Redwine tapped Kansas track coach

By Gary Bedore     May 26, 2000

Stanley Redwine has been named head track and cross country coach at Kansas University.

The 39-year-old Redwine, who has coached both sports at the University of Tulsa the past six years, said he accepted the KU job Thursday night.

“I’m excited. It’s a great opportunity for my family and myself,” said Redwine, a four-time All-America runner during his college days at the University of Arkansas. “I believe we can win. We have good athletes on the team. It’s a matter of helping those athletes get re-focused. It will take 100 percent effort from every staff member and athlete.

“Good things can happen. There is great tradition. From the coaches to athletes like Jim Ryuns, Billy Mills those guys did a great job. Once you get people like that you start a tradition. Cliff Wiley is another athlete who did a great job. I remember racing guys like that. We feared Kansas.”

A 16-year veteran of collegiate and international track competition, Redwine spent 11 seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Arkansas prior to his appointment at Tulsa.

In his six seasons at UT, Redwine coached the school’s first-ever NCAA participants on both the men’s and women’s teams and directed both programs to their best conference finishes in school history. Redwine also coached Adam Ellison to the 800-meter championship at the USA Track and Field championship last summer.

Redwine has sent one athlete to the USA Track and Field championships and three runners to the NCAA championships, and six athletes have earned gold medals in seven events at the Missouri Valley and WAC championships.

In addition, Tulsa has had 12 performers earn a combined 25 all-conference honors, and three relay teams clock world ranking times.

During his tenure at Arkansas, the Razorbacks captured nine consecutive national titles and 22 conference titles in track and cross country.

He helped produce 14 All-Americans and two NCAA champions in the sprint and hurdle events.

“There’s great excitement, yet at the same time we’re leaving behind some quality people,” Redwine said.

“A coach once told me, ‘If you leave the program in better shape than when you got there, you’ve done a great job.’ Hopefully we’ve done that at Tulsa. The relationships we’ve made are special relationships and bonds. It’s sad to depart from those people. It will be exciting to come to Kansas and meet new people.”

Redwine was recently inducted into the University of Arkansas Hall of Honor. Redwine competed in the 600 and 800 meters from 1980-83 for the Razorbacks.

Redwine retired from competition in 1996 after finishing with a season-best time of 1:45.68 in the 800 at the Olympic Trials. During his career, Redwine five times qualified for the Olympic Trials and was a member of the USA World Championship track team five times.

In 1994, he captured a silver medal at the Goodwill Games in the 800.

He also represented the U.S. twice in the Pan American Games.

“It was not perfect. The only perfect career is when you break a world record in the Olympics and it’s your last meet,” Redwine said with a laugh. “In my career I learned the value of hard work and value of patience.

“In my career, there have been some disappointments and some success. You deal with those things, and if you respond to them the same you’ve learned a lot.

Redwine and his wife, Jacqueline, have three children Crysta, Stanley, Jr., and Alexa.

NOTES

Redwine competed at the Kansas Relays in 1981 and 1982.

“Sure I remember the meet,” he said. “The clubs used to really be good there. It was a great meet. Still today, high school athletes look forward to going there. Some of the athletes we recruited at Tulsa were excited competing at the Kansas Relays. There is a joy and thrill to that great event.”

Redwine is excited plans are in the works for a new track stadium at KU. “Yes it is in the plans and it will help,” Redwine said. “When you compare what you have to what is out there other schools are having that (new stadiums). It makes a difference to some in the schools they choose.”

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