Jan. 25, 2010

DeKALB, Ill. - Jim Zebrowski, whose Wisconsin-Whitewater team played in three national championship games and won a pair of NCAA Division III titles over the last three seasons, has joined the Northern Illinois football staff as an assistant coach, NIU Head Coach Jerry Kill announced Monday. Zebrowski will coach the Northern Illinois quarterbacks while assistant coach Pat Poore will tutor the NIU wide receivers after coaching the Huskie quarterbacks for the last two years.

Zebrowski was the offensive coordinator and coached quarterbacks and receivers at UW-Whitewater, which won the 2007 and 2009 Division III National Championship and played in the 2008 title game. The Warhawks compiled a 42-3 record during his time in Whitewater, including a perfect 15-0 mark in 2009. The 2009 UW-W offense averaged 42.5 points and 489.6 yards per game, and Wisconsin-Whitewater quarterbacks completed 71.1 percent of their passes with 30 touchdowns and seven interceptions with Zebrowski calling the plays. He was named the 2009 Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year and the Division III Coordinator of the Year by FootballScoop.com.

"We're excited about adding Jim Zebrowski to our staff at Northern Illinois," Kill said. "He brings a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience as the offensive coordinator for two national championship teams. It is great to bring in a guy that has accomplished the things we want to do here, who also has recruited the Chicago area"

Prior to his time at UW-Whitewater, Zebrowski spent four seasons as head coach at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wisc. where he led a resurgence of the Muskie football program. His Lakeland teams compiled a 28-12 mark, including a 24-4 record in the Illini-Badger Football Conference. Lakeland shared the IBFC championship in 2004 and won the title outright in 2005 and made the school's first trip to the Division III Playoffs. His Muskie teams never finished lower than second in the league.

Zebrowski, a native of Strongsville, Ohio who played football at Mount Union College, also was a member of a championship staff at Millikin College in Decatur, Ill. for the 2000-2002 seasons, when Millikin compiled a 24-6 overall record. With Zebrowski as offensive coordinator, Millikin won the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) championship and advanced to the NCAA Division III playoffs in 2000. The Big Blue finished second in the nation in scoring (44.6 points per game) and rushed for nearly 300 yards per game that year.

His collegiate coaching career began at Southern Illinois University, where he spent the 1997 season as a graduate assistant before being elevated to work with tight ends (1998), wide receivers (Dec. 1998-April 1999) and quarterbacks (May 1999-February 2000). He left SIU for Millikin prior to the arrival of Kill in 2001.

"I am extremely excited about the opportunity to coach at Northern Illinois University and to work with Coach Kill and his staff," Zebrowski said. "I have known Coach Kill and his assistant coaches for several years, and this is an opportunity not only to coach at the Division I level but to work with a group of guys that I am very comfortable with. I look forward to being a part of the continued development and success of the Huskie program."

Zebrowski earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics from Mount Union in 1991 and a master's degree from Southern Illinois in 2000. He also spent six years coaching in the Ohio high school ranks - at Preble Shawnee High School in Camden, Ohio (1991-94) and Berea High School in Berea, Ohio (1994-97) - before going to SIU.

Northern Illinois is coming off a 7-6 season and made its second straight appearance in a bowl game in 2009 with a trip to the International Bowl in Toronto, Canada. The 2009 Huskies went 5-3 in the Mid-American Conference and claimed the school's second win ever over a Big Ten team last season. NIU opens its 2010 spring practices March 23.

-- NIU --

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