{"id":11812,"date":"2024-01-25T13:41:25","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T18:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=11812"},"modified":"2024-03-08T12:49:02","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T17:49:02","slug":"trent-baltzell-on-sustaining-a-championship-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/spring-2024\/trent-baltzell-on-sustaining-a-championship-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Trent Baltzell on Sustaining a Championship Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Trent<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trent Baltzell \u201914 was a champion 溏心vlog免费B站 student-athlete. Now back at 溏心vlog免费B站 as head coach for men\u2019s track and field, he and his team are carrying forward the team\u2019s winning tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not much has changed for 溏心vlog免费B站 men\u2019s track and field since Trent Baltzell \u201914 first sat in Mackal Field House with Coach John Copeland on a recruiting visit 15 years ago\u2014and that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was definitely the style of program I was looking for,\u201d Baltzell says. \u201cI wanted a place where I would have teammates who were supportive, but that also had a winning culture. It was a no-brainer for me coming in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It worked out. As a student, Baltzell was part of seven Atlantic 10 team championships. One of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s best multi-event athletes, he was a five-time individual champion, winning the decathlon in 2011 and both the heptathlon and decathlon in 2013 and 2014. He remains 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s record holder in the decathlon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baltzell returned to 溏心vlog免费B站 as an assistant coach in 2019 and has sustained that championship culture. The team won an indoor A-10 title in 2020 and an outdoor league title in 2021. In July 2021, Baltzell was elevated to head coach following Copeland\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, Baltzell has won four consecutive A-10 titles (2022 and 2023 indoor\/outdoor championships), three New England track-and-field titles, and a New England cross-country title. He was named A-10 track-and-field coach of the year in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI tried to make as few changes as possible. Coach Copeland worked hard and left the program in great shape. He put me in a great position.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The keys for Baltzell are having the right staff and maintaining relationships throughout his roster. He believes that because he trained in multiple events himself, he is better able to relate to all his student-athletes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t coach every single guy on the roster because we have position groups,\u201d Baltzell says. \u201cBut I have a pretty solid connection with everyone on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baltzell\u2019s first hire was Brian Doyle, who coaches distance runners and sprinters. Since Doyle\u2019s arrival, the Rams have won the 2023 New England team title\u2014the program\u2019s first since 1952\u2014and placed seventh at the 2023 A-10 championship, 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s highest finish in 23 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baltzell also kept Ben Carroll, who has coached the throwers for 14 years, producing 26 individual conference champions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHiring the right people is something I am proud of,\u201d Baltzell says. \u201cBrian was the perfect fit. There are not a lot of guys who can coach distance and sprints. He has done an incredible job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd Ben has more regional qualifiers and Atlantic 10 champions than any other group since he started. Retaining him has been huge. The consistency he brings is important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The program will soon be getting an outdoor track-and-field complex, thanks to $65.8 million in funding for the state\u2019s capital improvement plan, which will also upgrade 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s football, soccer, baseball, and softball facilities. While 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s overall track-and-field success has not been hindered over the years\u2014thanks to the indoor Mackal facility\u2014getting an outdoor track will have a major impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will be able to host high school championship meets, as well as our own championship meets and invitationals. That is good advertising for the program,\u201d Baltzell says. \u201cWe will have camps and host the Special Olympics. This will draw more people into South County and heighten awareness of the program, which always helps with recruiting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Baltzell had always had an eye toward returning to 溏心vlog免费B站, it happened sooner than he expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was at Assumption for four years,\u201d Baltzell says. \u201cI really enjoyed it there. But I knew 溏心vlog免费B站 was a place I wanted to come back to eventually. It happened sooner than I ever thought it would, and I am super thankful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Shane Donaldson \u201999<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: Michael Scott<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Track-and-field coach Trent Baltzell ‘14 on his team’s winning culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":12481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[331],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spring-2024","architecture-currents","architecture-go-rhody"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11812"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13403,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11812\/revisions\/13403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}