Coach Pat Henry wins national track titles at Texas A&M

houtiger · Jun 14, 2009

Texas A&M sweeps NCAA track team titles
June 13, 2009, 10:17PM

In a momentous 20-minute span Saturday, the Texas A&M men’s and women’s track and field teams won a third of the school’s all-time NCAA team national titles.

But in the afterglow of the Aggies’ championships at the NCAA outdoor meet, triumphant A&M coach Pat Henry stretched the extraordinary timeline.

“It wasn’t just a 20-minute span,” Henry said of the hard work put into the titles. “It was a five-year span.”

Henry arrived at A&M from LSU in 2004 with a grand plan — one that reached fruition at Fayetteville, Ark., with the two titles Saturday.

The A&M women tallied 50 points, outpacing Oregon (43), Arizona State (41), Florida State (40) and Texas (36).

The men, after a breathless second-place showing in the 4x400 relay that capped Saturday’s action, finished with 48 points. Three schools — Oregon, Florida and Florida State — finished with 46.

Had Baylor’s Quentin Iglehart-Summers passed Texas A&M’s Justin Oliver on the final leg of the relay, the top four men’s teams would have tied for the national title.

Instead, Oliver held off his Big 12 rival, and the Aggies men, who didn’t have one individual winner during the meet, earned the title by their lonesome — even overcoming a disqualification in the 4x100 relay Friday.

“When I finally crossed the finish line, it was like a million tons came off my back,” Oliver said of holding off Iglehart-Summers.

Sixteen days ago, the Aggies hadn’t won an NCAA national team title in 22 years. Now, combined with the A&M men’s golf title won two weeks ago in Toledo, Ohio, the Aggies have won half the school’s national championships in the past two weeks.

“It validates what I thought when I came to Texas A&M,” said Bill Byrne, athletic director since 2003. “We can be as good as we want to be.”
Sweet reward

<snip>

Henry, 57, is the only coach to lead a program to victories by the women and men in the same season. He accomplished the feat at LSU in 1989 and 1990, in the midst of winning 27 team national titles over 17 seasons in Baton Rouge, La.

Henry’s accomplishment

“A&M is such a tremendous institution, and if we can get athletes here, we can get them to believe in what we’re doing,” said Henry, who coached at Blinn College in Brenham in the mid-1980s. “It takes you at least four years to develop a program, and a guy like (A&M football coach) Mike Sherman needs that kind of time.

“In my sport, you don’t get fired after your third year if you don’t win. This is indicative of the time you need — it took us five years.”

Now, Henry joins football’s Homer Norton (1939), softball’s Bob Brock (1983 and 1987) and golf’s J.T. Higgins (2009) as NCAA national championship coaches at A&M.

“What Pat Henry has done is absolutely incredible,” Byrne said. “It reminds me of the job that Vince Lombardi did with the Green Bay Packers. Coach Henry took a program that was going nowhere, and he’s made it into what it is today: the best track and field program in the nation.”
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Texas two-sweep: Aggies take NCAA track titles | Sports | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Too bad Coach Henry didn't feel he was getting the support he wanted in BR. I would like to still be winning NCAA track championships.

ParadiseiNC · Jun 14, 2009

houtiger said: ↑

Texas two-sweep: Aggies take NCAA track titles | Sports | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Too bad Coach Henry didn't feel he was getting the support he wanted in BR. I would like to still be winning NCAA track championships.
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I am glad you created this thread. Watching a little bit of the nationals over the last few days, I was thinking the same thing and thought about creating a thread, too. What a shame we lost this outstanding coach; and, after 17 years here. Wow. He is truly an amazing coach irrespective of sport, amateur or professional, men or women.

I am not really in tune with our present T&F coaches or success. I am aware of certain high profile individuals like TH, but that's it. How have we been doing overall, year in and year out since PH left, and are our current coaches good?

houtiger · Jun 27, 2010

Well, Pat Henry did it again at Tx. A&M, won both mens and womens track titles for 2010 also:

Posted: Jun 25, 2010
Reporter: Texas A&M Sports Information
Aggie head coach Pat Henry earns pair of national honors

NEW ORLEANS – For the second consecutive year Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry was named National Men’s & Women’s Head Coach of the Year for the outdoor track and field season.

United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) awarded the national coaching honor following a vote by the coaches. Henry guided Texas A&M to a second sweep of national team titles during the recent NCAA Championships held in Eugene, Oregon.

While the Aggie women enjoyed a 15-point victory over host Oregon by scoring 72 points at Hayward Field, the A&M men needed a victory in the final event, the 4 x 400 relay, to secure the team title by one point over Florida, 55-54.

It marked the first win for the Aggies in the 4 x 400 relay, where they set a school record of 3:00.89, since 1989. Texas A&M had been runner-up in the event the past three years. They picked up points in seven different events.

The Aggie women enjoyed victories in the 200 meters and 4 x 100 relay in Eugene as they scored in eight different events. The point total of 72 points was the most since 2002 when South Carolina had 82.

Texas A&M became only the second school to claim double-team national crowns in consecutive years on the Division I level. Henry coached the LSU teams that accomplished the same double-double titles in 1989-1990.
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Aggie head coach Pat Henry earns pair of national honors

I miss this guy, he's obviously the best track coach in college.

LSUsupaFan · Jun 27, 2010

paradiseinc said: ↑

I am not really in tune with our present T&F coaches or success. I am aware of certain high profile individuals like TH, but that's it. How have we been doing overall, year in and year out since PH left, and are our current coaches good?
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We are still a top five program. Shaver led the outdoor women to at least 1 NC in 2008. He is probably the 2nd best coach in the NCAA. Pat Henry happens to be the best, and it is by no small margin.

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Coach Pat Henry wins national track titles at Texas A&M

houtiger Founding Member

ParadiseiNC don't worry, be happy

houtiger Founding Member

LSUsupaFan Founding Member

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