Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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UNDER THE DOME try and track at Notre Dame for the past 25 years. He first came to South Bend as a member of the track team in the early 1980s. Soon after graduating, he took the Irish job and helped build the program into a national competitor on a yearly basis. This year, his team finished 15th at the NCAA Championships and third at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional. Were you happy with the way your team finished the season? Connelly: "Before the year Blue & Gold Illustrated: Tim Connelly has coached women's cross coun- WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY COACH TIM CONNELLY Five Questions With … goal since you've been here? Connelly: "When I first got here, basically it Blue & Gold Illustrated: Was that always the was like a Division III program. We didn't have scholarships, although we were running in Divi- sion I obviously. "It just took a long time to get to where we are now. It's like any athletic program: you have to bring in the right people." started I thought we'd be able to finish even higher, but we had a couple injuries and sick- nesses. We didn't quite get to where I thought might be our ultimate potential. "All in all, I thought it was a Connelly guided the Irish to a 15th- place finish at the NCAA Championships Nov. 17 in Louisville, Ky. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS pretty good result." Blue & Gold Illustrated: Where is the ceiling for how good you hope the program can be eventu- ally? least come home with a trophy, and that has to ultimately be our mindset. You just keep building. Obviously we return a bunch from this group next year. Hopefully you can recruit a couple really good freshmen that can come in. The people are here to continue to move up the chain. "We brought nine kids to the NCAAs, ran seven Connelly: "The ultimate goal is to win it all or at of them, and we bring back seven of those nine. We've got a pretty good group returning." years ago, simply because we have a lot better athletes. That's probably the biggest change." try to change and adjust your training based on new ideas, but also based on the athletes that you have. "We're doing things differ- ently now than we were 25 In most sports, strategy and coaching philosophy change over the course of a quarter century. Is that the case in cross country? Connelly: "Not really. You the fall carry momentum over for your runners as they get into indoor and outdoor track season? Connelly: "I think it really does. Part of it is Blue & Gold Illustrated: Does finishing well in they're coming out of it healthy, and they feel like they're really fit. So maybe they can set their goals a little bit higher in terms of nationals. "One thing people don't understand is what a long year these kids have and how hard it is on them. They're racing from September to June. No other collegiate athlete is being asked to do that." — Dan Murphy Blue & Gold Illustrated: