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Women's Track
Legendary Women's Track Coach Gary Winckler Announces Retirement
April 4, 2008
CHAMPAIGN, ILL - Longtime University of Illinois women's track and field head coach Gary Winckler announced today that he is retiring following the 2007-08 season after 23 years at the UI. Long regarded as one of the nation's premier developers of outstanding track and field student-athletes, Winckler's teams have won 11 Big Ten Championships, and he has been named Big Ten Coach of the Year 11 times and NCAA Coach of the Year three times. During Winckler's tenure, Illini athletes have won 266 individual Big Ten titles and 51 have earned All-America recognition 188 times. "First, I want to thank Gary for the exceptional job he has done as our women's track and field coach," Director of Athletics Ron Guenther said. "His teams competed for Big Ten Championships on an annual basis and he has been recognized nationally as a premier coach." Winckler has coached 13 different athletes who have reached the Olympic Games in the sprints, hurdles or relays and have won gold, silver and bronze medals. Dating back to 1992, athletes coached by Winckler have appeared in every World Championships and Olympic Games. Included in that group are former Illinois greats Perdita Felicien, Celena Mondie-Milner, Aspen Burkett, Yvonne Harrison, Susanna Kallur and Tonja Buford-Bailey. Some of Winckler's best Illinois teams came in 1995 and 1996, when the Illini achieved back-to-back fourth-place finishes at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and a sixth-place national indoor finish in 1996. Prior to coming to Illinois, Winckler directed Florida State to the outdoor national title in 1984 and the indoor crown in 1985. Since 1985, Winckler has graduated 97 percent of his student-athletes with 74 of them receiving 156 total Academic All-Big Ten awards and two receiving Academic All-America recoginition (Felicien and Cassie Hunt). Four Illini under Winckler have earned the Big Ten Medal of Honor, including Yvonne Mensah in 2007, which symbolizes the conference's highest award given to the student-athletes who have best demonstrated proficiency in scholarship and academics. Winckler coached Felicien to a gold medal in the 100m hurdles at the 2003 World Championships, the first-ever gold medal for an Illini athlete at the World Championships. Felicien, a two-time Olympian, capped her brilliant collegiate career by winning her second NCAA 100m hurdles crown in 2003. She left Illinois as the NCAA record holder in the 60m hurdles, a three-time NCAA champion and a 10-time All-American. Celena Mondie-Milner, who won 19 Big Ten crowns under Winckler, earned a gold medal at the 1995 World Championships as part of the 4x100-meter relay. Other highlights for Winckler include a head coaching stint of the United States World Championship team in 1997, held in Athens, Greece, and of the 1989 World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Associate Head Coach Tonja Buford-Bailey, who is finishing her
sixth season on the Illini staff, will be elevated to the Head Coaching
position following the outdoor season. Another one of Winckler's superb line of hurdlers, Buford-Bailey was a 10-time All-American and won a Big
Ten-record 25 individual and team titles. A three-time Olympian, she earned
a bronze medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Her
mark of 52.62 seconds in the 400m hurdles still remains third on the
all-time world list.
"It's very gratifying any time you can appoint one of your own as a head coach," Guenther said. "Tonja was an outstanding athlete and Olympian while competing, and has done a fantastic job for the University of Illinois. She has a passion for coaching and had a great mentor in Gary Winckler." "It's been a great 23 years at Illinois, a very good experience for me and my family," Winckler said. "I always said I wouldn't be one of those coaches who would hang on too long. The addition of Tonja Buford-Bailey makes this the appropriate time to pursue other avenues in my life. Tonja brings some youth and enthusiasm to continue moving the program forward."
Gary Winckler File
Coaching Experience
Coaching Honors
Big Ten Championships While Coaching at Illinois |
