UIC names deputy director of athletics

At the conclusion of a comprehensive nationwide search, UIC Director of Athletics Garrett Klassy has named Farrah Manthei as the department’s deputy director of athletics. Manthei comes to Chicago after serving as the senior associate athletic director for student services/senior woman administrator and deputy Title IX coordinator for athletics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

“We are thrilled to have found an administrator in Farrah with an incredible mix of experience, passion for the well-being of student-athlete and a desire to elevate the efforts of those around her,” Klassy said. “This position brought to us interested candidates from every corner of the country with a wide variety of backgrounds and skill sets. Through our interactions with Farrah during the search process, it became abundantly clear to myself and the leadership in our department that she is the right fit to help the Flames execute our vision and live out our mission statement every single day.”

“I am honored to serve the UIC family and I want to thank Garrett Klassy and the search committee for entrusting me as an integral part of the Department of Athletics,” Manthei said. “The passion and pride everyone expressed for this institution from the moment I stepped on campus was evident.

“UIC is an amazing place and I will work with our great coaches and staff to positively impact the student experience to build upon our past successes and achieve new heights. I look forward to joining the Flames community and I am excited to get started. It feels good to be back home in Chicago,” Manthei said.

At UTRGV, Manthei served as a trusted member of the executive leadership team with oversight of many areas including: academic services, compliance, strength and conditioning and sports medicine. She was also instrumental in the department’s risk management, policy and code enforcement and student-athlete welfare and programming, including NCAA Life Skills sessions.

As a sport administrator, Manthei maintained oversight of multiple UTRGV teams, including men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball.

She helped to secure NCAA Accelerated Academic Services Program Grants (AASP) totaling $187,000 in 2016 and 2017, with funding used to create new study spaces, staff positions, technology, mental health and wellness programs, and more. She implemented the “Thrive360” life-skills program that addressed a variety of key topics with student-athletes including leadership, depression, sexual assault, nutrition, life after sports, and more.

Manthei, a native of Country Club Hills, was also chair of the Student-Athlete Experience and Student-Athlete Welfare Committees and is the liaison to the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC). On a national scale, she serves as a member of the NCAA Limited Resource Institution Committee and on the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Tennis Committee.

Prior to her service at UTRGV, Manthei worked as a compliance coordinator at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She assisted in maintaining all aspects of a comprehensive rules program for the department’s 15 varsity teams. Manthei also aided in academic advising for football and men’s basketball and coordinated UTSA’s National Letter of Intent program, while serving as liaison to the financial aid office.

Her collegiate administration experience began in 2006 as a Compliance Assistant at Valparaiso University, where she earned a Master of Science in Sport Administration in 2008.

A former softball student-athlete at the University of Tampa, Manthei graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies in 2005. She is a graduate of Hillcrest High School.