In this episode, Erick Rheam interviews former collegiate coach Ron Bazil about his 34 year experience coaching men and women cross-country and track and field programs at a very high level.
Coach Bazil recounts his philosophies and methodologies as he evolved throughout house career coaching athletes at three different universities.
He discusses his intentionality with creating a sense of normalcy and community for his athletes at the United States Military Academy so that they could navigate the chaos of cadet life, while still competing at a very high level.
Coach Bazil started his career as Head Track Coach and Assistant Dean of Students in 1968.
Bazil spent nine years at the helm of the Adelphi Track Program, achieving some of the most remarkable results in the school’s athletic history.
During that time, he continued to serve as Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Dean of Men, before being named Director of Athletics, Intramurals, and Recreation in 1972.
In 1970, Adelphi won its first national title in the outdoor (college division) mile relay. The following year proved to be the most significant as the mile relay team not only captured its first NCAA Indoor Title, but also established world records for the mile relay on two consecutive weekends.
That same year, the men’s 880 yard relay and the 4x400 relay won the Championship of America at the Penn Relays. In 1978 the women would also capture this prestigious title in the 4x100 relay. From 1970-1975, the men’s track team captured a total of five NCAA individual outdoor titles, two NCAA outdoor meet records, and two individual indoor national titles. Bazil and his relay team put Adelphi on the national stage, culminating in a feature article in Sports Illustrated magazine.
Bazil had forged his winning formula during his 16 years as the head coach of the cross country and track and teams of the US Military Academy at West Point. During his tenure at Army, Bazil molded his men's and women's teams into nationally competitive programs
Army men were introduced to the Patriot League in the spring of 1992, and the cross country team took home the title in the fall of 1993. They went on to take sixth at the NCAA championships that year, and Bazil also took home the District II NCAA Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year title.
Both the men's and women's cross country teams took home Patriot League championship titles in the fall of 1994, and the men came into the 1995 season with a 12-race winning streak behind them. For that effort Bazil was again named Patriot League Coach of the Year.
He held Patriot League coaching honors every season from 1992-95.
The men's indoor track team went undefeated with a 5-0 record in 1994, and the outdoor team checked off their third straight league championship. Bazil left Army with a combined track and cross country career record of 304-116-2 for dual meets and 13 conference championships.
Bazil elevated the Tulane track and field team into a nationally prominent program after his arrival in 1995. Bazil produced 12 All-Americans to include one realty team, eight NCAA national qualifiers, a sprint medley relay team ranked in the top-10 nationally, 64 individual Conference USA champions, the 1996 Conference USA Freshman of the Year in cross country, and the Outstanding Performer at the Conference USA Indoor Championship in 1997. His athletes have also rewritten the Tulane record books by establishing dozens of new school records.
Perhaps Bazil's greatest accomplishment came during the 1998 cross country season. He guided the Green Wave men to four team titles during the season and qualified as a group to the NCAA Cross Country Championships for the first time in school history by virtue of a runner-up finish to eventual National Champion Arkansas in the South Central District Championships. He also had an individual qualifier on the women's side.
Accomplishments