Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME Joe Piane is as much of an institution at Notre Dame as any current member Five Questions With … TRACK & FIELD COACH JOE PIANE of the athletics department. Piane has coached the Irish track and field squad for 37 years, which is second only to former baseball coach Jake Kline's 42 seasons in career longevity with a Notre Dame team. Between his roles with the cross country and track teams, he has coached 130 All-Americans and 131 Big East champions. Piane came to Notre Dame in 1974 after working as an assistant at Western Illinois for two years while getting a master's degree. He received his start in coaching in the Peace Corps where he helped train younger runners in Mo- rocco for two years. Since then, Piane — who specializes in middle-distance and long-distance running — has been named the NCAA Coach of the Year twice and has led his staff to the Big East Staff of the Year award 16 times. He said he has no plans of stopping anytime soon. He sat down with Blue & Gold Illustrated last month to talk about his long, successful career. Blue & Gold Illustrated: In 1974, could you ever imagine being in South Bend for this long? Piane: "Absolutely not. I didn't think I'd live this long, let alone be here this long. I was an assistant coach, and most assistants want to move on and be- come a head coach. It was my goal to stay a year or two and move on. After a year, the head coach moved on and they gave me the job. So I figured I might as well stay. … This is the last stop in the tour. There is no doubt at that." Blue & Gold Illustrated: You're now coaching some of your former stu- dents' children. Are you still able to keep up with them? Piane: "I don't run with the team anymore. Those days are long gone. I probably did that 35 years ago and stopped. If the guys are running with me, they are running way too slow. Let's be honest here, do you think Brian Kelly goes out there and plays football with his team? I don't think so. I still run periodically with our team physician though." Blue & Gold Illustrated: How do you stay on top of a team that has more than 100 kids on the roster? Piane: "I have five assistant coaches, so it's manageable, it really is. Every- body works on their own different event area, so it's not as though you have to interact with 100-plus kids every day. You have to interact with the kids that you deal with, but make sure you are aware of what is happening with the other group." Blue & Gold Illustrated: Do you have any favorite memory of the first four decades of your coaching career? • Notre Dame senior Melissa Henderson earned a spot on the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's All-America team for the second year in a row. Henderson, who made the first team in 2010, was named to the third team in December. She scored 18 goals and added eight assists during her senior season. Henderson also trained with the U.S. Women's National Team during December. She was one of five college players trying to get a roster spot on the national team for the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying matches in Vancouver in January. • On the men's side, the NSCAA named three Irish players to the Great Lakes All-Region team. Senior Aaron Maund, junior Dillon Powers and junior Ryan Finley were voted the best in the region at their respective positions. Maund and Powers served as team captains in 2011. Finley, who transferred from www.BLUEANDGOLD.com Piane has led the Irish track and field squad for 37 years, and between his roles with the cross country and track teams he has coached 130 All- Americans and 131 Big East champions. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS Piane: "The first and foremost highlight was when a fellow I had, Chuck Aragon, broke four minutes in the mile for the first time [in 1981]. That ques- tion gets asked periodically and that's always the response. To see a man break four minutes for the first time, the first time for Notre Dame, that was a thrill that I can almost remember the whole race. To see the thrill on his face is still unparalleled." Blue & Gold Illustrated: What is the biggest change you've seen with Notre Dame sports during your time here? Piane: "The first and foremost is women's athletics. When I started here there were none. That certainly has, needless to say, taken off. It's just amaz- ing the quality of women's athletics and how it has improved over the last four decades." — Dan Murphy Duke this year, led the team with seven goals. • Senior guard Natalie Novosel won Big East MISCELLANEOUS NOTES Player of the Week honors on Dec. 19 for helping the Irish to a 92-83 win against No. 7/8 Kentucky. Novosel, who grew up by the Wildcats' campus in Lexington, Ky., had a game-high 23 points in the win. She is currently averaging 16.0 points per game, ty- ing her with Skylar Diggins for best on the team. The Irish captain was named the conference's Freshman of the Week twice during the 2008-09 season, but had not won a weekly award since then. • The Big East lacrosse coaches selected Notre Dame to finish second in the conference this sea- son behind Syracuse. The Orange is ranked fourth in the national coaches' poll, and the Irish came in ninth. Five Notre Dame players made the preseason all-conference team, which is more than any other team in the Big East. Seniors Sean Rogers and Kevin Randall, juniors Quinn Cully and John Kemp, and sophomore Liam O'Connor took home the honors. • Notre Dame announced it would open its 2012 lacrosse season on Jan. 27 at the Champion Chal- lenge in central Florida. The Irish will take on Jack- sonville on the first day of the tournament and the U.S. National Team the next day. Notre Dame alum Scott Rogers ('10) will play goalie for the National Team for the second year in a row. The Irish lost to the U.S. team 12-7 to begin last year's campaign. • Irish pole vaulter Kevin Schipper qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships last week at the Grand Valley State Holiday Open. Schipper cleared 5.15 meters to land a spot as the best collegiate vaulter in the competition and second place overall. Fellow senior Maddie Buttinger won the long jump and finished second in the high jump. — Dan Murphy FEBRUARY 2012 11