By: by Scott Lipsky
KENNESAW, Ga. – Kennesaw State Owls head track and field coach Dr. Don McGarey has been selected as the recipient of the James “Spec” Landrum Award presented to the Male Sports Head Coach of the Year, the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics announced on Wednesday afternoon at the KSU Convocation Center.
“Coach McGarey had a wonderful season, winning an unprecedented three championships,” said Kennesaw State Athletics Director Dr. Dave Waples. “I am very pleased and proud of Don for what he has accomplished this season.”
McGarey won the award for the third consecutive season after helping the Owls to the “Triple Crown,” with Atlantic Sun Conference championships in indoor and outdoor track as head coach as well as claiming the cross country championship as associate head coach. Under his guidance, five Owls represented the men’s program at their first-ever NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championship last week in Greensboro, N.C., with high jumper Jerome McKinzie advancing to next week’s national finals in Eugene, Ore.
Last year, McGarey won the Women’s Sports Coach of the Year Award after leading the women’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams to second place performances in their respective A-Sun Championships. In 2008, he won the first-ever Men’s Coach of the Year Award after guiding the Owls to the indoor and outdoor A-Sun championships.
“I see the Coach of the Year Award as a gift from the coaches and student-athletes who had enough faith in me and KSU to join this program, and from the parents and families who have supported the program,” McGarey said on Wednesday. “The support staff in the athletic department who have promoted the program and helped with the administrative ins and outs, such as our Director of Athletics, Dr. Dave Waples, who trusted me and hired me to lead the men's and women's track and field programs. Also, this all wouldn’t be possible without my wife and children, I am definitely riding high on their shoulders. All the long hours and hard work that I personally invested in the program has paid off. Not necessarily because it has culminated in championships and awards, but because my life has been incredibly rich and fortunate.”
To win three consecutive championships this year is extra fitting for McGarey, who will step down from his post as the head of the men’s and women’s track and field programs at season’s end to concentrate on his teaching and research. An Associate Professor of Biology in Kennesaw State’s College of Science and Mathematics, he has managed to be as successful of a coach as he has been while teaching at the same time.
“This award really is the recognition of a plan which focused on recruiting great student-athletes and coaches here, and once we were able to assemble to the staff that we have now, the program really took off,” he said. “I had a lot of responsibilities during my time with this program, and they went a long way towards helping the program reach the levels of success that it has over the last few years.”
The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics will announce the Female Athlete of the Year on Thursday and the Male Athlete of the Year on Friday.
James "Spec" Landrum Award Winners
Multiple Award Winners: Scott Whitlock (6), Rob King (5), Mike Sansing (4), Don McGarey (3),
Stan Sims (2)
2009-10 – Women’s, Rob King, Women’s Soccer | Men’s, Dr. Don McGarey, Track & Field
2008-09 - Women's, Dr. Don McGarey, Track & Field | Men's, Mike Sansing, Baseball
2007-08 - Women's, Rob King, Soccer | Men's, Dr. Don McGarey, Track & Field
2006-07 - Rob King, Women's Soccer/Scott Whitlock, Softball
2005-06 - Stan Sims, Cross Country
2004-05 - Stan Sims, Cross Country
2003-04 - Rob King, Women's Soccer/Tony Ingle Men's Basketball
2002-03 - Rob King, Women's Soccer
2001-02 - Scott Whitlock, Softball
2000-01 - Scott Whitlock, Softball
1999-00 - Scott Whitlock, Softball
1998-99 - Mike Sansing, Baseball
1997-98 - Mike Sansing, Baseball
1996-97 - Colby Tilley, Women's Basketball
1995-96 - Scott Whitlock, Softball
1994-95 - Scott Whitlock, Softball
1993-94 - Mike Sansing, Baseball
1992-93 - Phil Zenoni, Men's Basketball
