John Goodridge of Eastern Michigan

Goodridge helped lead Eastern Michigan to the MAC title last season (Eastern Michigan sports info)

1. You will be entering your third year as the men's track & field assistant coach for Eastern Michigan. Your expertise is in cross-country and distance where you have coached a great number of MAC Champions, several All-Americans and a National Champion. What kind of expectations to you want out of your athletes every year?

My expectations for my athletes are the same that I set for myself each year and they are basically to work hard, seek improvement, strive for excellence and fulfill potential.

2. Before coming over to Eastern Michigan, you were the head men's track and field and cross country coach at Wake Forest University from 1984-99 and three years, 1979-82, as the head women's cross country coach and assistant track coach at Michigan State. During your tenure at both schools before Eastern Michigan, what kind of things did you learn as a coach?

I'll be turning 54 in November which makes me an 'old school coach'. By this I mean I have a different background than most of the younger generation of collegiate coaches in that my background before being hired at Michigan State included coaching at a junior high, two high schools (Class A and Class D), a club (with age groupers and two internationalists) and a community college and at each position except the club I coached every event. The vast majority of younger collegiate coaches started right out as college GA's or Assistant coaches so their introduction, training and experiences are vastly different.

Coaching at MSU with their women's program was a wonderful opportunity as at the time it was one of the premier programs in the country in Track and Field and Cross Country and I inherited a very strong group of distance athletes. I was fortunate to have coached them to their first ever Big Ten Cross Country Championship and a 4th place NCAA National placing. It was here that I first really cut my teeth with college recruiting. I moved on to Wake Forest University primarily because it gave me the opportunity to coach men as well as the fact that at the time Wake was the perennial doormat of the ACC so it was a great challenge. I'm very proud of the fact that Wake developed into a nationally recognized distance running program as we won its first ever ACC Cross Country Championships for team and individual, with three others, along with an ACC record setting NCAA National 3rd place finish, eleven top 25 national rankings while on the track improved to a conference runner-up finish, a best of 8th in the NCAA National T&F Championships. The three best athletes I coached there included Warren Sherman (1:46.68-5th NCAA), Nolan Swanson (28:31-5th NCAA) and Steve Brown (13.50-NCAA runner-up). Wake afforded me the opportunity to gain experience recruiting nationally (as at MSU I pretty much stayed within the state) and afforded me the opportunity to build a program from scratch (unlike MSU which was already established).

3. You have coached 20 athletes who have represented the US internationally at many major World Championship events including the Olympics where your wife Francie ran the 1500 meters in the 1972 Munich Games. What did you do to prepare your athletes to compete at their best for such high level meets?

I think the same principals of preparation (physically and mentally) apply to all levels of competition (high school to international) although admittedly the stakes are usually higher with older athletes because of the longer time of commitment to the task. I am at a point in my career where I have a wealth of experience to share with my athletes and I am confident in my ability to physically prepare distance runners. The harder challenge is finding ways to prepare athletes mentally. I've also been very fortunate to have had the opportunity of coaching some very talented and tenacious competitors who always make coaches look good.

4. You have also coached six steeplers under 8:45 and five 10k runners under 29:00. What is the one performance that you are most proud of?

That's a very difficult question to answer and I really wouldn't want to select one. My wife overcame some very, very difficult times in 1972 right as she was attempting to qualify for her second Olympic Team and she was terribly inspiring and awesome showing me as a young coach how the great ones can put on the right game face under pressure. This will always be a special memory. Nolan Swanson(Wake Forest) emerged on the national scene his senior year winning the Stanford 10K out kicking nationally prominent Brad Hauser with a 60sec last lap improving his 1K from 29:10 as a junior to 28:31. While we walked together down the backstretch after the race with a hundred eyes on us and hearing several times," Who is that guy?", Nolan put his arm around me and said," Thanks for giving me this moment." That will always be a proud moment and likewise having Boaz Cheboiywo jump into my arms after winning the NCAA Cross Country Championship and telling me." We share this title," that will always be a very proud moment.

5. The entire country will be chasing after Boaz again this upcoming season. Is he completely healthy again and ready to go after another national title?

Boaz is certainly a remarkable athlete and those of us who personally know him also know that he is a remarkable young man. He and I both realize that this next year presents new challenges for him and we respect those challenges. I have coached two athletes who have run 28:31 and 28:35. Boaz lost most of the winter training period due to a stress fracture and I trained him relatively conservatively during the outdoor season. I was amazed that he ran 28:29(and the way it was run) off his preparation. Had the weather been conducive to fast running in New Orleans I firmly believe he would have broken 28:00. If he can stay healthy for a prolonged period of time he has the ability to run much faster.

6. Jordan Desilets just recently won the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2002 NACAC Under-25 Track and Field Championships. It is more than safe to say that he had a tremendous 2002 season. What do you plan to do in order to prepare him to be fresh again heading into the cross-country season and beyond?

I'm very, very proud of Jordan and he too faces new challenges this coming year. He and I are building a very strong relationship. I have identified the areas we will work on this year as part of our ongoing plan and cross country fits very nicely into this.

7. The 2003 Central Collegiate and MAC Indoor Championships will be on the 292-meter track at Kent State. Since most of your indoor meets will be on a 200-meter track, is there any kind of plan you have for your athletes when they hit an oversized track?

While most would agree that it is easier to run faster on an indoor oversize track (fewer turns) the unaccustomed lap splits sometimes disorients athletes. I'm really not concerned with the size of the track and am experienced with athletes running at Kent and Notre Dame.

8. How much has Brad Fairchild, the men's head coach at Eastern Michigan, helped you in preparing your athletes and involvment in the program?

Prior to my appointment at EMU after Bob Parks retired I was professionally in limbo. I was living in Ann Arbor (about seven miles from EMU) and working as a high school substitute teacher. The previous year I had devoted a year of my life working to establish a Distance Running Olympic Development Training Center in Ann Arbor (Athletics America) as I had resigned my position of 15 years as Head Coach at Wake Forest. I personally coached eight athletes who participated in the US Olympic Trials (steeplechase, 5000, 10,000 and marathon) but our major sponsor withdrew their funds and offered contracts to some of my athletes.

As my wife and I had lived on our savings for a year I gave up the dream, abolished the club and made a promise to my self that I wouldn't relocate my family again so I planned to go back to high school teaching and coaching. I still believe high school coaching is a blast. But fortunately Bob retired, his assistant of eight years, Brad (who is a Hurdles, Sprint, and Jumps Coach) was appointed Head Coach and Brad hired me to take over Bob's event areas of Cross Country and during Track the 800-10K. Both Brad and Bob have been just great with me allowing me to do my thing-coaching middle and long distance runners, my passion. I love EMU. The team members and alumni (we have a great alumni group) have been just great. Both Brad and I have the utmost respect for Bob. What he has accomplished at EMU is mind boggling when you know all the facts. Bob Parks will always be Mr. Track and Brad and I are honored to try and maintain his level of excellence and the EMU Tradition.

9. Do you think the Mid-American Conference gets enough respect from the media and other outlets based on the number of great performances, All-Americans and National Champions it has produced over the past several years?

I think the sport in general does not get the amount of respect it deserves. The last time I checked I believe there are more high school and collegiate cross country and track and field athletes than soccer players in the country yet in most newspapers you wouldn't guess this based on the disproportionate coverage. In direct response to your question I do believe TRACK&FIELD NEWS is wrong in not including the MAC among its listed Major Conferences and I would urge all MAC schools to ask T&F News to do so.