'One down'
Bucknam earns first SEC title
Matt Watson
Issue date: 3/6/09 Section: Sports
Eight months ago, former Northern Iowa track and field coach Chris Bucknam was hired to replace legendary Arkansas coach John McDonnell, who won 84 conference titles with the Razorbacks. On Sunday, less than a year into his tenure in Fayetteville, Bucknam won his first conference crown for No. 2 Arkansas. Thursday he was named Southeastern Conference Indoor Track Coach of the Year.
The Hog newcomer may have 83 fewer titles than his predecessor, but Bucknam is now on the board. To be fair, Bucknam won 35 Missouri Valley Conference championships in 25 years at UNI and led the Panthers to a pair of top-10 national finishes.
But Sunday, the first-year Razorback coach won his first SEC track title. And with so many seniors on this year's Arkansas team, Bucknam said it could be his most important championship.
"What feels good is our seniors on this team going out as SEC champions," Bucknam said. "Obviously we have an outdoor meet to tend to in a few months, but that was one of my major goals coming in with the uncertainty and the transition that happened in the late spring."
Coach McDonnell announced his retirement last April and stepped down at the end of the outdoor track season last June.
Bucknam said he knew the situation was very stressful for the current seniors. Last summer they had to choose between moving on or spending their final season with a new coach, after three or four years with the winningest coach in NCAA history. Most of the core group, excluding those who graduated last year, returned this season and became SEC champions Sunday.
"To have [senior] Alex McClary, who hasn't won a race in a couple years, win an SEC title, the way he did it, was incredible. It was awesome to see. That's why we coach," Bucknam said. "To see that joy coming across the line and he's banging his chest because he did something that nobody thought [he could do]."
Other notable performances by seniors were runner-up finishes from J-Mee Samuels (60-meter dash) and Shawn Forrest (5,000 meters) and a top-five finish from James Strang (5,000 meters). McClary also ran the 800-meter leg of the winning distance-medley relay.
The Hog newcomer may have 83 fewer titles than his predecessor, but Bucknam is now on the board. To be fair, Bucknam won 35 Missouri Valley Conference championships in 25 years at UNI and led the Panthers to a pair of top-10 national finishes.
But Sunday, the first-year Razorback coach won his first SEC track title. And with so many seniors on this year's Arkansas team, Bucknam said it could be his most important championship.
"What feels good is our seniors on this team going out as SEC champions," Bucknam said. "Obviously we have an outdoor meet to tend to in a few months, but that was one of my major goals coming in with the uncertainty and the transition that happened in the late spring."
Coach McDonnell announced his retirement last April and stepped down at the end of the outdoor track season last June.
Bucknam said he knew the situation was very stressful for the current seniors. Last summer they had to choose between moving on or spending their final season with a new coach, after three or four years with the winningest coach in NCAA history. Most of the core group, excluding those who graduated last year, returned this season and became SEC champions Sunday.
"To have [senior] Alex McClary, who hasn't won a race in a couple years, win an SEC title, the way he did it, was incredible. It was awesome to see. That's why we coach," Bucknam said. "To see that joy coming across the line and he's banging his chest because he did something that nobody thought [he could do]."
Other notable performances by seniors were runner-up finishes from J-Mee Samuels (60-meter dash) and Shawn Forrest (5,000 meters) and a top-five finish from James Strang (5,000 meters). McClary also ran the 800-meter leg of the winning distance-medley relay.
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