Dan Pawlikowski Position: Assistant Coach Experience: First Year Alma Mater: Illinois, 2001

Dan Pawlikowski brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Huskies after working with his wife, Coley, at North Park for the last three seasons. At NIU, Pawlikowski has reunited with Gooden, who coached his fellow Evanston, Ill. native in his playing days. Pawlikowski has also been coached and influenced by former Ball State All-American Chris Cooper, All-Era coach Vic Botwin and his father, Bob Pawlikowski.

Prior to his time with the Vikings, Pawlikowski served on the men's coaching staff from 2004-2006 at Loyola University Chicago, helping the Ramblers to their best season in program history in 2005 with a 26-3 record. During his three seasons at Loyola, the team went 72-13, won two MIVA conference regular season championships and had nine different players honored on the all-conference squad. While working mostly with the outside hitters and liberos, he helped three different players win Libero of the Year in the conference and helped four players earn AVCA All-America honors.

After his graduation from the University of Illinois where he earned his B.A. degree in English literature in 2001, Pawlikowski held assistant coaching positions with the girl's team at Glenbrook North High School, boy's team at Evanston Township High School and was head coach for both the boy's and girl's teams in the Adversity Volleyball club. Additionally, he also helped coach the Kane County Juniors 18 Gold team.

In his playing days, Pawlikowski participated with the Illinois men's club team as an outside hitter for four years. With the Illini, he was part of a team that won three Midwest championships, two Big Ten titles and earned four top 10 finishes at the NIRSA Division I national tournament. In his sophomore year, he helped the team finish third in the nation and he garnered All-Big Ten honors in his junior and senior seasons.

Pawlikowski joined his wife on the coaching staff at NIU.