The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

When the NCAA track and field season was cut short in the middle of March, Marissa sprang into action. She created a Facebook group on March 17th titled 'Coaches Collab'. Her goal was to bring a few coaches in her network together to recreate the exchange of information that occurs on a yearly basis at the USTFCCCA Convention.  What started with 20 coaches quickly blossomed to 50 then 100.  Almost over night it exploded to 1000 coaches and now participation sits at over 1,800+ track and field coaches from around the world! In today's episode we sit down with Marissa to talk about the many positive interactions that have occurred so far and talk about her motivation for starting the group.  We're so proud of Marissa stepping up and leading in a time of uncertainty and are proud to bring you her story. 

Hassaan is the assistant track coach for sprints, hurdles, and relays at ETSU for the past 7 seasons. In today's episode, Hassaan takes us back to his days in the famed Quicksilver Track Club as well as a real special time during his athletic career at the University of Tennessee. I was touched by his sharing of how his promising professional career was cut short by a freak accident, yet he was able to find his real passion in coaching track and field. You're going to enjoy getting to know Hassaan as he is going to continue putting his fingerprint on the landscape of our great sport in many positive ways. Enjoy!

You do NOT want to miss this episode! Today you'll hear about the importance of second chances and what a coach can do to turn around someone's life.  Iggy is in his first year as the assistant coach in charge of jumps/pole vault/multis at Stanford University. Properly named Arthur Ignaczak, affectionately known as Iggy Oggy, he has coached high school through college and now in the Pac-12. We had a great time talking about his experiences at the Univ of Central Arkansas, Eastern Michigan, and Stanford, however we really got to the important stuff as we turned our attention to Iggy's upbringing in New Jersey. Enjoy!

Ernie is the associate head coach for the Eagles of Ashland and a total hurdle fanatic. Growing up running the hurdles in high school and college, he has become one of the top college hurdle coaches around. However, before coaching at Ashland he was a high school track coach for 14 years. We focused on the transition from coaching high school to coaching on the college level. Ernie discusses this transition really well and provides a lot of value for both current high school track coaches and current college coaches.  Enjoy!

Houston is in his first year at LSU as the head cross country coach after coaching several years at his alma mater Mississippi State.  Success has followed Houston at every stop of his career and it's a short matter of time before his athletes are doing big things for the Tigers. In this episode we explore how Houston got into coaching, his philosophy on coaching distance, and even his extremely talented distance running wife.  Enjoy!