Youngest D1 Head Coaches?

When did Chris Miltenberg start coaching? I think he's 33 now and coached at Georgetown and Columbia before going to Stanford last year.

It is true that a "Head Cross Country Coach" is nothing more than a title. All the real power lies with the Head Track Coach.

I'm not sure why this isn't more well known amoung fans of college track. Basically, if the Head Track Coach doesn't want to give any money to his "Head Cross Country Coach", then the cross country team gets nothing. It doesn't often happen that way, but it is possible.

Now, if the Head Track Coach also happens to be the distance/cross country coach, he can do what he wants, i.e. Dave Smith.

If you think it isn't true, then watch and see what happens when there is a beef between the Head Track and Head Cross Country coach. The Head track coach will always have the AD side with him/her. As a matter of fact, at many bigger programs, if there is an existing Cross Country Coach, and a new Head Coach is hired, the new Head Coach can release the current Cross Coach in favor of his own hire. The bottom line is that just like a Co-Head Coach that serves under a "Director of Track and Field", a Head Cross Country Coach is just a fancy way of saying assistant coach.

By the way I was a D-I coach for 9 years. I held two positions at diffferent mid-major schools, one as the Head Cross Country Coach, and one as the assistant coach in charge of distance, the assistant coach position actually had more responsibility and gave me more autonomy than the Head position. Go figure.

Fact: head cross country coach reports to Head T&F coach.

Fact: Heas T&F coach resents not having Head XC title, especially since he oversees Head XC coach, and treats his employee (Head XC coach) very poorly.

SEC wrote:

Ryan Vanhoy at Ole Miss is pretty young, I think 25 or so. Pretty young for a coach in the sec. I can't think of any others that young. It is the sec which obviously isn't the most dominant conference but isn't too horrible. Pretty impressive for him.

Hoff.

The Director of track an Field or Head Track and Field Coach decides if he wants to give someone the title of Head Cross Country Coach.

Many Head Track Coaches are also Head Cross Country Coaches although they do no coaching of the Cross Country team.

Examples..Oregon, Texas AM, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia

The athletic directors make those decisions on titles, not the coach/ director .

Ryan Vanhoy Ole Miss - 25s?

Erin Dawson Ole Miss- 28?

Hakon DeVries Kentucky - 27?

Joe Lynn Mizzou - 31?

Ryan Cole - ASU 31?

Forest Braden UCLA ?

I never knew that, thanks for the info.

On an unrelated note, seeing as how you were a DI coach, could you possibly give me two "bread and butter" workouts for an 800 m runner?

Just guessing wrote:

Ryan Vanhoy Ole Miss - 25s?

Erin Dawson Ole Miss- 28?

Hakon DeVries Kentucky - 27?

Joe Lynn Mizzou - 31?

Ryan Cole - ASU 31?

Forest Braden UCLA ?

all these "head" coaches, report to the Head T&F Coach:

Vanhoy/Dawson: report to Bryan O'Niel

DeVries: reports to Edrick Floreal

Braden: reports to Maynard

Lynn: reports to Halter

Cole: reports to Greg Kraft

Other than writing workouts for distance runner, the "Head" cross country coaches listed above, have no real authority or responsibilities.

If they. "Head" XC coach screws up , the AD goes to the head Track/Director for answers, not the XC coach. More proof distance coach has no real authority/responsibilities.

Designing workouts for and managing an entirecross country team seems like it require plenty of authority and responsibility. How could the "Head" XC coach screw up something that has no real responsibilities??

At 25, I was head track coach at at Paul Quinn College. I reported to no one but the AD and school president.

Wait, that was NAIA. Nevermind. Move along, nothing to see here.

BTW I was "Coach of the Year" that year, too. Yeah, me!

spunky wrote:

John Kenworthy coach at Sienna College looks to be 25, in the MAAC. Another young one.

XC only school, so sort of not the same but this guys the only one there. I guess that counts.

Anyone doing XC and track?

Scott Williamson was head CC/track and field at Nicholls State a small D1 in Louisiana. A former Emporia State GA he was 24-25 when he started.

And then quickly headed to Nevada after spending enough time in that hole of a program. Being the head coach at a terrible program isn't fun. We should re-phrase the question to who was the youngest coach at a legit D1 program? i.e. a top tier program not a mid major.

howitworksi wrote:

The Director of track an Field or Head Track and Field Coach decides if he wants to give someone the title of Head Cross Country Coach.

Many Head Track Coaches are also Head Cross Country Coaches although they do no coaching of the Cross Country team.

Examples..Oregon, Texas AM, Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia

Maryland is another good example.

.

Thisissparta!!! wrote:

Brad wick of sjsu or the former boise state coach. Although petersmeyer is head coach of xc, wick is technically the head coach because hes the one who does everything and petersmeyer does jumps and multis

Brad Wick is not the head coach at sjsu. Petersmeyer is the Head Coack, brad is the head xc coach / distance coach.

I'm pretty sure the original question has to do with the head coach over the whole program not just the distance program.

Looking at HEAD coaches. Not Head XC when they aren't also Head Track. They can be Head XC if they are also the Head Track coach. Can be just men's or just women's if the programs are split. I'm not concerned with Directors of TF, they aren't on the field, that's more of an administrative position.

The easiest way to figure this out is to fill it in by conference:

America East Conference

Atlantic Coast Conference

Atlantic Sun Conference

Atlantic Ten Conference

Big East Conference

Big Sky Conference

Big South Conference

Big Ten Conference

Big Twelve Conference

Big West Conference

Colonial Athletic Association

Conference USA

Great West Conference

Horizon League

Ivy League

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Mid-American Conference

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference

Missouri Valley Conference

Mountain West Conference

NCAA Division I Independents

Northeast Conference

Ohio Valley Conference

Pacific Ten Conference

Patriot League

Southeastern Conference

Southern Conference

Southland Conference

Southwestern Athletic Conference

Summit League

Sun Belt Conference

West Coast Conference

Western Athletic Conference

The Sun Belt Conference had a head coach that was 23 years old when he coached a NCAA D1 national qualifier. Coach Sandefur from ULM coached Daniel Muttai. I believe he did not stay there long.