Dawnita Teague Last College: Northern Illinois Position: Assistant Coach Experience: Fourth Season at NIU Graduated: 1984

Huskie Hall of Famer Dawnita (Doty) Teague begins her fourth season as a member of the gymnastics coaching staff in 2010. Her expertise as a coach, judge and choreographer has resulted in improved routines and higher scores for the Huskies, especially on balance beam and floor exercise.

Last season, Northern Illinois gymnasts Holly Reichard and Jennifer Naughton shared the Mid-American Conference title on the balance beam, NIU's first since 1998. Naughton also earned a bid to the NCAA Regionals on balance beam, while Reichard took fifth on beam at regionals. The NIU "beam team" earned the fourth-highest team balance beam score in school history with a 49.100 at the State meet and added a 48.775, Top 10 all-time, versus Kent State.

For the last 22 years, Teague has been a coach and choreographer at Energym Gymnastics in her native Sycamore, where she coached all levels of competitive gymnastics, as well as dance and choreography. While specializing in balance beam and floor dance, Teague has seen many of her protégés earn state and regional titles, as well as Top 10 finishes at the U.S.A. Gymnastics nationals. In 2006, she coached gymnasts who placed second and ninth on balance beam at the Level 9 Nationals.

Teague has also served as a gymnastics judge for the past 24 years, achieving a Level 10 rating from the National Association of Women's Gymnastics Judges. She has worked as a master clinician in Region 5 and for the Illinois Congress for the balance beam and floor dance component.

A four-year letterwinner for the Huskies from 1980-84, Teague was named NIU's Female Athlete of the Year in 1981 when she participated in the 1981 AIAW Midwest Regional. She earned the Women's Leadership Award in 1984 and was inducted into the Huskie Hall of Fame in 1989. After graduation, she spent four years (1987-90) as a dancer with the Dance-scape Dance Company.

Teague, a Sycamore High School graduate, earned her bachelor's degree in theatre dance from NIU in 1984. She and her husband, Don, have two sons, Zach (19) and Matt (16).