New Pioneer track and cross country head coach Ralph Jones is aware of the history that surrounds the CSU East Bay track and cross country programs and strives to bring the team back to its glory days.
“Back when they were Cal State Hayward the school was probably one of the most dominant programs in the country,” said Jones.
Back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, the CSUEB track was home to some of the best track and field and cross country athletes in the entire nation.
The track and field and cross country programs used to be home to hall of fame coaches and national championships on both a team and individual level. The Pioneers would even host meets against Division I schools, such as the University of Auburn, and emerge victorious.
Past coaches helped to rake in the success. Jim Santos was inducted into the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association hall of fame in 2004 while Bob McGuire was named the NCAAC Coach of the Year six times.
Jones knows that to restore the glory days, he needs to focus on good recruiting, something he is all too familiar with from his previous position.
During his time as track coach at Morgan State he was in charge of the recruiting, one of the key aspects that stood out in athletic director Debby De Angelis’ mind when making the hire.
“I would go up to Weed, California and Shasta I would go all over the place in my cars, I’d visit high school coaches, community college coaches, to try to get the athletes to come on campus,” said Santos, referring to his past recruiting ventures.
Another important aspect in turning the program around will be the assistant coaches. Both Santos and McGuire raved about the help they got from their assistant coaches, such as Dr. Don Chu, Dr. Harvin Brown, and Willie White, who helped fill the gaps in crucial areas that may have been lost otherwise.
“Without Doc Brown’s help I would have been pretty licked at sea with the throwers,” said McGuire. “I oversaw the recruiting but when I went to recruit a thrower I would interject the fact that we had this very famous throws coach…we got our share of good potential because of his presence.”
Currently, Jones’ ability to find quality assistants is uncertain.
According to Jones, he does not have a large budget to hire a staff and while he has one assistant in mind, he is planning to use graduate and volunteer assistants to help fill the gaps.
Aside from recruiting and developing a staff it will also be important for Jones to make connections in both the campus and local communities. The support of those constituents went a long way towards the success of the programs in the past.
“The coaches have got to make an effort to get off that mountain, get off that hill, and get in the community,” said Santos. “When I was there I was never on campus all day long. I was always somewhere in that community. When it came time to host certain events, which we hosted two to three national events, I either had money or people from the community helping me.”
Jones’ background at Morgan State indicates he has the potential to succeed at involving the community.
During his tenure at Morgan State, Jones was in charge of putting on several meets throughout the year and did so with confidence.
Morgan State athletic director Floyd Kerr raved about Jones’ ability to work within the campus community and really bring them together around the track team.
Another tool in being successful as a coach is creating a bond with the athletes on his team so that they enjoy the work they do during training.
Both McGuire and Santos excelled as coaches and motivators because they were able to find ways to engage their athletes. It is up to Jones to find his own ways of reaching the athletes.
“You’ve got to make the athletes think that they’ve got an investment in the program,” said McGuire. “We’re running as a team and we want to have success but we want to have fun for all, and we want to make it feel like every day that you leave the track was a time well invested as a group. It sounds idealistic but that is really what occurred.”
