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Ogilvie Announces Retirement from Duke Athletics
4/16/2020 9:14:00 AM | Cross Country, Track & Field
DURHAM, N.C. – After 30 seasons on the coaching staff at Duke University, Director of Track & Field Norm Ogilvie has announced his retirement, effective in July. Ogilvie has served as the Head Coach of the men's cross-country and track & field teams for the last 20 years, and has directed the track & field program since 2003.
"To be sure, we are deeply appreciative of Norm's dedication and commitment to foster a spirit of collegiality and excellence relative to 'all things' Duke University, notwithstanding, Duke Athletics," Director of Athletics Dr. Kevin White said. "Moreover, we are indeed grateful for Norm's unqualified integrity, and per his unwavering effort to provide the very best possible student-athlete experience. Wishing Norm all the very best in his coaching retirement, as well as per the next chapter."
Ogilvie, who was named the men's cross-country head coach in 2000, led the Blue Devils to an ACC Championship in his first season – their first title since 1977 – while being named the ACC Coach of the Year. He has since guided the team to six NCAA Championship appearances and four IC4A championships while coaching 28 All-East selections, 25 All-Southeast Region honorees and 22 All-ACC selections. In all, Ogilvie's career record as a head coach against Division I teams in men's cross-country was 1,642 Wins, 639 losses and three ties.
A 1981 graduate of Drake University, Ogilvie spent three seasons as Head Coach of the Blue Devils men's track team before being promoted to Director of Track & Field in June of 2003. In more than two decades at the helm, Ogilvie has coached 418 All-East selections, 102 All-America honorees, 68 ACC individual champions, 284 All-ACC picks, 64 ECAC champions and 12 IC4A champions. He was instrumental in helping a trio of Blue Devils become NCAA champions, as Shannon Rowbury was victorious in the women's indoor mile in 2007 before Juliet Bortoff won the women's outdoor 10,000m in 2011 and Curtis Beach captured the men's indoor heptathlon in 2012 and 2014.
Ogilvie has also worked closely with three Team USA Olympians who competed at a total of seven summer games – Curt Clausen (2000 & 2004), Jillian Schwartz (2004 & 2012) and Shannon Rowbury (2008, 2012 & 2016). Additionally, he helped influence decorated sprinter Randy Jones to try out for the U.S. Bobsled team, whom he won a silver medal with at the 2002 winter games and again competed for in 2006.
The track & field program's record book has been nearly rewritten during Ogilvie's tenure. Indoors, student-athletes coached by Ogilvie have accounted for 42 of 45 all-time marks among both men's and women's events. Of the 55 total outdoor records, 42 have been accomplished under Ogilvie, including in all 18 field events.
Prior to arriving at Duke in 1991, Ogilvie spent three semesters on the University of Colorado staff, assisting with distance runners.
With Ogilvie's retirement in July, Associate Head Coach Shawn Wilbourn will be named Interim Head Coach of the track & field program, while Assistant Coach Rhonda Riley will serve as the Interim Head Coach of the cross-country program.
Wilbourn joined the Blue Devils staff in July of 2008 and has worked with student-athletes competing in the pole vault, sprints, hurdles and jumps. Riley has headed the women's cross-country team since June of 2016 and works with Duke's middle- and long-distance runners on the track.
Due to COVID-19 precautions, an extended search for Ogilvie's permanent replacement will begin at a later date.
Statement from Director of Track & Field Norm Ogilvie
"I am at least humble enough to know that this announcement has small importance in the current big picture, but I feel it is important enough to the Duke community of track & field student-athletes and alums that I explain my reasoning. I have been fortunate enough to stay put at one Division I school long enough to develop a true love for its values, culture and commitment to excellence in all things. I've tried to do my part over the last three decades, taking a declining men's team all the way back to the top of the ACC in cross-country, taking 6 Duke cross-country teams to the NCAA meet, and also helping to establish Duke University as one of the top women's track & field teams in the ACC on a consistent basis. We have won NCAA individual titles and put multiple Duke athletes on the Olympic team. Not once did we do so compromising the academic mission of one of the world's great institutions of higher learning.
I've been blessed with being able to hire great assistant coaches along the way, and we have young lions on our staff right now who are capable of taking the next step forward for our program.
With all the extra time I've had on my hands over the recent weeks during the stay at home orders for COVID-19, I've been able to do much thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life. I've done more than just coach, and while I loved nearly every minute of my years with our track program, I feel there needs to be a final meaningful chapter for the remaining years I have on our rapidly changing planet. What that exactly is remains to be seen, but I want to be able to contribute my experience and acquired wisdom to whatever opportunities present themselves in what will prove to be a world with a new normal.
To all the athletes and parents I've worked with over the years I want to pass along a huge 'Thank You.' You have provided me with memories and gifts that are the special compensation that only fellow athletes and coaches understand.
I also owe a huge thanks to my own family, which includes Jan Ogilvie, the best wife a husband could ever have and a fantastic mother to two girls while still managing to do a first rate coaching job here at Duke for over a quarter century."
#GoDuke
"To be sure, we are deeply appreciative of Norm's dedication and commitment to foster a spirit of collegiality and excellence relative to 'all things' Duke University, notwithstanding, Duke Athletics," Director of Athletics Dr. Kevin White said. "Moreover, we are indeed grateful for Norm's unqualified integrity, and per his unwavering effort to provide the very best possible student-athlete experience. Wishing Norm all the very best in his coaching retirement, as well as per the next chapter."
Ogilvie, who was named the men's cross-country head coach in 2000, led the Blue Devils to an ACC Championship in his first season – their first title since 1977 – while being named the ACC Coach of the Year. He has since guided the team to six NCAA Championship appearances and four IC4A championships while coaching 28 All-East selections, 25 All-Southeast Region honorees and 22 All-ACC selections. In all, Ogilvie's career record as a head coach against Division I teams in men's cross-country was 1,642 Wins, 639 losses and three ties.
A 1981 graduate of Drake University, Ogilvie spent three seasons as Head Coach of the Blue Devils men's track team before being promoted to Director of Track & Field in June of 2003. In more than two decades at the helm, Ogilvie has coached 418 All-East selections, 102 All-America honorees, 68 ACC individual champions, 284 All-ACC picks, 64 ECAC champions and 12 IC4A champions. He was instrumental in helping a trio of Blue Devils become NCAA champions, as Shannon Rowbury was victorious in the women's indoor mile in 2007 before Juliet Bortoff won the women's outdoor 10,000m in 2011 and Curtis Beach captured the men's indoor heptathlon in 2012 and 2014.
Ogilvie has also worked closely with three Team USA Olympians who competed at a total of seven summer games – Curt Clausen (2000 & 2004), Jillian Schwartz (2004 & 2012) and Shannon Rowbury (2008, 2012 & 2016). Additionally, he helped influence decorated sprinter Randy Jones to try out for the U.S. Bobsled team, whom he won a silver medal with at the 2002 winter games and again competed for in 2006.
The track & field program's record book has been nearly rewritten during Ogilvie's tenure. Indoors, student-athletes coached by Ogilvie have accounted for 42 of 45 all-time marks among both men's and women's events. Of the 55 total outdoor records, 42 have been accomplished under Ogilvie, including in all 18 field events.
Prior to arriving at Duke in 1991, Ogilvie spent three semesters on the University of Colorado staff, assisting with distance runners.
With Ogilvie's retirement in July, Associate Head Coach Shawn Wilbourn will be named Interim Head Coach of the track & field program, while Assistant Coach Rhonda Riley will serve as the Interim Head Coach of the cross-country program.
Wilbourn joined the Blue Devils staff in July of 2008 and has worked with student-athletes competing in the pole vault, sprints, hurdles and jumps. Riley has headed the women's cross-country team since June of 2016 and works with Duke's middle- and long-distance runners on the track.
Due to COVID-19 precautions, an extended search for Ogilvie's permanent replacement will begin at a later date.
Statement from Director of Track & Field Norm Ogilvie
"I am at least humble enough to know that this announcement has small importance in the current big picture, but I feel it is important enough to the Duke community of track & field student-athletes and alums that I explain my reasoning. I have been fortunate enough to stay put at one Division I school long enough to develop a true love for its values, culture and commitment to excellence in all things. I've tried to do my part over the last three decades, taking a declining men's team all the way back to the top of the ACC in cross-country, taking 6 Duke cross-country teams to the NCAA meet, and also helping to establish Duke University as one of the top women's track & field teams in the ACC on a consistent basis. We have won NCAA individual titles and put multiple Duke athletes on the Olympic team. Not once did we do so compromising the academic mission of one of the world's great institutions of higher learning.
I've been blessed with being able to hire great assistant coaches along the way, and we have young lions on our staff right now who are capable of taking the next step forward for our program.
With all the extra time I've had on my hands over the recent weeks during the stay at home orders for COVID-19, I've been able to do much thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life. I've done more than just coach, and while I loved nearly every minute of my years with our track program, I feel there needs to be a final meaningful chapter for the remaining years I have on our rapidly changing planet. What that exactly is remains to be seen, but I want to be able to contribute my experience and acquired wisdom to whatever opportunities present themselves in what will prove to be a world with a new normal.
To all the athletes and parents I've worked with over the years I want to pass along a huge 'Thank You.' You have provided me with memories and gifts that are the special compensation that only fellow athletes and coaches understand.
I also owe a huge thanks to my own family, which includes Jan Ogilvie, the best wife a husband could ever have and a fantastic mother to two girls while still managing to do a first rate coaching job here at Duke for over a quarter century."
#GoDuke
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