Willie Randolph sees progress after first year on job nears end

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Willie Randolph feverishly punched away at the keys on his cell phone while sitting in his office inside the Indoor Athletic Complex.

The coach of the men’s and women’s track and field and cross country program is in constant communication with many of his athletes and staff as he leads the combined program through the duration of the outdoor season.

He has set forth goals in the 11 months since taking the reins of the program. He has made clear that his goal is to move the team forward to the top of the Mid-American Conference.

“I don’t like being anything less than (number) one so, for me, until we get to that point, I am not going rest until the conference level is locked up,” Randolph said.

RANDOLPH’S TRACK

Randolph spent four seasons as an assistant at the University of Louisville, where he played a major role in the recruitment of athletes. This season, he took his team there — the Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Invitational on April 16, where the team finished third behind the host Cardinals.

His return to his former home caused some mixed emotions, he said, as many of the athletes he helped recruit were competing as seniors.

“A lot of the kids I recruited are there, so it is my first freshman class that are now seniors, so it’s a very weird feeling,” he said. “You want to support them, but you really can’t.”

His greatest accomplishments on the track to date have been while serving as an assistant coach at Louisville. Working with the sprinters and hurdlers, he was part of the coaching staff that combined the men’s and women’s programs, a system which he implements at CMU.

In 2007, he was a part of what was named the Big East coaching staff of the year, following an Outdoor National Championship on the men’s side, as well as a national runner-up on the women’s side.

CMU

Now Randolph is trying to replicate his success at Louisville — he also had success as a coach at Belmont University, Vanderbilt and the University of New Orleans — at CMU.

Almost a year into his role on top of the program, he said he has a firm grasp of where the program is at.

“We have some holes in the program we are trying to fill; at the same time, we have some solid athletes,”
he said.

Randolph has established a talented coaching staff, including the retention of distance coach Matt Kaczor, while adding newcomers John Ridgway, Glenn Smith, Kristen Paulsen and two-time Olympian Dionne
Henley (Jamaica).

His focus as the outdoor session winds down is on the placement of his athletes in postseason
competition. As athletes are dispersed to different events to gain scores and personal bests, Randolph said he is already thinking toward the future.

“Were just building right now; our recruiting is going really well,” he said, “We have some gaps were going to fill for next year.”