A veteran of women[apos]s basketball, Joe Conroy enters his third season as a member of NIU head coach Kathi Bennett[apos]s staff. Known for his passion for the game and NIU, Conroy[apos]s expertise has played a large role in the Huskies earning a win and making a quarterfinals appearance in the Mid-American Conference Tournament for the first time since 2007.
[quote]Joe is a Huskie through-and-through,[quote] Bennett said, who promoted Conroy to associate head coach on June 1, 2012. [quote]He has been in this area before and absolutely loves Northern Illinois University.[quote]
Conroy spent three seasons as the top assistant for head coach Sandy Botham and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. For the Panthers Conroy helped set the foundation for the team[apos]s second ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Milwaukee placed second in the Horizon League in each of Conroy[apos]s three seasons, achieving a 34-14 (.708) conference record during that period.
A 1990 DePaul University graduate, Conroy arrived in Milwaukee after serving as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator for head coach Linda Wunder at Eastern Illinois University. In Conroy[apos]s first year at EIU, the Panthers doubled their Ohio Valley Conference win total.
Prior to his stint in Charleston, Ill., Conroy, an active member of both the Women[apos]s Basketball Coaches Association and the National Association of Basketball Coaches, pioneered the Director of Basketball Operations position at Northern Illinois University under head coach Carol Hammerle.
Conroy spent a large portion of his coaching career at Illinois Valley Community College, a Division III junior college in Oglesby, Ill. The Spring Valley, Ill. native served as IVCC[apos]s head women[apos]s coach for eight seasons, manning the sidelines from 1993-1999. While at IVCC, Conroy led his squad to a third-place finish at the National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament in 1995-96. A recipient of the NFCAA Rose Bataglia Sportsmanship Award, Conroy successfully placed 100% of his junior college athletes at the university level.
Prior to accepting his current position at NIU, Conroy spent five years as a coach at Woodstock and Woodstock North High Schools. From 2005-08, he guided the WHS boys before venturing to WNHS, a new school at the time, to get its boys basketball program off the ground.
The 47-year-old Conroy is married to the former Cari Hoskins. The couple resides in DeKalb with their three sons, Ethan (15), Mason (13), and Porter (10).
