Oct. 10, 2007

by Jeff Smith
Contributor, BigTen.org

Championship success is something that has come to be expected of the Wisconsin men's cross country program. Prior to head coach Jerry Schumacher's arrival to Madison in 1998, the Badgers experienced several successful seasons which helped build the program into one of the nation's traditional powerhouses. And when Schumacher decides to leave the Badger program, he only hopes that the program is as strong as it is now. But at age 37, Schumacher has no reason to even think about that last day on the job. He's having too much fun coaching the Badgers through what is perhaps the most dominant era by one school in Big Ten cross country history.

Now in his 10th year, Schumacher has taken a program that was entrusted to him at a young age and constructed the mecca in Madison for distance runners. When on the road recruiting, Schumacher doesn't feel he has to sell his program to any high school standout. There is no arrogance to his approach, rather a simple and straightforward invitation.

"If you add up the academics and athletics here, it's a great place to be a student-athlete," Schumacher said. "Then you single out distance running and it doesn't get any better. I don't have to sell it. I just tell them, `This is who we are, and if you like the academics and athletics we provide, and you like to run, this is probably the place for you.'"

It was the perfect place for Schumacher when he decided as a young recruit to attend Wisconsin in 1988.

Prior to taking over at the helm, Schumacher was a three-time All-American and three-time All-Big Ten selection in cross country and track at Wisconsin from 1988-93. A native of Waukesha, Wisconsin, Schumacher helped the Badgers to three consecutive Big Ten Championships in cross country and three top-10 NCAA finishes. UW finished second, third and ninth while Schumacher was a member of the team.

"When I was here, it wasn't about just going to nationals, it was what are you going to do at nationals," he said. "But once I got the job here, I wanted the expectation to be different. I didn't want us shooting for a top-10 finish. I wanted to make sure we were among the top four in the country and competing for a podium spot each year."

Since Schumacher's arrival, Wisconsin has been the campus of champions.

At the NCAA Championships, the Badgers claimed the 2005 title, collected five runner-up finishes, and have never placed lower than sixth in the event. During that time, Schumacher mentored Simon Bairu to the 2004 and 2005 NCAA individual titles, making him arguably one of the greatest distance runners in NCAA history. In addition, UW runners have placed in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships on 11 occasion under his leadership and earned 28 All-America distinctions, including three last year.

"I remember we were coming off a very disappointing four-point loss at the 2004 NCAA Championships, where we lost the national title in the home stretch," Schumacher said. "The following year the team really wanted to win and they came back so focused, nothing was going to stop them from obtaining that. When we got to the meet site that day, you could just feel this team was ready to go. That was one of those special seasons."

The Badgers' success over the past decade as not only been impressive by the number of championships that have achieved, but also in the manner in which they earned them. At the 2005 NCAA Championship, UW captured the national title with a dominant 37-point victory. On the conference level, Wisconsin has captured the last eight Big Ten titles, which ties the league record. In 2004, the Badgers claimed the Big Ten crown with an 81-point victory over runner-up Indiana, shattering the 94-year old conference record for largest margin of victory. The following year, they set a new mark by defeating Ohio State by 85 points, with a near-perfect and meet record score of 16 points. In addition, seven of the last nine Big Ten individual champions have been Badgers.

Schumacher has been named Big Ten Coach of the Year on seven occasions and was the National Coach of the Year in 2005. He has produced 31 first-team All-Big Ten honorees and four conference Freshman of the Year selections.

Often viewed as an individual sport, Schumacher is quick to point out the program's success has come from Wisconsin's team-oriented atmosphere.

"The one thing I will say about our team and program is that our kids embrace working toward the common goal," he said. "They each know they have to do their part to make it work, but not at the expense of the team. Our No. 1 guy on the team here wants to see the No. 20 guy improve as much as he can. That has been a reason for so much team success in the past."

Part of the motivation for the teamwork is that no Badger team wants to be the team to end the impressive conference championship winning streak.

"We know we can't win them all," Schumacher laughed. "Nobody wants to break the streak. That's why I think streaks are bad in general, although this one has been pretty good for us."

Schumacher's current squad has shown no signs that the streak could be in danger. The Badgers opened the season winning the Pioneer Invitational with a perfect score of 15, placing runners in the first five positions. Two weeks later at Oregon, the top-ranked Badgers placed second at the Bill Dellinger Invitational behind No. 3 Oregon. UW will compete next at the Pre-National meet in Terre Haute, Ind., on Oct. 13 and then close out the month looking for a record ninth-straight conference title at the Big Ten Championships, hosted by Ohio State on Oct. 28.

The month of November will bring the hopes of another NCAA Championship for the Badgers and the culmination of a decade's dream come true for Schumacher. The Wisconsin distance specialist is the first to admit that time has flown over the last 10 years and the only thing he wishes was different would be the handful of NCAA runner-up finishes that could have been one place better.

Hired at the young age of 28, Schumacher is grateful to the UW administration and legendary track and field head coach Ed Nuttycombe for trusting him with the program that he fell in love with years ago as a young recruit. He knew the expectations coming in when he followed in the footsteps of his predecessor Martin Smith, for whom he was an assistant from 1994-96. Those expectations were never a burden for Schumacher, but rather they served as excitement for where the program could go under his guidance.

"The last thing I wanted to do was to see the program slide by sitting in my chair," he said. "My main objective was to take this program, maintain its tradition, and continue to build on it."

Looking at the past nine years and the success the Wisconsin men's cross country team has had under Schumacher, one would say the expectations have been exceeded.

Then again, for Schumacher, expectations are always subject to change.