Coaching Fraternity Gives Sense of Familiarity To Indoor Championships
By Richard Finn
Special to BIGEAST.com
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - The BIG EAST Indoor Track and Field Championships presented by the Jeep Brand moved into a new home this year at the spanking new Ocean Breeze Park Track and Field Athletic Complex.
Opened in 2015 and perched on the Atlantic Ocean shoreline with a spectacular vista of the water, the $112 million state of the art facility offered championship facilities seating 2,500 and a 6-lane, 200-meter oval track that was splashed with sunshine streaming through the huge picture window on Saturday.
And while the venue was different, there was a still sense of familiarity on closing day of the two-day indoor championships.
For the third-consecutive year Villanova won the men’s team title, accomplishing the first three-peat since Georgetown reeled off four in a row from 1998-2001. Opening day leader Marquette finished second.
“What I am most proud about was that last night at our meeting we knew that we were behind and the meeting centered around keeping the pressure on and it was a collective effort,” said Wildcats head coach Marcus O’Sullivan.
Also the opening day leaders in the women’s race, the Golden Eagles held off local favorites St. John’s to win its first crown.
Meet highlights featured a Villanova trio.
Wildcat senior Patrick Tiernan won the 5,000- and 3,000-meter double. On Friday, the Australian Olympic hopeful became the third three-peat winner in the Indoor Championships 5K followed on Saturday by a 3K win that was crucial for the Wildcats rally.
Jordan Williamz, who will be joining Tiernan in his country’s Olympic trials later next month, successfully defended his mile run crown on Saturday and Angel Piccirillo raced to an American collegiate record of 2:40.82 in the 1,000-meter run according to
Track and Field News.
“I felt pretty good,” said Piccirillo, a senior. “I didn’t know what I would be able to run, you never know until you are in it how your legs are really going to feel. I knew what I wanted to do so, however felt I needed to get it done.”
Behind the scenes, there was an additional sense of BIG EAST tradition as a seasoned corps of coaches shared decades of championship experience to their student-athletes.
Ray Treacy in his 32nd season at Providence is the dean of the BIG EAST coaching fraternity that also includes Jim Hurt in his 26th year with the St John’s Red Storm and the Villanova duo of O’Sullivan in his 18th campaign with the men and Gina Procaccio in her 16th with the women.
“This is not unlike what we have in basketball,” BIG EAST commissioner Val Ackerman said referring to the league’s storied history of hardwood coaching giants.
“It is not as publicly well known, but it is something that we are acutely aware and very proud of. These are Hall of Fame coaches in our midst and this is the reason why we have been so successful,” said Ackerman.
“They set the standard,” said Tom Farrell, one of St. John’s most decorated track & field athletes, a 1964 and 1968 Olympian and a volunteer assistant coach for the Red Storm since 2000.
“It is quite a collection of talent, the dedication they have is remarkable, how much they love the game, the teams and how much they want to win, it is great to be just a small part of it,” said Farrell as he sat with the team prior to the start of Saturday’s competition.
Former Hoya All-American Michael Smith was named Georgetown’s Director of Track and Field in 2015, stepping proudly into the BIG EAST coaching community.
“The BIG EAST is legendary conference, for younger guys like myself that is a lot of live up to,” said Smith
Georgetown has been home to a litany of great track coaches - Frank Gagliano, Joe Lang, Ron Helmer and Pat Henner. Smith is very respectful of that tradition and his role in carrying on their legacy.
”It is humbling, I think regularly that I have a duty to Joe Lang, Frank Gagliano and all of those guys and all of the BIG EAST champions who wore Georgetown on their jersey. I have a duty to them as equal as to the roster that I am coaching today,” said Smith.
“We compete to make those people proud. To have that on my shoulders, I do think about that. I got to live up to it what we have accomplished in the past and what we hope to accomplish in the future,” said Smith.
The "track record" of BIG EAST coaches is extraordinary and almost too lengthy and accomplished to fully document all the Olympians, All-Americans, national champions and BIG EAST record holders.
“We probably have some of the greatest coaches in the history of all-time,” said O’Sullivan. “You look at the stats of the BIG EAST and you start to say “oh my god, I didn’t realize, I forgot about that, and you forget about more stuff.’
“We we are looking at coaches and athletes who went on to win Olympic games,” said O’Sullivan, who in his tenure has coached 93 All-Americans and 15 national champions. “It’s not like you are looking at it and you are impressed because they were the best in the conference, you are looking at it like as they were one of the best ever.
“We are very aware of what we have accomplished as a collective body of athletes and coaches. We should be very proud of what the BIG EAST has done,” said O’Sullivan.
Sustaining the BIG EAST tradition of track & field excellence is a priority for everybody.
“A kid going to Providence Villanova, Georgetown knows that there is a lot of history that they are trying to run for and you will see that on the track. That history is one that all of the coaches take very seriously,” said Smith.