0212 Indoor Track Coaches State Championship
Homewood High’s Tom Esslinger has been named the state’s boys track and field coach of the year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Esslinger’s boys team captured the state Class 5A indoor and outdoor titles last season.
One boys coach and one girls coach from each of the 50 states were honored for their successes during the 2014 track and field season, as selected by a committee of experts from around the nation.
The winners from each state are in consideration for the association’s first-ever National High School Coach of the Year award. Selected by a panel of track & field experts, one boys coach and one girls coach from among all the states will be announced later this month as the national winners.
“I’m excited about it,” said Esslinger. “It’s a big honor. Any time you get this kind of recognition, it’s good, not only for me but for the program and the athletes in the program.”
Esslinger said there have been a few key factors in the success of the track and field program and the cross-country program as well.
“We’ve built it up slowly through the middle school program, and the coaches there have done a great job. We can always take a great athlete and teach them, but it’s great especially to have them coming up through the program.”
He also said that it helps to have Lars Porter, who heads the cross-country program.
“That allows me to focus on track and field and I think it makes more effective. I can’t say enough about our staff – Josh Donaldson, Rebecca Phillips, Brittany Hines Steele, Michael Niezgoda, John Schultz, Kenneth Hollis … so many others who do so many things for us.”
Esslinger also said the Homewood school board and the high school administration creates a good setting for success.
“We have great relationships with the other programs – football, basketball – so that athletes cross over and can participate in track.
“It’s not that way everywhere, but it’s really good at Homewood.”
Esslinger said there are now 200 athletes in the track and cross country program overall, 115 in the track and field disciplines.
“It’s much bigger than we’ve ever had before. I am just so thankful to be a part of it.”
State-by-state winners for the association award were selected based on their teams’ performances throughout the 2014 track and field season. Among the factors taken into consideration were team score and placement at the state championships, the number of different events in which student-athletes were qualified, individual championships, and how their teams’ performances stacked up to previous years.
"This is the most prestigious award that a high school coach could ever attain," National Senate of High School Track Coaches Associations Executive Chairman Don Helberg said. "I am so happy and proud that USTFCCCA has added this award to the collegiate awards they already present."
An inaugural High School Coach of the Year award for cross country will be bestowed during the upcoming 2014 season.
Hoover High’s Devon Hind was named the state’s girls coach of the year.
