Norm Hillner joined the Wildcat staff for the 2012 season as the team's director of operations. His role is to coordinate team travel and game day operations, assist with various community relations projects and help with alumni events such as the golf and soccer tournament.
"It's great to have Norm Hillner as a part of the staff here at Northwestern," Lenahan said. "He has been a tremendous influence on Chicago area soccer as a high school coach for the last 33 years and I got to know him in his role as the president of the Illinois Soccer High School Soccer Association. The fact that his wife is a Northwestern alum and they have been lifetime Northwestern fans and both football and basketball season ticket holders makes this a great fit. We look forward to him bringing all his experience and community relations skills to help us continue our success at Northwestern."
Prior to joining Northwestern, Hillner was a teacher at Lake Park High School in Roselle, Ill., from 1980-2012 while serving as head coach of the boys' soccer team for 28 years. He was one of the Illinois High School Association's winningest boys soccer coaches with a career record of 369-211-71. Norm has been an executive board member of the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association (IHSSCA) since 1986, serving as president in 1988 and again from 2003-2008. He was inducted into the IHSSCA Hall of Fame in 2007. He also has been a member of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) for more than 30 years, serving as the chairman of the NSCAA Midwest High School All-American Committee for the past 15 years.
As a player, Hillner was a four-time All-Midwest Conference honoree, a three-time All-Illinois selection and is still the all-time leading scorer at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. He was inducted into the Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall of Fame as a soccer and baseball player in 1998. Hillner graduated from Knox with a degree in economics in 1979 and earned a masters degree in education from the National College of Education in Evanston, Ill., in 1985.
Hillner holds an Advanced National coaching license from the NSCAA and a state D coaching license from the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). He currently resides in Arlington Heights, Ill., with his wife Kathy (Northwestern, '79) and three children.