North Carolina State University Athletics
The Quiet Dynasty
7/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
July 26, 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. - There are some sports stories at NC State we are all familiar with. Collecting national championships in 1974 and 1983, the Wolfpack family has long enjoyed a rich tradition in men's basketball. Hand-in-hand with that, is Naismith Hall of Fame coach Kay Yow, who has steered the women's program for the last 30 years. Last but not least, the return of Chuck Amato and the resurgence of the Wolfpack football program in several ways.
One story many Pack fans may not be aware of, however, is that of Coach Rollie Geiger and how he has made NC State cross country the most successful program in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), as well as a consistent contender on the national level.
This year, Geiger is in his 23rd season as NC State's head cross country coach and architect of one of the nation's premier cross country programs. During Geiger's tenure as an assistant and head coach, NC State's teams have built a tradition matched by few programs nationally, combining to win 29 Atlantic Coast Conference team championships, 18 individual ACC championships, 139 All-ACC honors and 45 All-America certificates. Geiger's teams have finished in the national top 10 a remarkable 21 times, and three Wolfpack runners-Julie Shea, Betty Springs and Suzie Tuffey-have won five individual national titles.
In addition, Geiger has won six conference championships in track and field since taking over that program in 1984, giving him a school-record 36 ACC championship teams. Combined, NC State has won 66 ACC team titles since Geiger arrived in 1979, and his teams have accounted for over half of them. Because of such elite success, Geiger has been named ACC Coach of the Year in track and cross country an amazing 28 times.
Geiger's women's cross country teams have finished among the top 10 at the AIAW or NCAA Championships 13 times, winning it all in 1979 and 1980. The Pack finished second in 1978, 1987 and most recently in the 2001 season, while posting third-place finishes in 1983, 1984, and 1985. The women also earned seven consecutive ACC championships from 1987-93 and have won 20 of the 26 ACC titles since women's cross country was added as a championship sport in 1978.
Geiger's men's teams garnered eight national top-10 finishes, including an eighth-place finish in 1998, a third-place finish in 1999, ninth-place finish in 2001, and a tenth-place finish in 2003.
In 1987, the Cross Country Journal recognized NC State as having the nation's outstanding collegiate program. The Wolfpack programs earned that distinction with their second-place finish in the women's NCAA Championships, and a fifth-place finish at the men's nationals.
In the classroom, Geiger's runners have exemplified what student-athletes are supposed to be. Forty-nine members of last year's cross country and track teams were named to the ACC Honor Roll. Both the men's and women's cross country teams earned Academic All-America status from the United States Cross Country Coaches Association in 2000 and the women earned the distinction again every year since 2001-03.
This is not a recent trend. Geiger's program has produced numerous Academic All-Americans. Three year's ago, Beth Kraft, Katie Sabino and Chris Seaton became Geiger's 12th, 13th and 14th runners to earn the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. Kristin Price became the 15th last season. The Wolfpack has now had ten runners in the last seven years earn the honor. Previously, Kristen Hall (1997), Joe Wirgau (1998), Robbie Howell (1999), Chan Pons (2000), Amy Beykirch (2001), Christy Nichols (2001), Beth Kraft, Katie Sabino and Chris Seaton (2002) received the honor.
Following the 1991-92 season, All-America runner David Honea received the prestigious Walter Byers Award as the nation's premier scholar-athlete, in addition to the Jim Weaver Award and the National Science Fellowship Award for his academic accomplishments. All-American Laurie Gomez-Henes won the ACC's Marie James Scholarship as well as an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
In 1991, Geiger led both the men's and women's cross country teams to ACC championships, something no other ACC coach had done. His teams repeated their ACC titles in 1992, and Geiger was named the men's and women's ACC Coach of the Year for both seasons.
Geiger and the Wolfpack won their third dual ACC titles in 1995, and repeated again in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2002, giving NC State eight dual ACC championships in the last 12 years. No other school in the conference has ever won dual cross country championships in a single season. In 1997, Geiger was named ACC Coach of the Year for both the men and women for the fifth time in his career. Geiger also claimed ACC Coach of the Year awards for the men in 1998 and 1999, a year that also saw him capture the Southeast Regional Cross Country Coach of the Year Award. Since joining the Pack in 1979, Geiger has been named the conference cross country coach of the year an unprecedented 23 times.
In 1987 Geiger was named coach of the U.S. National Team for the World Cross Country Championships in Auckland, New Zealand. He has been a featured speaker at the U.S. Olympic Training Center and a member of the U.S. Olympic Development Committee for distance running.
Prior to coming to Raleigh, Geiger led a very successful prep program at Bradenton (Fla.) High School. A graduate of Kent State University, he was a three-time letterwinner in track and cross country and majored in health education and psychology.
Geiger is married to the former Betty Springs, one of the Wolfpack's finest runners in school history. She was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. They have a daughter, Rachel, 14, and son, Trey, 12.
This season, Geiger will again command the ship, as the men's program shoots for their fourth consecutive conference title, while the women seek to improve upon their sixth place finish last season at the NCAA Championships. NC State begins its 51st season of competition in the ACC this coming September.
The Geiger File
ACC cross country Coach of The Year
Men (10)
1986, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002
Women (13)
1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001
ACC Championships
Men (11)
1986, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Women (17)
1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002
