Northern Illinois University Athletics

Groth (Park Forest, Ill./Rich East) served her alma mater for 23 years as head coach (women's tennis in 1981-84), administrator (1984-94), and athletics director (1994-2004). Her meteoric rise began as a two-sport Northern Illinois letterwinner in tennis (1974-77) and basketball (1976-77) and culminated as AD -- one of only three women athletic directors at an NCAA institution with 1-A football at the time (1994). Her major achievements at NIU included (1) rejoining the MAC (1997-98), (2) making NCAA Certification (1995, 2000), (3) hiring and sticking with head football coach Joe Novak, (4) initiating the updated Huskie logo (2001), and (5) helping develop such capital facilities projects as the Huskie Stadium East Grandstand (1995) and its FieldTurf surface (2001), the Convocation Center (2002), Ralph McKinzie Field (baseball), Mary M. Bell Field (softball), and soccer complex. She served on the Secretary of Education's national Blue Ribbon panel on opportunity in athletics (2002-03), plus earned the ATALANTA Award (1997), Gen. Robert Neyland Achievement Award (2002), WBCA Administrator of the Year and NACWAA Division 1-A Administrator of the Year (2003).

Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal included Groth in its "Super 50: Women's Sports Executives (1998). In 1988, she assisted in the merger of the NIU men's and women's athletic departments. At Nevada, Groth's leadership has resulted in 13 WAC team championships in seven different sports. In 2006-07, UN won the WAC all-sports Commissioner's Cup trophy for the first time. A four-sport athlete at Rich East, Groth taught at Rich South and West Aurora. She is a "double" NIU graduate (1974 and 1999).