| Ron Bazil |
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Ron Bazil, one of the most experienced coaches in collegiate track and
field, is in his fifth year as head coach of the Tulane track and cross
country programs, and his work continues to make an impact on the track
and field community.
In his first four years Bazil has elevated the Tulane track and field
team into a nationally prominent program. Since his arrival in 1995,
Tulane's record of achievement in track and field has steadily grown.
Bazil has already produced eight All-Americans, 16 NCAA national
qualifiers, a distance medley relay and a sprint medley relay team
ranked in the top-10 nationally, 31 individual Conference USA champions,
the 1996 Conference USA Freshman of the Year in cross country, and the
Outstanding Performer at the Conference USA Indoor Championship in
1997. His athletes have also rewritten the Tulane record books by
establishing 38 new school records. The 1998 season saw seven of
Bazil's student-athletes qualify for the NCAA Championships and set 14
new school records. Included in that group was Hanne Lyngstad, an
indoor and outdoor All-American and the 1998 Conference USA Outdoor
Athlete of the Year. Bazil's guiding force has taken Tulane's program
to unprecedented levels. His winning philosophy has already left and
incredible mark on the history of Tulane track and field.
Perhaps Bazil's greatest accomplishment came during the 1998 cross
country season. He guided the Green Wave men to four team titles during
the season and qualified as a group to the NCAA Cross Country
Championships for the first time in school history by virtue of a
runner-up finish to eventual National Champion Arkansas in the South
Central District Championships. He also had an individual qualifier on
the women's side. For his efforts, he was named the 1998 Louisiana
Cross Country Coach of the Year.
The success continued for Bazil and the Green Wave in 1999. He guided
the Tulane women to a sweep of the 1999 Conference USA Indoor and
Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and its best finish ever at the
NCAA Indoor Championships (16th). Along the way, seven Tulane women
earned All-America honors and 14 new school records were set. Tulane
also captured its first "Championship of Americas" victory at the
historic Penn Relay Carnival in Philadelphia. Prior to 1999, Tulane had
won only one team championship in its history.
In the fall of 1998, Bazil guided the men's cross country team to its
first-ever berth in the NCAA Cross Country Championships and sent a
woman to the Championships for the first time in school history as well.
Bazil captured four Coach-of-the-Year awards last season. He was
named Conference USA women's indoor and outdoor track and field coach of
the year, as well as Louisiana Sports Writers Association men's cross
country and women's track and field accolades.
Prior to coming to Tulane, Bazil had forged his winning formula during
his 16 years as the head coach of the cross country and track and teams
of the US Military Academy at West Point. During his tenure at Army,
Bazil molded his men's and women's teams into nationally competitive
programs.
Army men were introduced to the Patriot League in the spring of 1992,
and the cross country team took home the title in the fall of 1993. They
went on to take sixth at the NCAA championships that year, and Bazil
also took home the District II NCAA Men's Cross Country Coach of the
Year title.
Both the men's and women's cross country teams took home Patriot League
championship titles in the fall of 1994, and the men came into the 1995
season with a 12-race winning streak behind them. For that effort Bazil
was again named Patriot League Coach of the Year. He held Patriot
League coaching honors every season from 1992-95.
The men's indoor track team went undefeated with a 5-0 record in 1994,
and the outdoor team checked off their third straight league
championship. Bazil left Army with a combined track and cross country
career record of 304-116-2 for dual meets and 13 conference
championships.
Bazil's tradition for excellence extends far beyond his West Point
career. Before he joined the Military Academy, he spent 10 seasons at
Adelphi University, including seven years as athletic director. In 1972,
his team established world records for the mile relay on two consecutive
weekends. In 1972 and 1974, he was honored as district indoor track
coach of the year. Bazil has also served as a member of the NCAA
Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field Committee and has also
coached on the international circuit for a quarter-century.
His first major international assignment came in 1971 when he coached
the U.S. team in a dual indoor meet against the Soviet Union. Since
then, his accomplishments multiplied.
He was an assistant coach when the United States met the Soviet Union,
Czechoslovakia, Pan Africa and Germany in 1975. In 1982, he coached a
U.S. team that faced England, Australia and Sweden. In 1986 he was a
head coach at the U.S. Olympic Festival in Houston, and three years
later, he was in Birmingham, England, heading up a U.S. effort against
the Soviet Union, England and West Germany.
In 1991, he was again on the Olympic Festival staff, where he coached
the East team, and also coached the U.S. men's team against Russia and
Japan in Yokohama.
Most recently, Bazil served as an assistant coach for the U.S. team at
the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden.
He has already gained recognition at Tulane, as he was named the 1995
Louisiana Cross Country Coach of the Year.
Bazil is a graduate of Springfield (Mass.) College, earning his
bachelor's degree in 1958. In 1964 he completed his master's in health,
physical education and recreation at Brooklyn College.
Bazil and his wife, Bonnie, have been married for 36 years. They have
two children: Tami, a graduate of Stanford, and Lance, a graduate of
Adelphi University.
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