There are generally three types of coaches: complacent ones, ones looking to move onward and upward, and ones that fight the toughest fight to change and grow where they are at. Coach Brant Tolsma was and is certainly one who wanted to fight and turn Liberty into one of the best programs in the state and nation.
After 95 seasons and 35 years of coaching at Liberty University Coach Brant Tolsma is stepping aside as the Head Coach and Director of T&F/XC. In his illustrious career he has amassed 116 conference championships and coached six NCAA D1 national champions including Sam Chalanga who still holds the NCAA 10K record today.
In his video announcing his retirement, Coach Tolsma noted how much he has enjoyed his time at LU and that he will certainly not be leaving LU but just transitioning to be their biggest fan instead of coach.
For those unfamiliar with Coach Tolsma and LU historically speaking, it is quite interesting how they both have grown and makes you respect his work that much more.
When Tolsma took over the program's helm in 1986 (only men's outdoor track but held all three jobs by 1991) the school didn't have an outdoor track and the team was nowhere near what it is today. He has grown the program to be a powerhouse that wins conferences year after year.
Tolsma himself is a devout Christian and that was a big part of his love for LU and his role at LU where he could interact with student-athletes, athletics, and faith at the same time. Coach Tolsma also is an author of the book, The Surrendered Christian Athlete.
Throughout his career Coach Tolsma smartly focused on athletes from many different disciplines including the multi-events. He, himself, is a multi-event star still to this day. He holds the double-decathlon world record and per his LU bio has raced basically every race from 50m to 50 miles.
The biggest takeaway we have of Coach Tolsma's career is off of his own words... "I never saw Liberty as a stepping stone, I saw it as an escalator to take me up". He changed the program, which certainly was not always the easiest because of his conviction for athletes, Christ, and Liberty University.