Thursday, July 27, 2023

Getting to Know the Coaches: Cross Country -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Our next edition of Getting to Know the Coaches takes us to a sport that saw some major coaching changes recently. After 10 years as head coach of Louisville's cross country and track and field programs, Dale Cowper stepped away. Cowper helped put both programs on the map before wanted to take more of a backseat role as an assistant coach at EKU.

Joe Franklin, director of cross country and track and field


Joe Franklin was named as the director of Louisville's cross country program on June 16. He comes to Louisville after 16 years as the head coach at New Mexico.

While at New Mexico, Franklin helped put the Lobos on the national stage. They won team titles in 2015 and 2017 while finishing runner-up in 2018 and 2022. He won three National Coach of the Year awards there.

He spent 13 years as the head coach at Butler before New Mexico, where the Bulldogs going to the cross country championships eight teams in his tenure.

Before his days as a DI head coach, Franklin was an assistant coach as Purdue for three years and a head coach at DePauw for a season prior to that.

He ran cross country and track for four years at Purdue as a student.

Baylee Mires, assistant coach




The first person hired under Joe Franklin is assistant coach Baylee Mires. Mires is no stranger to the ACC after spending the last two seasons at Florida State and Notre Dame, helping lead many student-athletes to ACC honors.

Mires graduated from Washington and then went on to run professionally for the Brooks Best Track Club and Under Armour following her collegiate career. She was a multi-time All-American.

Whenever a new head coach comes in you often see a change in the support staff, which is what we are seeing here. There are still a couple of assistant coach vacancies that should be filled in the coming weeks before the season begins.

The cross country season runs in the fall with indoor track and field happening in the winter and outdoor track and field in the spring.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!
Jared
at

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous7/27/2023 12:13 PM

    Louisville hasn't had a strong woen's program in track or cross country for decades. I hope this crew can build one.

    .

    ReplyDelete

Please leave your comments here. We ask you be respectful of other posts, no matter how ridiculous they may seem to you. After all, it is CARDINAL COUPLE.

Any attempts to advertise a product or other website here in the comments section without the prior consent of CARDINAL COUPLE will result in a bill rendered for advertising services and possible legal action. We're serious. No more bots.

Now, have your take...