The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

The crew at the University of South Florida put on an excellent clinic in Tampa, Fla this past fall of 2025. Speakers included Sammy Dabbs, Erik Jenkins, Vince Anderson, Chris Korfist, and Dwight Phillips. Today we share part 1 of Sammy Dabbs' talk on the high hurdles. Enjoy! Don't forget to join us over on YouTube for the video version of Monday's Gill Connections Podcast as well as Twitch. TV fo...

Dave has coached hundreds, maybe thousands of athletes over his career at East Kentwood HS in MI. Coaching his own 3 kids came with many joys and also lessons learned for him and every member of the family. He shares what he now knows so that others can navigate the challenges and form great memories together. Dave's book Beyond the Finish Line: The Art of Transformational Coaching remains amo...

Part 2 of our fireside chat with Randy Huntington goes deeper than technique and medals. This is a conversation about legacy, empathy, curiosity, and what it really means to coach—especially when the next phase of life begins. Randy reflects on his time in China, the isolation and growth that came with it, and how those experiences reshaped how he thinks about athletes, coaches, and the profession...

Back in the fall of 2025, Coach Marques Lowe (Gill podcast alum!) and the Vipers Track Club hosted a Central Illinois Pre-Season Coaches Clinic. To increase the value to other coaches, he has allowed those presentations to be published on the Gill1918 Project Podcast. Today we feature Part 2 of Olivet Nazarene University's Zontavious Johnson's (Gill podcast alum!) deep dive into coaching both the...

Back in the fall of 2025, Coach Marques Lowe (Gill podcast alum!) and the Vipers Track Club hosted a Central Illinois Pre-Season Coaches Clinic. To increase the value to other coaches, he has allowed those presentations to be published on the Gill1918 Project Podcast. In the first part of a two-parter, Zontavious Johnson (Gill podcast alum!) of Olivet Nazarene University gives us a deep dive into...

Evander is the Men's and Women's Associate Head T&F Coach at the University of North Florida primarily coaching sprints, jumps, and hurdles, but also juggling all of the other duties of an NCAA coach. In clear, easy steps, he shares how he uses artificial intelligence (A.I.) to help him be more focused and productive in many tasks, so that he gets to be the best coach he can be for his...

🎉 Episode 350! That number deserves something special — and this conversation absolutely delivers. For this milestone episode, Mike sits down with Randy Huntington, one of the most influential and unconventional coaches in the history of track & field. From coaching world record holders to spending over a decade reshaping Chinese track & field, Randy’s journey doesn’t fit neatly into any...

Back in the fall of 2025, Coach Marques Lowe (Gill podcast alum!) and the Vipers Track Club hosted a Central Illinois Pre-Season Coaches Clinic. To increase the value to other coaches, he has allowed those presentations to be published on the Gill1918 Project Podcast. Up today is Part 2 of Mike Erb (Gill Podcast alum) speaking on How to be a Great Assistant Coach. This is a great discussion on wha...

Back in the fall of 2025, Coach Marques Lowe (Gill podcast alum!) and the Vipers Track Club hosted a Central Illinois Pre-Season Coaches Clinic. To increase the value to other coaches, he has allowed those presentations to be published on the Gill1918 Project Podcast. Up today is Part 1 of Mike Erb (Gill Podcast alum) speaking on How to be a Great Assistant Coach. This is a great discussion on wha...

Dave is the head boys' coach at East Kentwood HS in MI where he has had great success in building a huge program and winning multiple championships. In this episode he shares how to achieve even more important successes in the lives of your athletes as they mature. For more of these awesome coaching insights, you can purchase his book: Beyond the Finish Line: The Art of Transformational Coachi...

From hustling neighborhood races at age eight to standing on the Olympic Trials runway — and now leading one of the most historic programs in the country — Francesca Green’s journey is one built on belief, resilience, and heart. In this powerful Season 7 conversation, Francesca shares how track and field shaped her life long before coaching ever crossed her mind. We talk about growing up in the st...

Back in the fall of 2025, Coach Marques Lowe (Gill podcast alum!) and the Vipers Track Club hosted a Central Illinois Pre-Season Coaches Clinic. To increase the value to other coaches, he has allowed those presentations to be published on the Gill1918 Project Podcast. TCU's Marissa Chew (Gill podcast alum!) presents her second part of Jumps Off-Season Training. If you didn't catch yesterday's Part...

Back in the fall of 2025, Coach Marques Lowe (Gill podcast alum!) and the Vipers Track Club hosted a Central Illinois Pre-Season Coaches Clinic. To increase the value to other coaches, he has allowed those presentations to be published on the Gill1918 Project Podcast. First up in a two-parter is TCU's Marissa Chew (Gill podcast alum!) She joins us with an in-depth look at how to activate your jump...

Sydnee started at a small high school in GA competing in the shot put and discus. She shares the steps on her path to becoming a 2-time Junior Olympic national hammer throw champion and then a top-10 all-time performer in the hammer and weight throw for the University of Oregon. She also offers her suggestions to current youth athletes, parents, and coaches about how to forge their own path. Sydne...

Few coaches in America can tell a story like Lucky Huber — and even fewer can say they’ve spent 40 years at one university, coached an Olympic medalist, transitioned a program from DII to DI, and built a culture anchored in humility, service, and relationships. In this heartfelt Season 7 conversation, Lucky opens up about his unlikely beginnings, the mentorship that shaped him, the rise of Derek M...

Back in the fall of 2025, Coach Marques Lowe (Gill podcast alum!) and the Vipers Track Club hosted a Central Illinois Pre-Season Coaches Clinic. To increase the value to other coaches, he has allowed those presentations to be published on the Gill1918 Project Podcast. Today is Univ of Southern Cal sprints/hurdles coach Brenton Emanuel and the second part of his presentation on Recruiting. With the...

Back in the fall of 2025, Coach Marques Lowe (Gill podcast alum!) and the Vipers Track Club hosted a Central Illinois Pre-Season Coaches Clinic. To increase the value to other coaches, he has allowed those presentations to be published on the Gill1918 Project Podcast. First up in a two-parter is Univ of Southern Cal sprints/hurdles coach Brenton Emanuel. He joined the clinic to discus the ever cha...

Originally recorded as a live interactive webinar called "Ask Olympian Shannon Rowbury Anything", this episode is a compilation of a few of the many great highlights as Shannon shared wisdom from her career. You'll note brief pauses between topics. Shannon discusses her long-delayed 2012 Olympic 1500m bronze medal, the process of moving up the ranks from youth to the Olympics, and he...

What happens when a kid who raced his principal in 5th grade grows into the head coach of the Blazing Trojans? In this episode, Mike sits down with Joseph Tooks, the energetic and intentional girls’ head coach at Bloom Township High School — a coach who blends mass-communication savvy, lived experience, and deep compassion into one powerful leadership style. From discovering track with the Illinoi...

Back in the fall of 2025, Coach Marques Lowe (Gill podcast alum!) and the Vipers Track Club hosted a Central Illinois Pre-Season Coaches Clinic. To increase the value to other coaches, he has allowed those presentations to be published on the Gill1918 Project Podcast. Today is part 2 of Univ of Illinois throws coach JC Lambert presenting his thoughts on how to coach the throws and how to correlate...

Back in the fall of 2025, Coach Marques Lowe (Gill podcast alum!) and the Vipers Track Club hosted a Central Illinois Pre-Season Coaches Clinic. To increase the value to other coaches, he has allowed those presentations to be published on the Gill1918 Project Podcast. First up in a two-parter is Univ of Illinois throws coach JC Lambert. He kicked off the clinic presenting his thoughts on how to co...

Katie is a mental skills coach for Elevated Performance following a 13-year career as a pro runner including winning a US Road Mile Championship and being a 3000m World Championships finalist. This is the final episode in her mindset series. She covers things athletes can start to do long before the key end of season competitions to make them better prepared to do their very best when it counts th...

From Long Island in the early 1980s—where girls weren’t even allowed to run cross country—to becoming the second head women’s coach in University of Rhode Island history, Laurie Feit-Melnick has spent a lifetime breaking barriers, building community, and shaping generations of women. In this powerful conversation, Laurie takes us through a journey few could imagine: 🏃‍♀️ Starting her high school&...

Each year at the USTFCCCA Convention, we sit down with coaches for micro 5-10/ish minute interviews. This year we asked them "What are you a nerd about off the track?" in an attempt to learn about these amazing human beings outside of their roles as excellent track/field coaches. Their answers are as diverse as they human they are. We learned we were sitting with Lego enthusiast, history...

Andrew Balser joins us on the Gill1918 Project to teach us about a leadership lesson that made him a better coach, a better father, and a better husband. Early in his professional journey he thought leaders head to have a loud voice. Today he's learned that top leaders have the sharpest ear. Andrew is the head coach of the University of Milwaukee track and field team and has earned the Horizon Lea...