Inside Furman is published quarterly by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
Off and running….
Gene Mullin has coached Furman’s men’s and women’s cross
country and track teams for 24 years. The last two have been the most bewildering
by far.
A master organizer and penny-pincher, Mullin has built a career at Furman
by doing more with less. While many of the teams his program faces are flush
with scholarships and assistant coaches, all but a handful of Mullin’s
athletes are walk-ons, and he makes do with a single assistant.
Using Furman’s strong academic reputation and excellent facilities,
Mullin has built a solid program. This year, the men’s cross country
team captured second place in the Southern Conference. During an off year,
the women finished fifth, but have been crowned champion four times under
his watch.
Mullin, a seven-time conference Coach of the Year who is known for developing
strong mid- and long-distance runners, long ago surrendered any pretense of
competing against track heavyweights such as Stanford, Texas, Clemson and
other Division I powerhouses.
But now Mullin, who coached the Saudi Arabian National Team before coming
to Furman, is setting his sites much higher.
“We have so much potential now, who knows where we can go?” asks
Mullin.
Chris Borch, a 1978 graduate and former member of the track and cross country
teams, helped to change that mindset two years ago when he established a scholarship
fund for track and field. A successful entrepreneur living in California,
Borch also founded the Blue Shoes weekend — an annual fund-raising event
that raised more than $200,000 for track scholarships in 2006.
Last month, the second Blue Shoes event blossomed into a national affair when
famed runner Alan Webb and 11 others signed on to compete in the Blue Shoes
Elite Mile. With the prospect of seeing the first sub-four-minute completed
on a South Carolina track, more than 3,000 people came to the Irwin Belk Complex
for Track and Field to catch a glimpse of history.
Webb, a former Olympian, did not disappoint, finishing in a remarkable time
of 3:57.83 in cold and windy conditions. A showman, Webb pumped his fist and
finished with a flurry to the roar of an excited crowd.
The drama was featured in a photo and article the next morning on the front
page of The Greenville News.
The day’s events also included a five-kilometer run that drew more than
550 participants, as well as Furman Invitational meets for both high school
and college teams. A pre-race Friday night banquet attracted 400 people to
hear speaker Dave Wottle, the 1972 Olympic gold medalist in the 800 meters.
When the dust settled on Blue Shoes weekend, another $575,000 had been raised,
bringing the track and cross country scholarship fund to $1.8 million. Moreover,
Borch had committed to making a lead gift to fund a new 6,000-square-foot
track house.
Two years ago Mullin was trying to stretch six scholarships over 50 athletes.
Now, he hopes eventually to provide up to 16 scholarships, and he is looking
over architectural drawings for a new fieldhouse that would make the Belk
Complex among the finest in the Southeast.
“This has been very overwhelming,” says Mullin.
Construction on the yet-to-be-named track house could begin next year. The
two-story building will be embedded into the south hill overlooking the track.
It will include locker rooms, a large warm-up area and a sports medicine area
on the ground floor. The second floor will house offices, a lounge, conference
rooms and a terrace overlooking the track.
Mullin says spectator seating, a press box, wrought iron fencing, statues
and a small building that would be used for ticket and concession sales are
also part of the master plan. Once completed, the facility would likely be
the crown jewel of the Southern Conference and a prime host spot for college
and high school events.
Explaining that many universities host track and field competitions in stadiums
designed for soccer or football, Mullin says the Furman facility is patterned
after track facilities in Europe.
“A smaller, track-centered facility is much more intimate,” he
says. “It will create much more excitement.”