during the Tyska era to earn multiple NGCA Academic All-America accolades. NIU recorded a perfect mark of 1,000 and ranked in the top 10 percent of all women's golf squads in the nation in the NCAA's 2007 Academic Progress Rate Report. It's the fourth-straight year Tyska's squad has maintained a perfect APR.

Tyska owns a host of regional and national awards as well, winning Midwest Region Coach of the Year accolades from the NGCA in 1991 and from the LPGA in 1994 and 1996. The veteran links boss' reputation has earned the respect of her peers, being selected to the elite group of clinicians for the NCAA's Youth Education Through Sports (YES) Clinics every year they have been held since 1993. The clinics help potential collegiate golfers in their development with discussions on the role of academics, goal-setting and mental skill development on and off the course, as well as recruiting and admission requirements.

She was also instrumental in founding "Get a Girl Golfing" clinics at NIU in 1998 and the NIU Golf in the Schools program in 2003. In January 2003, Tyska was honored with the inaugural National Golf Coaches Association Founders Award at the annual NGCA Convention in Orlando, Fla. The NGCA celebrated 20 years of collegiate golf administration in 2003. To commemorate this anniversary milestone, the NGCA Founders Award was created to honor a current member/coach that has embraced the vision and values set forth by Association founders. The NGCA Board of Directors felt that in selecting Tyska, they would indeed be honoring an industry leader, exceeding all levels of the award criteria.

In 2006, Tyska received the NGCA's most prestigious individual honor, the Gladys Palmer Meritorious Service Award. The award recognizes outstanding service to women's golf "above and beyond the call of duty."

Tyska not only excels at teaching the game, but as a student of it. On Sept. 14, 2002, Tyska took out her driver and fired a 278-yard shot down the fairway which was good enough for her to qualify for the REMAX World Long Drive World Championships in Mesquite, Nev., four of the last five years. She continues to compete and has held a Top 10 World Ranking with a qualifying drive of 298 yards.

Tyska also sat on the NCAA Midwestern Regional Selection Committee from 1989 through 1995 and on the NGCA Awards Committee from 1990 through 1996. She served a stint on the NGCA Board of Directors from 1996-2001. In addition to her extensive list of NCAA appointments, Tyska is a member of the NGCA, LPGA, PGA, and the National Association of Golf Educators. She is on the executive boards of The Fairway Network, the Illinois Junior Golf Association and the Women's Western Golf Association.

Prior to taking the helm at NIU, Tyska was an assistant golf professional at St. Charles Country Club. During the off-seasons, she served as a rules official and assistant tournament director of the FUTURES Ladies Professional Golf Tour in 1983-84 and taught physical education at the University of Chicago Laboratory School. Tyska earned four varsity letters in golf at Illinois State University, gaining Illinois Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (IAIAW) honors three times. The Hinsdale, IL, native received her undergraduate degree in physical education with a coaching emphasis from ISU in 1983.

The 46-year-old Tyska serves as the teaching professional at the Buena Vista Golf Club in DeKalb and is co-owner of Golf Schools for Women.