Updated 1/4/08 Click to read feature story: As Dr. Rick McGuire embarks on his 25th season as the head track and field coach at the University of Missouri, he can look back on his tenure - that has now lasted more than a quarter century - with great pride and satisfaction, as certainly his Tigers have established an exceptional record of success in the athletic arena, in the classroom and, most importantly, in their lives beyond the University. And it is this success that fuels Coach McGuire's enthusiasm and excitement about his athletes on this team in 2008 and for the years ahead. Of even greater importance than what successes his athletes have achieved, is Coach McGuire's belief and commitment to how and why those achievements are made possible. With his unique personal and philosophical approach to coaching, where the priority is placed on the person rather than the program, and the focus is on the athletic and personal development of each individual, the track and field athletes at Missouri have flourished under McGuire's tutelage. In his coaching, teaching, writing and public speaking, Coach McGuire shares and models his understanding and belief that "It does matter whether we win or lose, because it absolutely does matter that we win in the life of every single individual with whom we have the opportunity to share. It's all about winning kids with sport, rather than winning sport with kids!"
Champions on the Track Over the years, Missouri track and field athletes have certainly done more than their fair share of winning and achieving. There have been 119 All-Americans, 97 Conference Champions, 37 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifiers, 25 U.S.A. National Track and Field Team members, seven NCAA Champions, eight NCAA Regional Champions, three NCAA collegiate record holders, and two conference Athletes of the Year, an Olympic Silver Medalist, three Olympians earning four team births, four World Championship Gold and Silver medalists and three Pan-American Games Gold medalists. Coach McGuire is primarily responsible for the tutelage of Tiger heptathletes, accumulating a record that heavily unmatched among his contemporaries. At the 2007 Big 12 Championships, Kaela Rorvig became the 11th Tiger and the 11th Tiger coached by McGuire to eclipse the 5,000-point mark in the heptathlon. Among Big 12 schools, only Missouri and Nebraska have had such an historical record in the event. McGuire is also the coach of post-collegiate heptathlete Fiona Asigbee. Asigbee is one of five who have won Big 12 heptathlon titles under the coaching of McGuire and is now in pursuit of a possible bid to the 2008 Olympic Games. In 2005, Asigbee won the NACAC crown and also won top honors in the pentathlon at the 2007 USATF Indoor Combined Event Championships.
Champions in the Classroom Throughout Coach McGuire's career, producing champions in the classroom has been the hallmark of the Missouri track and field program. The women's track and cross country teams have now established the amazing record of earning Academic All-American Team honors for 38 consecutive seasons, every season that the award has existed. Missouri is the only team in the NCAA to have earned this honor every season. McGuire's athletes have earned numerous Phi Beta Kappa awards, dozens of honors graduates, and 26 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships. During the 2005-06 academic year, Missouri's track and field student-athletes were the winners of an unprecedented five NCAA post-graduate scholarships, leading any other team in any sport in any other division of the NCAA. Winter semester team grade-point averages were at an all-time high in 2005 for the Mizzou Track and Field teams. The men's track team tallied a 3.23 GPA and was honored as the best in the nation. The women's team was second in the nation with a 3.49 GPA. And, not to be outdone, was the women's cross country team, who crossed the line with a 3.72 overall team term GPA, marking a new Missouri-athletics record. Professor McGuire Coach McGuire is not only known around the track, he is a highly regarded professor in the classroom as well. Holding his Ph.D. in Sport Psychology from the University of Virginia, Dr. McGuire is a member of the faculty in the Department of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology in the University of Missouri's College of Education. He is one of only a few NCAA Division I coaches who regularly teach both a graduate and undergraduate course load. A dynamic and popular teacher and lecturer, Coach McGuire has been honored by the College of Education as the recipient of the "High Flyers Award" for teaching excellence, recently receiving this award for the 14th consecutive year. For this achievement, he was awarded the "Pillar of Excellence Award" by the Dean of the College of Education, one of only three individuals to have attained this honor. These awards represent the highest honor that can be bestowed on a faculty member. He has also been recognized with the Missouri Students Association Award for Outstanding Teaching, and the students have honored him with induction into the QEBH and Omicron Delta Kappa national education honor societies.
Leadership and Service Dr. McGuire has provided leadership and service to the coaches and athletes of track and field throughout his career. In 1983 he founded, and for 25 years has led the sport psychology program for USA Track and Field. Now with a staff of over 30 sport psychology professionals, this program is considered the finest sport psychology service delivery program in the world today, and serves as a model for USOC national sport governing bodies. McGuire also serves as curriculum coordinator and lead instructor for USA Track and Field's Coaches Education Program. Coach McGuire has served on the staff for nine United States National Track and Field Teams, including the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Team staffs for Barcelona and Atlanta. He has also served with our national teams at the 1995 World Championships, the 1990 World Cup, the 1988 and 1986 World Junior Championships, the 1986 Junior Pan American Games, and for dual meet competitions with Cuba in 1987 and Romania in 1986.
In December 2006, McGuire was elected as President of the NCAA Division I branch of the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). In addition, he has recently completed his four-year term as a member of the NCAA Track and Field Committee. In 2000, McGuire served as president of the Missouri Track and Cross County Coaches Association (MTCCCA). Honors and Recognitions McGuire has twice been named as the Conference Coach of the Year and once as the Midwest Region Coach of the Year. He has been honored by his induction into the prestigious Drake Relays Hall of Fame (2000) and the Missouri Track and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame, (1999), and has served as the referee for both the Drake and Kansas Relays.
Speaking and Writing Coach McGuire's varied experiences and involvements, along with his enthusiastic and passionate teaching style, have earned him the reputation as a very popular and nationally prominent speaker, and have allowed numerous opportunities to provide clinics, seminars, and workshops for educational leaders, professional, business and civic organizations. His "Coaching Mental Excellence" seminars have been enjoyed throughout the country, and he is a regular presenter at national athletic and sport psychology conferences and conventions. He has authored four books, five book chapters and over 20 articles for scientific and professional journals. Beginnings McGuire is a graduate of St. Lawrence University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics and was a member of the varsity basketball team. He began his career as an educator and coach at Greenwich (N.Y.) High School. In 1978, he received a Master's Degree in physical education with emphasis in athletic coaching from Alfred University, and then in 1983 earned his Ph.D. in sport psychology from the University of Virginia. While at Virginia, McGuire taught Motor Learning and Scientific Bases of Coaching, and was the Coordinator of the Coaching Education Program in the Department of Physical Education. Also at Virginia, he served as an assistant coach with the Cavalier's track and field program. During that time the Virginia teams won the AIAW National Indoor Championship and two NCAA Cross Country Championships. Family University of Missouri, was an English and drama teacher in Columbia for four years, and has just recently graduated law school at Pepperdine University in Malibu. Mick is a graduate of Princeton University, earned an MBA from Harvard, and is now a partner with Pershing Square Capital Management, an investment firm, in New York City.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
