Porten named men's golf coach

Tom Porten has been named the new men's golf coach at Northern Illinois, NIU Athletic Director Jeff Compher announced Thursday.

Porten is an Ohioan who brings experience in the Mid-American Conference to the NIU post as he was the head men's golf coach at Akron in 2006-07 and spent one season as the associate head coach at MAC golf powerhouse Kent State in 2007-08. Prior to that, he spent 15 years at Cleveland State University as the head men's golf coach and then created and led the women's program at the school.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Tom Porten and his family to the Huskie family," Compher said in a news release. "In a strong field of candidates, Tom's head coaching experience, familiarity with the Mid-American Conference and overall knowledge of golf, especially in this part of the country, made him a great choice to lead the Northern Illinois men's golf program."

"This is a terrific opportunity to recruit young men to a great school in the Chicago market with outstanding facilities," Porten said. "With Rich Harvest Farms [currently hosting the Solheim Cup], the HIT Center and the new short-game facility at Kishwaukee Country Club, NIU's facilities are as good or better than any in the MAC."

Porten becomes just the third head coach in the history of the NIU men's golf program. He succeeds John Cleary, who resigned after seven years at the helm of the Huskie team to take a position at Texas Tech.

Northern Illinois lost just one senior off the 2008-09 team that recorded its best finish at the MAC Championships since the school rejoined the league in 1997.