BYU coach head USA track team

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    By Mark Lyman

    Hidden in a small office in the Smith Fieldhouse lies one of BYU”s greatest kept secrets, the women”s track and field team.

    “We are probably BYU”s, and Provo”s and Utah”s best kept secret,” said Craig Poole, head coach of the women”s track and field team.

    Poole has developed a program that is successful beyond expectations and continues to receive recognition in the track and field world.

    Besides being head coach of BYU”s women”s track and field team, Poole is also this year”s head women”s USA Coach at the World Championships in Beijing, China.

    “Craig was selected by an executive committee of his peers,” said Terry Crawford, past president of USA track coaches association. “He was the first candidate and choice of the group.”

    Crawford expressed how fortunate the coaches of USA track and field feel because Poole was able to take the position. Crawford pointed out that Poole”s excellent credentials, coaching ability, leadership ability and experience in dealing with collegiate and post-collegiate athletes all weighed in his favor as the association”s first choice.

    Poole has seen attention at the national level in previous years, serving as the head coach for a dual meet between the USA and Great Britain in 1990, the USA coach to the World Indoor Championships in 1993 and coach and advisor to the Taiwan National team in 1987.

    Poole-guided teams at BYU over the last 20 years have earned nine top-10 finishes at national championships.

    Under Poole”s guidance, forty-two athletes on the BYU women”s track and field team have reached All-American status.

    Poole is quick to note his success as a coach is directly related to good athletes who attend BYU, a coaching staff that is diverse in thought and a supportive administration.

    “I have a very fine staff, I can”t take all the credit,” Poole said. “The administration has been supportive, at least the last two or three years. They have been extremely supportive, when money has been available, to do the job that we thought we can do.”

    When asked what he enjoys about coaching track and field, Poole mentions a long list of reasons.

    “I like the diversity, the individuality,” Poole said. “I like the individual dedication that track and field has. I think it”s probably the greatest sport in the world, although it doesn”t get the coverage that it needs.”

    Along with not getting the newspaper recognition Poole feels the program deserves, he also pointed out there are not enough scholarships to go around.

    “Unlike football, a guy that holds a blocking dummy can have a four-year full-ride,” Poole said. “We have girls winning national championships that are not on full-rides. It”s one of the inequities of NCAA sports.”

    For BYU women”s track and field, whose team ranges between 70 to 75 participants, there are only 18 available scholarships, Poole said.

    Poole is proud to add his student-athletes lead all teams at BYU with a cumulative GPA of 3.3.

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