In 12 seasons under head coach Sam Morreale, the Northern Illinois University gymnastics program has developed into an annual contender for the Mid-American Conference Championship with the clear goal of reaching even greater heights, while continuing to rank among the nation’s best academic teams. Under Morreale, who was named head coach on June 8, 2011, record-breaking scores, MAC individual champions and NCAA qualifiers have become commonplace.
Given the program’s ascent and continuing success under Morreale, he received a five-year contract extension last summer.
Between 2018 and 2022 the Huskies finished in the top two at the MAC Championships each year and earned the championship in 2019.
When the 2019 team completed a goal set when Morreale first took over the program by winning NIU’s first MAC Championship in dramatic fashion, among the hundreds of ecstatic fans gathered in the NIU Convocation Center to witness the historic moment were many of Morreale’s former Huskie gymnasts.
In addition to the team championship, Morreale was named the MAC Coach of the Year for the second time in 2019 after first picking up the award from his fellow league coaches in 2017. He was named the 2019 South Central Region Coach of the Year by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) as selected by a vote of NCAA Division I coaches. In 2021, he surpassed the 100 wins mark for his NIU career.
NIU gymnasts have won the MAC Specialist of the Year honor six times in Morreale’s 11 seasons at the helm, including two-time winner Anna Martucci (2018, 2019) and current bars standout Natalie Hamp (2021). Huskies have earned 16 All-MAC honors with at least one NIU gymnast earning a spot on the All-MAC team in each of the last eight seasons (2016-23). In the last five MAC Championship meets, NIU gymnasts have won nine individual event titles. In 2022, Natalie Hamp (bars) and Tara Kofmehl (floor) were MAC event champions and first team All-MAC selections.
Sixteen different Huskies, including seven all-arounders, have qualified for the NCAA Regionals 28 times since 2012 under Morreale. In 2021, Hamp (uneven parallel bars) and Kofmehl (vault, floor exercise and all-around) earned the highest scores ever by NIU gymnasts at NCAA Regionals. The two repeated as NCAA qualifiers in 2022. Dating back to 2003 when Morreale joined the team as an assistant coach, NIU gymnasts have made 38 appearances in the NCAAs.
Morreale’s NIU teams have rewritten the school record book, setting – and re-setting – the marks for total team score and earning the highest team score on each of the four events.
In 2024 the Huskies set multiple new records. NIU set a new aal-time record high score with a 196.25 in Nashville. The Huskies then set a new floor record of 49.475 and Kiera O’Shea’s MAC Championship winning vault earned a new individual record of 9.925.
The 2022 Huskies twice broke the school record for highest overall score and posted four of the Top 10 marks in school history while also setting a new mark on bars.
Academically, the gymnastics team annually ranks among the nation’s best squads. After ranking third in the nation in the annual academic rankings compiled by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA) in 2019 and 2020, NIU reached number one in 2021 as the Huskies' 3.874 grade point average ranked first nationally among all NCAA women's gymnastics programs. In addition, all 20 members of the 2021 team attained WCGA Scholastic All-America status for maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above. In 2023 the Huskies finished eighth nationally and has 21 gymnasts named to WCGA Scholastic All-American List. In 2024 the Huskies finished eighth nationally and earned 10 Academic All-MAC nominees.
NIU gymnasts have been honored on the Academic All-MAC team 96 times with an all-time high of 12 student-athletes on the list in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Since 2015 when the MAC began selecting the “best of the best” for its MAC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete team, 15 Huskies have earned that award. NIU gymnastics has also received an APR Public Recognition Award six times under Morreale, which recognizes teams that rank in the Top 10 percent of all teams in that sport for retention and graduation of student-athletes.
Morreale’s relationship with NIU dates back more than 35 years, since he walked on to the men's gymnastics team in 1984. A native of Addison, Ill. who graduated from Addison Trail High School, he finished his NIU athletics career by earning a pair of letters and serving as team captain in 1986-87.
He returned to NIU in 2003 as an assistant coach and made an immediate impact while coaching the Huskies uneven parallel bars squad, coordinating the program’s recruiting efforts and handling administrative assignments. His early protégés on bars included MAC Champions Ashlee Williams (2005) and Holly Reichard (2008) as well as 2010 NCAA Regional qualifier Ashley Guerra. Reichard went on to become a three-time NCAA all-around participant (2008, 2009, 2011) and is one of two Huskies all-time to be named MAC Gymnast of the Year (2009).
Prior to coming to NIU as assistant coach on a full-time basis, Morreale served as program director of the Energym Sports Campus in Sycamore, Ill. for 19 years, where he led that facility's preschool and school age gymnastics programs while working alongside his brother, Andy. A professional member of U.S.A. Gymnastics, Morreale has worked numerous summer camps, state clinics and regional training camps. He currently serves as the MAC representative on the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association Board of Directors,
He earned his bachelor's degree from NIU in family and individual development and is married to the former Lisa Swauger of Naperville, Ill., who serves as the coach of the NIU dance team, the Silverettes. The couple has three adult children (Brandon, Bailey and Brienne) and two grandchildren.
