On any given game day in Kinnick Stadium or Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Gregg Niemiec can be found on the sidelines supporting the Hawkeyes.
While Fran McCaffery, Kirk Ferentz, and Lisa Bluder instruct their players during a game or practice, Niemiec is also coaching a group of Hawkeyes.
Niemiec, 39, has served as Iowa’s head cheerleading coach and spirit coordinator for 14 years, a job that involves overseeing the 25-member cheer squad as well as the 18-member dance team and the Herky mascots.
A former high-school gymnast, Niemiec’s gymnastics coaches suggested he try cheerleading. He followed their advice when he attended college at Northern Illinois University, where he was a three-year captain of the cheerleading squad.
“It seemed like a really good opportunity to be right on the sideline and have a good time supporting the team,” he said.
After college, the Mount Prospect, Ill., native became an assistant cheer coach at Northwestern, a position he held for three years before taking his current job in Iowa City.
He said watching his athletes grow and progress is the best part of his job.
“Without having the cheerleaders here and being able to work with them and seeing them progress, the job would have gotten boring a long time ago,” Niemiec said. “But they’re always enthusiastic. It’s a great experience seeing the new cheerleaders come through that first time they go out in Kinnick Stadium with 70,000 people and realize what they got into and how special it is.”
But while coaching is his primary endeavor, it certainly isn’t the only thing he’s involved in on campus.
Niemiec serves as assistant director of Iowa Sports Camps, working with housing and counselors for the numerous camps held during summer months. He is also the faculty adviser for the Hawks Nest, the student organization devoted to supporting the Hawkeyes and increasing spirit at athletics events.
Having a member of the athletics department such as Niemiec has been integral to the success the Hawks Nest has had in its first two years of existence, said Bryce Carlson, the director of fundraising for the group.
“Gregg has been an irreplaceable adviser for us at the Hawks Nest,” Carlson said. “He plays a great role of being able to come to our meetings and listen to our ideas that we have.”
Niemiec’s involvement with so many organizations on campus doesn’t surprise male cheerleading captain Kevin Karnstedt. He said Niemiec’s selfless attitude best defines his work.
“The best way to describe Gregg is hard-working,” Karnstedt said. “He’s very unselfish; he does a lot of work and doesn’t ask for much in return.”
Working at Iowa has been particularly special, Niemiec said, because of all the die-hard Hawkeye fans he’s had the pleasure of seeing each and every game day.
Whether it’s around Iowa City or at an NCAA Tournament or bowl game, the spirit of the Hawkeyes is infectious and is what excites Niemiec most about his job.
“It’s great to see those fans out there, and it’s great to see all the enthusiasm we have,” he said. “It seems like the Hawkeye fans, wherever they go, up or down, they’re always there to help support and believe in the cause of the Hawkeyes.”