Tyson taking leave of absence to coach at Oregon

When Mead track athletes board their bus and head northeast following completion of Saturday’s Richland jamboree, boys distance coach Pat Tyson will climb into his van and drive southeast.

Tyson, for 19 years the wildly successful Panthers cross country coach, said Monday he is taking a leave of absence to become a volunteer distance coach of the Oregon Ducks track team.

“A week ago I was called down to talk to (athletic director) Bill Moos and associate Gary Gray (and asked) if I would be willing to be a non-paid men’s distance running coach,” Tyson explained.

The position became available when six-year Ducks track coach Martin Smith agreed to resign. Gray will be the interim coach and four paid assistants will remain on staff.

Moos, in a press conference available on-line on the University of Oregon website, said the resignation would, “bring closure to the black cloud hanging over the program for the last couple of months.”

Smith, he explained during the conference, was a talented coach and tireless worker, but unlike previous coaches Bill Bowerman and Bill Dellinger, who had coached a combined 49 years at the school, did not have a community presence.

Also, the lack of a distance running emphasis, which had been an Oregon legacy, he said, had raised concerns from former athletes.

Moos said the university would conduct a nationwide search for Smith’s replacement.

“Track and field is to the University of Oregon what football is to Notre Dame or basketball is to Kentucky,” said Moos at the press conference. “It is very high profile with a tremendous fan base.”

Tyson, 54, is an Oregon alumnus who roomed with the legendary Steve Prefontaine.

He became recognized as a Pied Piper of high school distance running. After coaching two state championship cross country teams at Shorecrest High in Seattle, in 1984 and ‘85, he came to Mead.

The Panthers, beginning in 1988, won nine successive state big school cross country titles and added three more between 2000-02. His runners have won nine individual titles and numerous track distance championships.

“I get to help out my alma mater,” Tyson said of his decision to turn this spring’s Mead distance program over to Scott Daratha and move to Eugene.

He said he realizes it could merely be a three-month stay and is grateful to the Mead school district for allowing him the leave of absence to pursue a dream.

“I have to protect myself and will not resign as head cross country or distance coach,” he said, “It’s a weird world down there. I’m going into a huge hornet’s nest.”

But with 32 years of teaching in Washington, he’s not ruling out the possibility of applying for the coaching position at Oregon or as an assistant.

His coaching approach with collegians will differ little from high school, except in volume.

“It’s the same system I’ve used at Mead for 19 years,” he said. “I’ll make it one degree more challenging.”

And, he added, though coaching at Oregon is a chance he couldn’t pass up, if a full-time college position doesn’t pan out he’ll gladly return to Mead.

“If this didn’t work out, I’d stay at Mead until I’m 65,” Tyson said. “There’s not another high school I want to go to. There’s not a better place to work.”