The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

Sydnee started at a small high school in GA competing in the shot put and discus. She shares the steps on her path to becoming a 4-time Junior Olympic national hammer throw champion, 2-time HS All-American, and then a top-10 all-time performer in the hammer and weight throw for the University of Oregon. She also offers suggestions to current youth athletes, parents, and coaches on how to forge their own path. Sydnee is the founder and CE[http:]O of The Collaborative LLC and also works as a Social Media & Marketing Professional. 

Note: This episode was originally published 2/3/26.If you've got something awesome like this that you'd like to share, please contact David Mitchell to learn how!

Mike Cunningham is joined by Josh Brooks, Athletic Director at the University of Georgia, for a deep, inside look at leadership in college athletics—and the growing role of track & field.

Josh shares his journey from javelin athlete to SEC Athletic Director, along with his perspective on why track has become such an important part of athletic department success—from both a competitive and developmental standpoint.

The conversation covers a wide range of topics, including:

• Georgia’s recent success across track, baseball, and other sports
• Building a world-class track & field facility with athlete, coach, and fan experience in mind
• Why track offers unique developmental value for youth athletes
• The balance between revenue and non-revenue sports at the DI level
• The evolving NCAA landscape, including NIL and the new 5-year eligibility rule
• Challenges with roster age gaps and international recruiting
• The idea of expanding NCAA scoring beyond the top 8
• What Athletic Directors look for when hiring head coaches
• Why assistant coaches need to demonstrate leadership beyond their event group
• The concept of “good high maintenance” and advocating for your program
• Advice for coaches considering a move into administration

Josh also discusses how he approaches recruiting—even meeting with track & field recruits personally—and why he views recruiting as the single biggest way he can impact success.

This episode provides rare insight into how top-level decisions are made—and how coaches can better position themselves and their programs moving forward.

Dive into nearly 400 episodes featuring insights from coaching legends such as Boo Schexnayder and Dan Pfaff, Diljeet Taylor (BYU) and Beth Alford-Sullivan, as well as superstar coaches Petros Kyprianou (Illinois), Althea Thomas (Vanderbilt) and many more! Find us on Twitch.tv, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more!

🎙️ Create Your Own Podcast Episode:
Reach out to Mike Cunningham for instruction on how to create your very own Gill1918 Project episode, which airs Tuesdays through Sundays. Find YOUR voice on the Gill Connections Podcast Network.

📲 Stay Connected:
Want to get in touch with our host, Mike Cunningham? Follow on Instagram (@MikeCunninghamTF), email at [email protected], or text to 217-898-3038. We love hearing from you! 🎧👍

How do NCAA pole vault pit requirements differ from NFHS standards?

In this episode of the Gill Connections Podcast, Mike Cunningham breaks down the current NCAA requirements for pole vault landing systems and explains what coaches, facility managers, and athletic directors need to know when planning new facilities or evaluating existing equipment.

Topics covered include:

✅ NCAA pole vault pit requirements and dimensions

✅ Key differences between NCAA and NFHS standards

✅ Why larger landing systems are common at the collegiate level

✅ Landing system performance and athlete safety

✅ Common mistakes made during facility planning

✅ How to evaluate an aging landing system

✅ Compliance vs. best practices

Whether you're building a new facility, preparing to host collegiate competition, or simply trying to understand NCAA standards, this episode will help you make more informed decisions about athlete safety and facility design.

LINKEDIN ARTICLE

📲 Stay Connected:
Want to get in touch with our host, Mike Cunningham? Follow on Instagram (@MikeCunninghamTF), email at [email protected], or text to 217-898-3038. We love hearing from you! 🎧👍

Are you confident your pole vault pit meets current NFHS requirements?

In this episode of the Gill Connections Podcast, Mike Cunningham breaks down the NFHS rules governing pole vault landing systems and explains what coaches, athletic directors, and facility managers need to know to ensure athlete safety and compliance.

Topics covered include:

✅ Current NFHS pole vault pit dimensions

✅ Vault box collar requirements

✅ Hard-surface protection requirements

✅ What NFHS means by "decelerating the athlete's landing"

✅ Common compliance mistakes coaches make

✅ How to evaluate an older or inherited landing system

✅ The difference between minimum compliance and best practices

Whether you're planning a facility upgrade, purchasing a new pit, or inspecting an existing landing system, this episode provides practical guidance to help keep athletes safe and programs compliant.

LinkedIn Article

📲 Stay Connected:Want to get in touch with our host, Mike Cunningham? Follow on Instagram (@MikeCunninghamTF), email at [email protected], or text to 217-898-3038. We love hearing from you! 🎧👍

Gwen is an up and coming T&F announcer along with being a high school XC/TF coach in Bend, OR and at the Steens Mountain Running Camp. Gwen is a University of Oregon graduate who studied filmmaking and advertising. She offers original, thought-provoking perspective on the impact of technology and comparison on the development of high school distance runners and on what coaches can do about it. You can get to know Gwen and her work by following her on IG (Gwen The Announcer).

This week on the Gill Connections Podcast, Mike Cunningham sits down with Kenneth Cox, Director of the Birmingham CrossPlex, for a wide-ranging conversation about serving track & field from every angle: athlete, coach, administrator, and now facility leader.

Kenneth Cox shares how track began for him at age eight, how mentors shaped him, and why consistency and relationships became cornerstones of his leadership. From coaching stops that included Emory (Division III) and ultimately 16 years at Birmingham-Southern, he opens up about the realities of building a program, developing athletes, and learning the “head coach” role beyond X’s and O’s.

He also walks through the rare challenge of navigating a school closure, how that season changed his perspective, and why he believes his next chapter at the CrossPlex is another way to “coach” the sport—by creating experiences, memories, and opportunities for athletes and coaches who walk through those doors.

If you’re a coach considering administration, a leader trying to build culture, or someone who loves track and believes there’s more than one way to serve it—this one is for you.

Dive into over 350 episodes featuring insights from coaching legends such as Boo Schexnayder and Dan Pfaff, Diljeet Taylor (BYU) and Beth Alford-Sullivan, as well as superstar coaches Petros Kyprianou (Illinois), Althea Thomas (Vanderbilt) and many more! Find us on Twitch.tv, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more!

🎙️ Create Your Own Podcast Episode:
Reach out to Mike Cunningham for instruction on how to create your very own Gill1918 Project episode, which airs Tuesdays through Sundays. Find YOUR voice on the Gill Connections Podcast Network.

📲 Stay Connected:
Want to get in touch with our host, Mike Cunningham? Follow on Twitter (@MikeCunningham), email at [email protected], or text to 217-898-3038. We love hearing from you! 🎧👍

Coach Will, Coach Lonnie, and A. Lew from the awesome Beyond The Blocks Track & Field Podcast took some time to share their experience as coaches and parents of athletes in three key areas of the college recruiting process. Their advice is real, practical, and able to be implemented right away. Athletes, coaches and parents will all benefit from these quick tips! You can enjoy their insightful and entertaining in-depth T&F interviews on YouTube and Instagram. 

Got a topic you'd love to share with our Youth T&F audience? Contact David Mitchell to learn how.

Some conversations go long.

This one goes deep.

In this episode, Rita Gary, head coach at Furman University, delivers a masterclass on leadership, accountability, and what it actually takes to build something meaningful in today’s NCAA landscape.

From her early influences as a young athlete to becoming a Division I head coach at just 24 years old, Rita shares how her leadership philosophy was shaped—and how it continues to evolve.

Despite a shorter conversation than usual, this episode is packed with insight for coaches who care about:

• Leading with clarity and conviction
• Developing athletes beyond performance
• Building culture that actually sustains success
• Navigating the modern NCAA environment

💬 Rita breaks down her leadership framework—awareness, action, and accountability—and how it applies to both athletes and coaches at every level.

💬 She also shares how Furman became a national contender by focusing on people, not just performance.

💬 And she doesn’t shy away from tough conversations about the current state of college athletics.

This is one of those episodes you’ll want to run back a second time.

🔥 Key Takeaways:

• Leadership is learned—but it requires intentional growth
• Culture keeps the right people in and pushes the wrong people out
• Development beats shortcuts every time
• Coaching is more about people than programming

🗣️ Quote from Rita: “Culture keeps the right people in—and it pushes the wrong people out.”

👉Dive into nearly 400 episodes featuring insights from coaching legends such as Boo Schexnayder and Dan Pfaff, Diljeet Taylor (BYU) and Beth Alford-Sullivan, as well as superstar coaches Petros Kyprianou (Illinois), Althea Thomas (Vanderbilt) and many more! Find us on Twitch.tv, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more!🎙️ Create Your Own Podcast Episode:Reach out to Mike Cunningham for instruction on how to create your very own Gill1918 Project episode, which airs Tuesdays through Sundays. Find YOUR voice on the Gill Connections Podcast Network.📲 Stay Connected:Want to get in touch with our host, Mike Cunningham? Follow on Twitter (@MikeCunningham), email at [email protected], or text to 217-898-3038. We love hearing from you! 🎧👍

Lyle Smith gives us an insider's look at his new book "Blood, Sweat & Spikes: Running the Wetmore Way" on today's Gill1918 Project episode.

Check out his book at the Amazon link above; here's the description for this exciting new book for our exciting sport!

At the height of the first American Running Boom, a small town in New Jersey emerged as a magical place in the sport. Tiny Bernardsville, in the Somerset Hills of New Jersey produced dozens of local, state, age-group, and national champions and claimed a place in the pantheon of American distance running. A junior program fed a high school team of boys and girls that claimed legend status. Before he was one of the best collegiate distance running coaches on the planet, Mark Wetmore was the young, ambitious, experimental coach of this program. BLOOD, SWEAT & SPIKES is one story of one of those runners in that town and the people who made it unique in the history of the sport.

I'm throwing a birthday party for myself and YOU'RE INVITED! My friends at Glazier Clinics are hosting a FREE Virtual Track and Field Clinic with some of the best coaches around (BYU, TCU, Under Armour, and more!) on July 24 and 25 and I want you to be there.

Register here: ⁠https://hubs.ly/Q04mV2Pd0Share it with a friend!

To help you see the quality of these presentations, and to celebrate the upcoming July clinic, here is the first part of one of the presentations from December. If you want to watch the full presentation go to Glazier Drive: ⁠https://production.glazierdrive.com/library