Longtime coach announces retirement It is seldom in sports that a coach can look back on his career and be able to tell the story of how he spent nearly 4 decades as the head coach within only one athletic program. Longtime Pomona-Pitzer men’s cross-country and men’s track and field coach Pat Mulcahy can tell such a story. But after 38 years at the helm of the Sagehen men’s’ squads, Coach Mulcahy announced his retirement, leaving behind a legacy and memories that span across multiple generations. “The students were what kept me coming back each year,” Coach Mulcahy said. “I wanted to give them a good experience. [The interaction with the students] is what I’m going to miss the most.”
Off to a good start Coach Mulcahy began as head of the cross-country and track coach for Pomona-Pitzer in 1969 - 3 years after he had graduated from Pomona College, where he played soccer and threw javelin. The opportunity for Coach Mulcahy to become head coach came when the former head coach left Pomona-Pitzer to take a coaching job at Whitman College. While he oversaw the improvements of hundreds of athletes during his coaching tenure, Coach Mulcahy coached 40 athletes to 76 NCAA All-American performances with 10 of those athletes going on to become national champions. His latest coaching success was with 6-time All-American Will Leer, who won the NCAA Division III national crown in the 1500-meter and 5000-meter races at the 2007 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships in Wisconsin back in May. “Coach Mulcahy has been a tremendous teacher, coach and vital member of the college community over the past 38 years,” said Charles Katsiaficas, Pomona-Pitzer athletic director. “He will sorely be missed. He has provided outstanding leadership to so many students for nearly 4 decades, and his legacy in both track and cross country in Division III is firmly established.”
A winning style Under Coach Mulcahy, the Pomona-Pitzer men’s cross-country team won 10 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) titles while the men’s track and field teams took home the conference crown 5 times. At the NCAA Division III National level, Coach Mulcahy’s track and field teams placed in the Top-20 in team scoring 15 times (4th in 1984) and his cross-country teams have advanced to the national meet 8 times, placing 10th overall in 1979. Though Coach Mulcahy has been a mainstay at Pomona-Pitzer, his experience doesn’t stop at the college itself. After earning his Ph.D. in Urban Sociology from UCLA in 1972, Coach Mulcahy continued to throw the javelin and traveled Europe to study more about the event. The longtime coach also served as an assistant coach for both men and women on national teams that toured the Philippines and Taiwan in the 1970s, while also giving clinics for coaches of both countries.
Brought international experience The wealth of experience and knowledge that Coach Mulcahy brings to the table has always been something that has impressed Pomona-Pitzer women’s cross-country and track and field head coach Kirk Reynolds and a significant part of what he has appreciated working alongside him. “He’s a throwback coach because he knows how to coach every single event in track and field, and there are fully 19 different events among the various areas of sprinting, throwing, jumping and distance running in track and field,” said Coach Reynolds. “Nowadays it seems like coaches are more specialists, and they might know only one of those areas. In spring track season, Pat would coach all afternoon from noon until 6 p.m. Athletes would come out for an hour session with him and then leave, and then another group would come out. So he’d be switching gears from the high jump to the hurdles to the javelin to the mile without missing a beat. Most coaches don’t do it that way now.”
Leaving a legacy Pomona-Pitzer athletics has seen many changes since Coach Mulcahy started his head coaching tenure up until his recent retirement. In 1969, Pitzer College had only been in existence for 6 years, Pomona-Pitzer athletics competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) until the NCAA Division III was formed in the mid-1970s, and Pomona-Pitzer’s blue Strehle Track did not exist. Yet the coach would go on to not only play a part in deciding on the blue track itself, but also establish the Pomona-Pitzer Track & Field Invitational in 1987, an event that draws thousands of college and open athletes around the country each year.
Relationships make the coach The relationships that Coach Mulcahy built with his students are what many students remember him for, yet the coach also had an impact on his peers as well. “He taught me pretty much everything I know in the field events. When I first started coaching, I didn’t know much and just hung around and watched him coach athletes,” Coach Reynolds said. “Pat is a remarkable coach. He’s a legend. He’s well-known throughout our conference and in Division III track and cross country as one of the most successful coaches, and he’s also well-known as the most fun to hang out with at conventions or conferences. It seems that nearly everyone knows him, and they would gather around to ask him where he’s going to dinner so they can tag along.” Though his qualifications could have landed him anywhere he preferred, the Division III environment has suited Coach Mulcahy well. The longtime coach feels that it is an environment that encourages interaction between coaches and students and also brings about athletes who are driven to play because of their love for the game. “Division III is not the highest level but you can’t beat it when it comes to the interaction side,” Coach Mulcahy explained. “And because we’re not dealing with athletic scholarships, the kids are out there because they want to be out there.” Coach Mulcahy still plans to be a part of the Pomona-Pitzer community and will still be seen at Sagehen track and field events. As for the coaching side, Pomona-Pitzer assistant women’s volleyball coach David Longyear will be the interim coach while a search is conducted for Coach Mulcahy’s replacement. “I’ll miss working with him,” Coach Reynolds said. “Going to practices or competitions with him was always a great adventure and great fun.”
—Landus Rigsby |
   
|
August 22, 2007
August 22, 2007