The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

In this riveting episode of The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast, we welcome Bill Edson, a seasoned coach with a unique and inspiring journey. Edson's path to coaching is far from ordinary, with an extensive stint in the US Army shaping his perspective on leadership and its pivotal role in sports. Edson's curiosity about leadership, sparked by his military experience and...

Elevating Athletic Recruiting: A Conversation with Brooke Rasnick Join host Mike Cunningham on the Gill Athletics Connections Podcast for an insightful episode featuring Brooke Rasnick from Elevate Athlete Recruiting. This episode is a treasure trove of information for track and field coaches, both at the high school and college levels, as it delves into the world of athletic recruiting, coaching,...

Join host Mike Cunningham on the Gill Athletics Connections Podcast for an engaging and insightful episode featuring Eric Whitsitt, the throws coach at the University of Tennessee. This episode is a must-listen for track and field coaches, especially those interested in the throws, as it explores the world of coaching, athlete development, and the unique journey of a coach who has worked with some...

Leadership! Leadership! Leadership! Is leadership important to you? Then you'll already have hit play to listen to Dr. Chris Hobbs. Dr. Hobbs has a Doctor of Education with a specialization and passion for leadership. He's been awarded the BSN Sports Athletic Director of the year as well as top 40 under 40 athletic director. He was a highly successful basketball coach who found himself coa...

What would you do if Human Resources called you into their office and had a police officer present when you showed up? Find out how this week's guest handled the situation. Logan sits down and talks about this extreme low point in his career as well as how he got into coaching and much more positive experiences such as winning XC conference meets when he's supposed to be a sprint/hurdles c...

Some call it fate, luck, or even serendipity, but today's guest will show you how all of those don't mean anything if you don't make the bold decisions that come along with them. Bob's coaching began with an issue of Runner's World showing him that coaching was more than 'run a few miles on the trails each day.' A drive through Las Vegas, New Mexico introduced him to Ne...

"It's got to be the shoes!" This week we welcome the head coach/owner of D-Force Elite TC Ryan Dukes to the show. He describes a wonderful high school experience and how that affected him moving forward to college and beyond. A Bachelor's of Fine Arts major, Ryan thought his life would lead him to designing shoes for Nike, Adidas and the like, yet his college coach saw something...

The Journey of a Distance Coach: A Conversation with Dave Smith, Head Coach at Oklahoma State University Join host Mike Cunningham on the Gill Athletics Connections Podcast for an inspiring episode featuring Dave Smith, the head coach of track and field and cross country at Oklahoma State University. This episode is a must-listen for track and field coaches, especially those focused on distance ev...

Today's journey is all about transformation. Join us as we sit down with Catawba head coach Jason Bryan to learn his story in his words. You're going to enjoy Jason's openness and authenticity as he describes his ego so big his 'head wouldn't fit in the room'. Hearing his story and how he has transitioned into a coach of humbleness will help you in your own improvement jour...

Guiding the Future of Track and Field: A Conversation with Cliff Rovelto, Head Coach at Kansas State University Join host Mike Cunningham on the Gill Athletics Connections Podcast for an enlightening episode featuring Cliff Rovelto, the head coach of the Wildcats at Kansas State University. This episode is a must-listen for track and field coaches at both the high school and college levels, as it...

A bit of a different episode for us this week as we welcome Sam Peters a senior sprinter from Lincoln Memorial University on to the show. Sam reached out asking for advice on where to begin to be a track coach. We talk through some of his questions as well as read through some great Twitter comments about this. This is an important topic coaches. If Sam has these questions YOUR athletes have these...

After having Dan O'Brien on last week, the wheels were turning so the tiles come back to what there is and what there isn't to fix regarding coverage of track and field on television. As if there wasn't more deliberate over already, the tiles then highlight what they think the BEST non-championship meets are domestically. What meet did we miss? So, log on for the banter but stay for th...

Fantastic conversation with the head coach of Arizona State University, Dion Miller. A journey that starts in Texas takes him to Washington and Arizona. Unique to him, he coaches at his alma mater Texas Tech twice and yet again twice now at Arizona State. The influence of high middle school coach is seen throughout his interactions at different programs. You'll enjoy hearing his story of telli...

It's time to figure out just HOW BAD the tiles did at predicting the results of the Indoor Championships. But first, we have Dan Obrien join us for some great convo! He drops a few jems for us all to be happy with :) See you in a few! Want to have an exploratory conversation about YOUR track equipment needs? Connect with us: Host Mike Cunningham on Twitter: @mikecunningham Email: sales@gillath...

We celebrate our 200th episode with a very special guest, the assistant coach of the East Carolina Pirates Udon Cheek. We explore his journey from walk on athlete at ECU to assistant Pirate coach, the impact the head coaches had on his life and coaching style, as well as the influence music has had on his career and life. Udon talks about his pursuit of a career in rap music, how that has affected...

Check out our predictions...who are you riding with??? Want to have an exploratory conversation about YOUR track equipment needs? Connect with us: Host Mike Cunningham on Twitter: @mikecunningham Email: sales@gillathletics.com Phone: 800-637-3090 Twitter: @GillAthletics Instagram: @GillAthletics1918 Facebook: facebook.com/gillathletics LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/gillathletics/

It's time to talk JUCO as we welcome long time NJCAA track coach Keith Blackwill to the podcast. We learn of his rough start to college (1 year drop out who joined the Army) and how it turned around and transformed into a long successful coaching career. With a varied career mostly in the Kansas Jayhawk Conference, he has been on staff on several programs of different sizes and successfully won se...

Hey LLC fam, I'm not even going to go around the block on this title.  The tiles have been asked to give their TOP 3 SPRINT US TALENTS ever.  You'll LOVE this conversation!  This convo of course comes after some TRACK IS BACK and is followed by the support/allowance for one double at the NCAA meet but hindering the other double.  Why do y'all think the meet allows for a distanc...

A military brat who dreamed of being a Strength & Conditioning coach, Steven joins us to give us incredible insight into the magic occurring during his time at University of Northern Iowa as an undergrad and grad student. You're going to enjoy the vortex of art and science with amazing athletes and coaches during the UNI period of his life and how that played into stops at Santa Barbara Commun...

Rounding out championship week...as always, we have to start with TRACK IS BACK.  The oval has gone MAD!  And we love it!  One to ponder, and add to the list if you can add any, who is the best athlete to NOT win a global medal??? Olympic or World Champ  Who are the best track and field rivalries?  Who did we neglect to mention???  Great convo to match up a great week...

Today we're joined by MF Athletics Sales Rep Lisa Wilson. Lisa sits down with us to talk about her athletic background as a thrower and how that turned into a long patient career as a hammer thrower, eventually competing in several USA Championships and Olympic Trials. Her story is indicative of the power coaches have in seeing something in their athlete before the athlete can see it themselves as...

Missed the LIVE taping of the Gill Connections podcast back on December 12, 2022? Here is the audio only version. We interviewed coaches and track personnel live from the Gaylord Rockies in Denver, Colorado. Guest include Blake Bolden (Drake Relays), Tim Byers (Kansas Relays), Charles Ryan (San Jose State Univ) and more! WATCH ON YOUTUBE Want to have an exploratory conversation about YOUR track eq...

Hi everyone out there in LLC land!  Here go the tiles again, making WAY too early predictions about the NCAA indoor meet and the USA champs indoor meet.  Of course we hit TRACK IS BACK for all the juice from last weekend but in addition...who do the tiles think are going to be the teams to bring home hardware in a couple weeks?    Then to look forward as to how the list is...

Carol joins us to talk about her unique path in the coaching profession. How unique? Not withstanding she grew up in Jamaica and attended New York Tech in the US, she wasn't a track coach for more than half her career as she focused on Information Systems, computer networking, and the like for such companies as ABC News and JP Morgan Chase. Her career path took a turn when she moved to Charlotte a...

It's the hottest weekend for collegiate track and field and we can't wait!  But first let's go back and recap last week's TRACK IS BACK! Sheesh...  Next, the topic is buying your way thru...so we as a sport have to buy our way to the screen to watch what happens.  Is this helping, hurting, or not relevant to the promotion of our sport???  Lastly, some athletes across the pond h...