Jeff Compher, the executive associate athletic director at the University of Washington, will be the new athletic director at Northern Illinois University, the Daily Chronicle confirmed Monday night.

Compher replaces Jim Phillips, who left NIU for Northwestern. Compher is 48 and has been in charge of overseeing the day-to-day operations at Washington, including coordinating the daily administrative operations of the athletic department with a special emphasis on the football, men's basketball and women's basketball programs.

Compher was a finalist for the University of Miami athletics director position this year.

Compher arrived in Washington in 2003. Prior to that, he spent four years as athletic director at Western Carolina University. Compher is also a former assistant athletic director at North Carolina State and Vanderbilt. He graduated James Madison University in 1980.

Northern Illinois' search for an athletics director led to the Great Northwest, where the school found a guy already familiar with leading Huskies.

Jeff Compher, the executive associate athletic director at Washington, will be introduced Tuesday in DeKalb as NIU's new director of athletics, the Tribune has learned.

Compher, 48, spent the last three years in the Huskies' athletic department overseeing the Washington football and men's and women's basketball programs. When Compher's mentor of 15 years, former Washington athletic director Todd Turner, resigned under pressure in December, Compher began to seek challenges elsewhere.

Jeff Compher enters his third year as Washington's Executive Associate Athletic Director. Compher serves as the general manager for the Husky athletic department, coordinating the daily administrative operations of the department with special emphasis on the football, men's basketball and women's basketball programs, as well as the administrative operations that support those teams.

Compher also helps to develop long-range and annual operating plans, and chairs the senior management team, overseeing the daily operation of all senior managers.

"Jeff will be instrumental in working with the staff to set short- and long-term goals, establish priorities and implement the administrative processes we need to succeed," said University of Washington Director of Athletics Todd Turner upon Compher's hiring in July 2004. "He is a dynamic and creative leader and brings a high level of energy and enthusiasm to the job."

Turner knows Compher well, having hired him as a member of his senior administrative staffs at both North Carolina State and Vanderbilt.

Prior to coming to Washington, Compher spent the previous four years as director of athletics at Western Carolina University. There, Compher supervised a department that sponsored 15 intercollegiate athletic programs and included approximately 300 student athletes.

During his tenure at Western Carolina, Compher saw the Catamounts' overall operating budget increase by 42 percent, and the total budget for athletic scholarships improve by 113 percent. In 2004, the Western Carolina baseball team won both the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament titles, while the women's golf and indoor track teams each captured conference crowns.

Compher initiated several major programs that significantly improved Western Carolina's overall program. During his tenure, the Catamounts built and renovated facilities totalling nearly $15 million. He developed a private sports medicine partnership, created a former student-athlete organization and started a successful CHAMPS/Life Skills program. Compher developed and implemented a five-year strategic plan and led Western through the NCAA Certification process.

He has previously served on the NCAA's Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct Committee, and completed the Sports Management Institute Executive Program and the National Association of College Directors of Athletics Management Institute.

Compher worked with Turner at Vanderbilt from 1996-2000. He was instrumental in the department's daily operation and helped to manage an annual budget that grew to $26 million by his final year in Nashville.

From 1998 to 2000, he served as senior associate director of athletics. He was responsible for all external components within the athletic department, including annual giving, media relations, marketing and promotions, corporate sponsorship sales, radio and television properties and broadcast rights and ticket sales. During Compher's first two years at Vanderbilt, he served as an associate director of athletics supervising NCAA compliance, academic support, the CHAMPS/Life Skills program, strength and conditioning and the equipment room.

Compher began his career as an assistant athletic director at North Carolina State from 1986 to 1992. He oversaw the Wolfpack's student-athlete support service areas, served as a liaison with the academic support program, and supervised student-athlete housing and dining facilities. He later worked at N.C. State as director of the Chancellor's Circle in the Office of University Development from 1993 to 1994. From 1994 to 1996 he was an assistant to the Chancellor, coordinating media contacts and acting as a liaison between the Chancellor and faculty, staff, students, administrators and other groups that contacted the Chancellor's office.

Compher, 48, earned his bachelor of science in psychology from James Madison in 1980. He graduated from Shippensburg (Pa.) in 1982 with a master of science degree in counselling and student personnel services. His first position in collegiate administration was at North Carolina State, where he was the assistant director of Housing and Residence Life from 1982 to 1986. He and his wife, Cathy, have two sons, C.J. and David. Compher is a native of Baltimore.