Track coach Mike Howard ’87 is always on the run. Howard,
a standout on the St. Lawrence cross
country and track and
field teams as an undergraduate wears a number of hats in the
athletic department. His official title is Director of Men’s
and Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field and he is also
Associate Athletic Director, overseeing NCAA Division III compliance
and scheduling for the majority of the 32 intercollegiate athletic
teams.
While his compliance duties allow him to meet nearly all of
St. Lawrence’s
over 700 intercollegiate athletes in a given year, his coaching responsibilities
include daily interaction with the largest percentage of athletes on campus over
the course of the entire school year. The winner of several coach of the year
awards, including NCAA Regional cross country, state and league cross country
and track and field awards, Howard was named the Bernie McKinnon Coach of the
Year last spring, an award selected by the Student Athlete Advisory Committee from
among all St. Lawrence coaches.
Howard oversees the overall operation of men’s
and women’s cross
country and works with head coaches John Newman and Deb Lyndaker in recruiting
and designing workouts for the teams. He is the head coach of both men’s
and women’s track and field and has produced a number of All America athletes
in both men’s and women’s national competition.
He also played a major role in the design of both the Merrick-Pinkard outdoor
track and field complex and the Newell Field House indoor track
and field complex, which are among the best facilities at any level
in the nation. And, if all that hasn’t kept him busy enough,
he coaches youth soccer and ice hockey in his spare time and runs the
popular St. Lawrence University Track and Field camp in the summer.
