The Michigan Wolverines track and field teams are the intercollegiate track and field programs representing the University of Michigan. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Michigan men's and women's track and field athletes have won 63 NCAA/AIAW individual event championships (47 men's, 16 women's), 14 Olympic gold medals, 76 Big Ten Conference team championships (31 men's outdoor, 26 men's indoor, 9 women's outdoor, 10 women's indoor), and one NCAA team championship.
The men's team has had 13 coaches in 122 years from 1901 to 2022. The teams are currently coached by head coach Kevin Sullivan.
Coaches
+ Men's coaches Coach Years Overall Notes Keene Fitzpatrick 1901–10 24–2–1 6 Western Conference championships; 8 Olympic medalists Alvin Kraenzlein 1911–12 1–5–0 Stephen Farrell 1913–29 50–16–1 1 NCAA team championship; 4 Big Ten team indoor championships; 5 Big Ten team outdoor championships Charles B. Hoyt 1930–39 40–6–0 Ken Doherty 1940–48 22–14–1 7 Big Ten team indoor championships; 7 Big Ten team outdoor championships Don Canham 1950–68 52–13–2 4 Big Ten team indoor championships; 3 Big Ten team outdoor championships David Martin 1969–71 7–6–0 7 Big Ten team indoor championships; 4 Big Ten team outdoor championships Dixon Farmer 1972–74 6–6–0 Jack Harvey 1975–99 4 Big Ten team indoor championships; 6 Big Ten team outdoor championships Ron Warhurst 2000–081 Big Ten team outdoor championship Fred LaPlante 2009–13 Jerry Clayton 2014–21
+ Women's coaches Coach Years Red Simmons 1978–1981 Francie Goodridge 1982-1984 James Henry 1985-2017
+ Men's and women's combined coaches Coach Years Jerry Clayton / James Henry 2018–2021 Kevin Sullivan 2022–present
History
Fitzpatrick era (1901–10) Michigan's first track coach was the famous trainer Keene Fitzpatrick (1864–1944). Fitzpatrick was a track coach, athletic trainer, professor of physical training and gymnasium director for 42 years at Yale (1890–1891, 1896–1898), Michigan (1894–1895, 1898–1910), and Princeton (1910–1932). He was considered "one of the pioneers of intercollegiate sport." Fitzpatrick was first hired by Michigan in 1894 as the trainer for the school's football team. He continued to be the trainer of Michigan's football teams through 1910, and was credited by many with the success of Fielding H. Yost's "Point-a-Minute" football teams of the early 1900s.
Fitzpatrick became Michigan's first track coach in 1900 and continued to serve in that role through 1910. During those years, Fitzpatrick's teams compiled a 24–2–1 record in dual meets and won Western Conference track championships in 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, and 1906. In 1907, Michigan sent its track team east to compete for their inaugural Inter-Collegiate Association of Amateur Athletics of America ("IC4A") meet, and Fitzpatrick's team came away with 29 points and a second-place finish.
Fitzpatrick's athletes excelled in four Olympiads during his tenure as track coach, bringing home 7 gold medals out of 15.
In 1900, funds were solicited from faculty, students, alumni and Ann Arbor businessmen to send Fitzpatrick and four Michigan track athletes to the 1900 Paris Summer Olympics. John McLean won a silver medal in the high hurdles. Michigan's champion pole-vaulter, Charles Dvorak and other Americans faced a quandary: finals of some events were scheduled on Sunday, including the pole vault. Several American university teams agreed they could not violate the Sabbath. Dvorak was reportedly told that the final had been rescheduled, but Dvorak and another American left. Several special competitions were conducted later to accommodate the Americans, when Dvorak win a silver medal.
One of the highlights for Michigan athletics during the Fitzpatrick years came at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri, which have sometimes been referred to as the "Michigan Olympics." Five University of Michigan track and field athletes won nine medals: six gold, two silver, and one bronze. The Michigan medal winners at the 1904 Olympics were:
Archie Hahn – gold medals in the 60 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meters; Ralph Rose – gold medal in the shot put, silver medal in the discus, and bronze medal in the hammer throw; Charles Dvorak – gold medal in the pole vault; Fred Schule – gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles; and Wesley Coe – silver medal in the shot put.
Archie Hahn became a major star, and Fitzpatrick was credited with developing his unusual running style. Shortly before the 1904 Olympics, a Wisconsin sports writer described the style this way:"Hahn has a new style of running. Nobody at Michigan understands the style, except that Keene Fitzpatrick invented it, and that Hahn steps differently than ever before. Even to see Hahn's new stride is not to analyze how he manages to lift his feet so high in front. The new stride suggests that he is trying to climb a hill. The little man has toughened every muscle in his body and trained it to be a spring."
With three medals, Ralph Rose also became a star. In December 1904, the New York Evening Sun wrote that Rose was "the first perfect physique ever seen at the University of Michigan" as measured by Fitzpatrick's anthropometric charts. At 6 feet, 3 inches, 246 pounds, a 29.9-inch right thigh, and a 47.6-inch expanded chest, he was the school's first "perfect physique."
At the 1906 Summer Olympics in Athens, Archie Hahn successfully defended his gold medal standing in the 100-meter, adding it to his three others. And at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, Michigan athlete Ralph Rose repeated as the gold medalist in the shot put, and John Garrels won a silver medal in the 110-meter hurdles and a bronze in the shot put.
Fitzpatrick also coached Ralph Craig. Following Fitzpatrick's departure from Michigan, Craig went on to win gold medals in the 100 metres and 200 metres at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. In 1932, Fitzpatrick said that Craig was the best sprinter he ever turned out, though Johnny Garrels was the best all-around athlete he ever handled. Fitzpatrick's pupils, Hahn and Craig, were the only Olympic double sprint winners prior to another Michigan athlete, Eddie Tolan, accomplishing the feat at the 1932 Summer Olympics.
Kraenzlein era (1911–12) When Fitzpatrick left Michigan to become a trainer and coach at Princeton, Michigan hired Alvin Kraenzlein, one of the most accomplished athletes in the county, as his replacement. Kraenzlein won four gold medals for the United States at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, winning the gold in the 60-meter sprint, the 110-meter hurdles, the 200-meter hurdles, and the long jump. In Kraenzlein's two years as coach, the team finished third at the IC4A meet both years.
Farrell era (1913–29)
Michigan's third track coach, Stephen Farrell (1863–1933) raced with hook and ladder teams in the 1880s and became known as "the greatest professional footracer this country has ever known." He was the first American to be a two-time winner of England's Sheffield Cup and competed in races from 100 yards to one mile. Seeking new challenges, he performed with the Barnum & Bailey Circus for several years racing against a horse, and losing only a half dozen times.
In September 1912, Farrell was hired as the athletic trainer at the University of Michigan and noted at the time that the Ann Arbor institution "is the only western college that is thought much of down east." He served as the school's track coach until his retirement in 1930, and he was also the trainer to Fielding H. Yost's football teams from 1912 to 1919.
In 1915, a series of newspaper articles touted Farrell as an innovator in track coaching, noting his innovations in the following areas: In February 1915, The New York Times reported on Farrell's novel plan to instill "enthusiasm and vim" in his athletes by having them train to the accompaniment of music played by the Varsity band. Farrell noted that his athletes had been taking more interest in dancing competitions than athletic training. Farrell planned to have the musicians "render tunes a trifle faster than the natural stride" of Michigan's best performer in each event. "It is expected that the inspiration of the music and the natural efforts of the dancers to get in time should make the Michigan men exert themselves more willingly than they are at present doing." In January 1915, Farrell introduced rope skipping as a training method for his long-distance runners. Farrell noted, "It is a great form of exercise to develop the body, especially making men long winded and strong in the legs. It also has a tendency in making them quick and alert on their toes." Farrell instituted "the espionage system of discovering budding athletes" by stationing "a force of spies" in the college gymnasium watching for men of sufficient prowess to compete on the track team. The "new detective method of locating possible athletes" was begun after a freshman student was seen completing a high jump of six feet — six inches higher than any member of the track team.
When Michigan rejoined the Big Ten Conference in 1918, Farrell's Michigan track teams promptly won the indoor and outdoor track championships in both 1918 and 1919. Between 1918 and 1930, Farrell's teams won ten Big Ten Conference championships. His teams had a 50–16–1 record in dual meets, and his athletes won 76 Big Ten individual event titles and 11 NCAA individual event titles. Michigan also won its only NCAA team track championship in 1923 under Farrell.
During the Farrell era, Michigan's star athletes included: Carl Johnson — the first athlete to win four events at a Big Ten Conference meet; silver medalist in the long jump at the 1920 Summer Olympics held in Antwerp, Belgium. DeHart Hubbard — the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal in an individual event (the long jump at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris); Hubbard also set world records in the long jump () and the 100-yard dash (9.6 seconds); and Eddie Tolan, gold medalist in the 100 and 200-meter races at the 1932 Summer Olympics. Phil Northrup – a three-time NCAA champion and four-time All-American, in the javelin throw and pole vault, (1925–27). Northrup was inducted to the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.http://www.mgoblue.com/track-field-m/article.aspx?id=59470
Walter Eckersall later wrote that, beyond coaching stars, Farrell was "a stickler for balance and depended more upon the ability of athletes to win third, fourth and fifth places than those who were picked to win." He won many meets by focusing on team power and placing athletes where they could score points.
When Farrell announced his retirement, the noted sports columnist Grantland Rice paid tribute to Farrell's talent in training sprinters."As long as Farrell is active he will continue to turn out championship sprinters. The 'Steve start' is about the fastest thing uncovered. Michigan sprinters are in the lead at ten yards. They're out in front here, even when they're occasionally whipped. There is no finer influence on college athletes in America than that which Steve exerts at Michigan ..."
Hoyt era (1930–39) Michigan's fourth track coach was Charles B. Hoyt, a native of Iowa won intercollegiate championships in both the 100-yard and 220-yard runs before turning to coaching.