Todd Harbour Position: Head Coach Experience: 10th Year Head Coach: Cross Country (Baylor, 1981)

Todd Harbour enters his fifth season as head track and field coach, and 10th as head cross country coach. Director of Athletics Ian McCaw named Harbour as Clyde Hart's successor June 14, 2005, after he served as Baylor's head cross country coach and assistant track coach since January 2000.

Under his watch, Harbour has led the men's track team to three Top-10 indoor finishes and a Top-15 outdoor finish. The women's track team earned its first Top-10 outdoor finish and second consecutive Top-15 finish under Harbour.

In cross country, Harbour's women's teams have excelled, earning a sixth-straight berth into the NCAA Championships in 2008. The Bears finished 19th overall asa team with Erin Bedell earning All-America honors last season.

On the track in 2008, the Baylor men's 4x400-meter relay team continued a streak of 42 consecutive victories through the NCAA Indoor Championships until a third-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Sprinter Trey Harts also earned an individual championships indoors in the 200 meters.

In 2007, Baylor captured two national titles, winning the indoor and outdoor 4x400-meter relays. The relay squad set a new Baylor record of 3:00.04, the fourth-fastest time in NCAA history. The relay also broke the 12-year old record of 3:00.60. Baylor claimed the indoor and outdoor 4x400-meter relay crowns in the same season for the fourth time in school history and only the 10th time ever.

Baylor made history at the Drake Relays, winning all four sprint relays (4x100-meter, 4x200-meter, 4x400-meter, and sprint medley), becoming the first school to accomplish the feat in 63 years. In 1944, Illinois also captured all four relays at Drake, the only other men's university team to sweep the sprint relays.

The Bears also had solid individual showings at the 2007 NCAA meets, as Reggie Witherspoon (200 meters), LeJerald Betters (400 meters) and Nichole Jones (800 meters) each earned All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Jones became Baylor's first-ever All-American in the women's outdoor 800 meters. In addition to the men's 4x400-meter relay, Baylor also earned eight other All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Betters and Quentin Iglehart-Summers were All-Americans in the 400 meters, while Witherspoon and Trey Harts earned All-America honors in the 200 meters. Also, the women's distance medley relay was named All-American.

The Lady Bears set a new women's 4x800-meter relay record at the Texas Relays. Later in the season, the Lady Bears set new women's 4x800-meter relay and distance medley relay records in the same weekend at the Drake Relays, with the 4x800-meter relay lowering the school record by 13 seconds. Also, Baylor saw the five year-old women's 800 meter record fall in three consecutive meets. Jones broke the record to win the Big 12 title in 2:05.89. Lauren Hagans then edged Jones by .01 seconds to lower the record to 2:05.69 at the Midwest Regional. Jones reclaimed the record at the NCAA Championships clocking 2:04.69 to finish ninth and earn All-America honors.

For the year, Baylor athletes set or tied 12 school records, including two each for Kaleigh Teel and Chris Cardwell. Brittany Devereaux set three school records, while Jones accounted for two individual and two relay school records.

Baylor didn't miss a beat in Harbour's first season at the helm, capturing one national title, 10 All-America honors and 12 Big 12 Conference titles--seven individual and five relay. The Bears also established new school records in 12 events.

Jacob Norman became the first national champion under Harbour, blazing to the indoor 60-meter crown with a school record time of 6.56. Witherspoon was a two-time All-American and was named the 2006 Big 12 Indoor Male Athlete of the Year. He won conference crowns in the indoor 200 meters, both the indoor and outdoor 400-meter titles, the indoor and outdoor 4x400-meter relays and the 4x100-meter relay. Erin Bedell (3,000 meters) and Kevin Mutai (600 yards) also captured indoor conference titles. The Bears continued their success during the outdoor season as Chris Gillis earned All-America honors and won the Big 12 title in the long jump, and both the men's and women's 4x400-meter relays earned All-America honors and won Big 12 titles. Angel Perkins also earned All-America honors in the 400 meters.

Harbour has only strengthened a solid corps of women's middle distance runners. The distance medley relay earned All-America honors with a fifth-place finish at the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships and blew away both the indoor and outdoor school records. Lauren Hagans broke her own record in the indoor 1,000 meters and earned All-Big 12 honors in the 800 meters. Bedell came within an eyelash of adding the Big 12 outdoor 1,500-meter title to her standout freshman season, while Ruth Waller also earned All-Big 12 honors in the event. A trio of Bears - Lyndsy Bedell, Monique Ortega and Charity Williams - earned All-Big 12 honors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Ortega went on to earn all-region honors and qualify for the NCAA Championships.

During his six years as an assistant, Harbour's middle distance and distance runners re-wrote the record books. His student-athletes broke eight individual school records, seven relay marks en route to 18 All-America certificates and nine Big 12 individual titles.

In his first season, Harbour watched Floyd Thompson set a blistering school record of 1:07.43 in the indoor 600 yards. Thompson went on to anchor the 4x800 relay team with Damian Davis, Jonathan Pike and Jon Capron to break a 24-year-old record (7:17.55) at the Drake Relays, as well as contribute to a 4x400 team would later win a national outdoor title that same year.

Another record fell in 2001 as the team of Nick Devenport, Michael Smith, Davis and Ferenc Bekesi broke the school indoor distance medley relay record. Thompson went on to win the Big 12 title in the 800 meters outdoors, finished fifth at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., and ran on another 4x400-meter national championship team. The Baylor men's team would placed third overall, equaling its highest team national finish ever.

The 2002 season would add more success in the middle and distance events as Lanie Millar, a walk-on, won the Big 12 800-meter title while establishing a new school record (2:06.34). During the outdoor season, Millar also set the outdoor school record (2:06.08) in the 800 meters. Debbie Thornhill brought home a Big 12 title in the 10,000 meters and two more distance relay records would be set as the men's team of Bekesi, Capron, King and Matt Chance established a new 4x1,500 record (15:34.74) at Texas Relays. The women's team of Chance, Thornhill, Bennett, and Millar would set a new school record in the 4 x Mile (20:18.55) at Drake Relays.

In 2003, Wil Fitts made his mark his sophomore year by winning the Big 12 indoor title in the 600 yards, while the team of Devenport, Lewis, King, and Robert Quiroga won the distance medley relay title. Kyle King also established a new school record in the 5,000 meters (13:57.22). During the outdoor season, Angela Marvin set a new school record in the steeplechase en route to winning the Big 12 title as a freshman. Later that summer, she claimed the United States junior title for the 2,000-meter steeplechase, while adding a new American junior record to her resume. Thornhill also successfully defend her Big 12 10,000-meter title, while earning All-America honors at the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif., with an eighth-place finish.

King used the 2004 season to establish himself as one of the all-time best distance runners in Baylor history. He became the first Baylor runner since 1981 to earn All-America honors in an event over 800 meters, with his fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships in Austin. He also had an outstanding indoor campaign, as he earned his first All-America honor in the 5,000 meters. At the Big 12 Indoor Championships, King teamed with Quiroga, Korey Wright and Bo Price to win a second straight DMR title.

Fitts continued his success in his junior season as he would establish a new indoor school record in the 800 meters (1:48.82). As a part of the outdoor 4x400-meter relay team, Fitts also earned his first national championship ring.

In 2005, after automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championships at the Stanford Invitational, Brittany Brockman later earned her first All-America honor in Sacramento in the 10,000 meters, while Fitts earned All-America honors in the 800 meters. During the indoor season, freshman Hagans established a new school record in the 1,000 meters (2:53.05) and teamed with Angel Perkins, Ortega and Jessa Chance to set a new school record in the distance medley relay.

Under Harbour's direction, Baylor's cross country teams also have experienced tremendous success, highlighted by the women's team's current streak of four straight NCAA Championship appearances. In 2005, the women's team, led by a one-two finish by Brockman and freshman Erin Bedell at the NCAA regional meet, would go on to a 15th-place finish at the national meet. In 2003, the women's team recorded their highest finish in school history by placing second at the Big 12 Championships. At that same meet, the men finished fourth, earning their highest conference finish as well, with two runners earning all-conference distinction. Harbour's development has allowed both teams to consistently vie for the top spots in one of the top distance running conferences in the country.

One of Baylor's most legendary track athletes, Harbour holds the school mark in the 1,500 meters and the mile run. His 3:50.34 run at Oslo, Norway his senior year, is still the fastest mile ever run by a collegiate athlete. He was inducted into the Baylor Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992.

During his collegiate days, Harbour was the Southwest Conference champion in the 1,500 meters in 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981. He claimed the NCAA 1,500-meter runner-up title in 1979, 1980 and 1981, the only athlete to ever win three consecutive runner-up titles in that event. Harbour won the silver medal at the Pan Am Games in 1979 and was ranked ninth in the world in the 1,500-meters in 1982.

After graduating from Baylor, Harbour ran professionally for Nike and was one of the world's top milers. After the 1985 season, Harbour headed to Riesel, Texas, where he found another profession that would eventually lead him back to Baylor. Harbour began teaching history at Class 2A Riesel High School, then found himself coaching the varsity track and field teams. From there, he became involved with the varsity football program and eventually ended up as the head football coach and athletic director.

His success at Riesel included numerous district and regional championships in football and track and field. His track and field teams claimed district championships from 1987-90 and 1993-97 and produced regional championships in 1988, 1989 and 1994. Harbour coached eight individual state champions in track and field and led his cross country teams to a regional championship and two state runner-up positions. Harbour was the 1995-96 chairman of the track advisory committee for the Texas High School Coaches Association.

Harbour's varsity football teams compiled a 51-24-4 record and advanced to the bi-district playoffs four times and the area playoffs once in his six years at the helm. Those accomplishments earned him District 16A Coach of the Year, Central Texas Coach of the Year, District 14A Coach of the Year and Lay Witness for Christ Ministry Coach of the Year honors.

Harbour, a 2004 inductee into the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame, and his wife, Cindy, have three children: Jonathan (27), Stephen (25) and Aaron (21).