Sam Morreale Position: Assistant Coach Experience: Eighth Season

Northern Illinois alumnus Sam Morreale begins his eighth season as a member of the NIU Gymnastics coaching staff in 2010 and will serve as the top assistant for the Huskies again this year. Morreale's experience includes 20 years as a gymnastics coach on the collegiate and club levels. A former NIU gymnast, Morreale coaches the Huskies on the uneven parallel bars while also helping coordinate the Northern Illinois recruiting efforts and handling many administrative duties.

Morreale's protégés on bars have included a pair of MAC Champions in Ashlee Williams (2005) and Holly Reichard (2008). A year ago, Northern Illinois posted its fifth-best team bars score all-time with a 48.925 at the State Championships. He also assists in instruction and spotting of other events and has worked with NIU strength and conditioning coach Chad Bower to develop a program specific to the Huskie gymnastics team.

In addition to his Northern Illinois responsibilities, Morreale served as program director of the Energym Sports Campus for 19 years, where he led that facility's preschool and school age gymnastics programs. He currently serves as a competitive team coach at Energym, where current Huskies Ashley and Sarah Hurley trained.

A professional member of U.S.A. Gymnastics, Morreale has worked numerous summer camps, state clinics and regional training camps.

Sam and his older brother, Andy, both competed for the Northern Illinois men's gymnastics team in the 1980s. After walking on to the NIU squad, Sam Morreale worked his way into the line-up and served as team captain as a junior in 1986-87. He won a pair of letters before leaving to join the staff at Gym-Kats (now Energym).

Morreale is a native of Addison, Ill. who graduated from Addison Trail High School and earned his bachelor's degree from Northern Illinois in family and individual development. His wife, the former Lisa Swauger of Naperville, Ill., serves as the coach of the NIU dance team, the Silverettes. The couple has three children, son Brandon (23) and daughters Bailey (19) and Brienne (16).