Kurtis Brondyke Dec. 1, 2008

Dunham tells why Dutch will be successful

Head coach Joe Dunham and associate head coach Guy Mosher talk about Central track and field    

What is your coaching philosophy?

DUNHAM: First and foremost for me I want athletes to know that I care about them, and that they’re the reason we’re here as coaches and that they take priority over everything else. I think it’s important that we provide them with everything they need, and that includes the coaching they need to become successful. I really believe that the athletes come first and we’re responsible for making them the best that we can possibly make them.

MOSHER: I always want to be the track coach I wish I would have had. I had some talent but it never got pulled out of me. I know some motivation is supposed to be internal, but some of it has to be external, too. I want to know how to make kids get better. So I do a lot of research and I continue to do research to try and find different ways to reach different kids and give them the tools to get better.

Coach Joe DunhamWhat can Central offer to top student-athletes that other similar programs can’t?

DUNHAM: Our coaching. In my opinion we have probably the best coaching staff in all of Iowa and I think that we’ve got the history to prove it. We’ve had a lot of success at the national level. Along with that, we offer great academics and the ability to experience a lot of things on campus. It’s the whole college experience. We’ve got that here: the chance to go abroad and to be a part of all the different things that the college offers.

What can the track and field program offer student-athletes beyond their four years at Central?

DUNHAM: Well, I think that we as a coaching staff try to get across that we want to help shape all parts and all facets of their lives with discipline and hard work. Hard work brings forth positive results. One of the main things that I want all athletes to understand is that how good they are as an athlete doesn’t necessarily define them. What we want for them to see is that what defines them is really their hard work and making sure that they are doing everything correctly, making sure they work hard every single day. That is where success comes from. There are times when devastating things happen in sports, when maybe an athlete has a bad race or something bad just happens. We don’t want them to be completely destroyed by that one experience and let them feel like that one thing defines them. We try to focus more on the day-to-day things that they do and making sure that we emphasize those as what’s important.  I think that is going to help them when they leave Central.

MOSHER: I think they need to understand that it’s the process, not just the product. And that’s life. It’s nice to have plaques and awards, but not everybody will get those. So if your window of success is that small, that you’ve got to have a medal or you’ve got to have a plaque, then you’re really going to miss out on the important stuff. I think it’s important for kids to understand the process of it: to set goals, to work hard to get that and understand how what they’re doing benefits them outside of the sport.

What expectations do you have for student-athletes in workouts?

Spencer CoulterDUNHAM: They should expect to come in and fully engulf themselves in the program and fully engulf themselves in the culture of the track team here. I think we have a family atmosphere where everyone feels welcome and everybody feels that they’re an equal part of our program. What we expect is just a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication, and that they are willing to perform the work to be successful.

MOSHER: The time commitment here I’ve always felt is very reasonable. I think that to have the set times for practices helps them with their time management skills. It helps them with their accountability.

DUNHAM: And we want them to be able to take advantage of everything on campus. That’s what Central is all about and it’s what Division III running is all about, to be able to have an opportunity to join different groups, and to go abroad and do some of the things that set Central apart and that we think make Central a great place.

What are the program goals?

DUNHAM: We want to develop strong student-athletes that are successful in the classroom as well as on the track and that’s I think my primary goal: to make sure that our student-athletes leave here with a positive experience, achieve their utmost potential and have a great time. On top of that I think the rest of it will just kind of take care of itself.

Long-term we want to be at the top of the conference every year. Year-in and year-out we want to have a program that represents track and field here at Central. When people think of Central we want them to think of track and field. Long-term as well we want to get as many people to the national level as we possibly can. Guy (Mosher) and I both have been at that level and we know what that experience means to those kids who have been through it and how it changes their lives. So we want to do that as best we can for as many athletes as we can. It takes a lot of work to get to that level, but I think when you do work hard and you get to that level it changes your life and it makes you realize that whatever you do, you have to work hard at it.

MOSHER: I’d like the kids to have a very positive experience. Track is obviously a very objectively measured sport, and not every athlete is going to win a medal or get a plaque at the conference meet, but every kid can get better and make improvement. My goal is to have every kid I work with PR in the event that they compete in. Kids have to understand that they’re every bit as accountable for that as I am, and teaching them accountability is a lifelong skill. I want athletes to understand that you don’t have to cross the line first in order to win. Winning is something that comes from within.

Matt GraberWhat kind of student-athletes do you want to attract to Central?

MOSHER: I personally want a kid that is enthusiastic about the sport of track and field and a fan of track and field. Those are the kind of athletes I enjoy working with. I’m pretty analytical about the stuff that I present to these kids, and I want them to understand what I’m trying to teach them and why I’m trying to teach it. I want kids who are interested in learning about the sport, and the most talented kids are not always like that. I want somebody who’s really motivated to get better.

DUNHAM: I really want somebody that realizes what they’ve got here, and the opportunity they’ve been given to be at Central. Somebody who understands what they have at their disposal in terms of the coaches, the facilities and the opportunities to be their best. We want an athlete that is going to be completely committed and wants to get better.

How do you try to help athletes achieve success off the track?

DUNHAM:  We try to track their progress and make sure they’re getting to the classroom. But I think the best way that we can help them in the classroom is to be a good example and to show them that hard work will help them be successful. We try to make that connection between the hard work they put in on the track and the hard work they need to put forth in the classroom. Not only in the classroom, but everything they do in life, they need to work hard for it. Nothing comes easy and nothing comes for free. If it was easy everybody would do it, and we say that all the time to athletes who are complaining about something. It’s the same in the classroom, you just need to work hard and I think that’s the best message we can give to them to help them out.

Shane HallengrenWho are your coaching role models?

DUNHAM:  For me it would George Suitor from Trinity College (where Coach Dunham was a graduate assistant). He’s the head cross country and track coach there and he taught me a lot about how to reach kids at the college level, how to motivate them and understand what they’re going through. I really appreciate his philosophies on training and running a track program in general. He was very good at motivating and letting his athletes know that he cared about them. Also, Peter Thomas, who was my coach at Keene State College in New Hampshire. He was a great motivator, and got me to the fitness level I needed to be successful.  He was very good at drawing talent out of every one of his athletes. 

MOSHER: I like the guys that are kind of tough. The coaches are very competitive and they let that show. If athletes can see that you’re a competitor, I think they can really feed off that. Mark Heid (former Central track and field coach) is a guy that I worked with when I first came here. I’m not sure Mark knew a whole lot about sports on the field but he was a guy who could just get revved up and get excited about competition. When I got over here I got to see it first hand, and the practices seemed kind of the same as what I was used to but the way they approached a championship meet was a lot different than anything I’d seen before. The team just went in with an attitude that we’re going to win. He was a very competitive guy. I don’t know if I’m trying to emulate him necessarily, but I’m letting my personality come out and I’ve always kind of liked that approach to coaching.

How important to do you think it is for all the coaches to work together and have the same goals for all the athletes?

DUNHAM: With track and field I feel like it’s absolutely essential, because you’ve got so many athletes doing different events and different things. You’ll have someone doing a long jump, and then they’re also a sprinter and then they go to something like high jump. You may have two different coaches working with this one athlete, and it’s important that both coaches are on the same page with what’s going on. That’s one thing that I’ve tried to bring here is a unity between the coaches, that we are on the same page, that we are trying to get the same message across to the athletes about our expectations. Being on the same page I think is just absolutely important.