‘THE NEW GUY’

Vic Wallace realizes the simple truth about his new job: He can keep it for the next decade and there still will be people referring to him as “the new guy.”

That’s what happens when you replace an institution.

Wallace is the new boys track and field coach at West Valley High School, the first new boys coach the school has had since 1974. Newly inducted Hall of Famer Jim McLachlan held the post for 33 years.

“I’m probably older than most of the event coaches we have,” Wallace laughed. “But they’re still going to call me ‘the new guy.’

“Just so long as none of the kids challenges me to a race. I’m getting too old for that.”

Long considered one of the premier sprint coaches in the state and the sprint coach at Mead, Wallace takes over as a head coach for the first time in his career.

The Eagles, who won the 2005 Class 3A boys state championship, will compete in the Class 2A Great Northern League for the first time this spring.

“It’s a pretty easy transition,” he said. “For the most part, I come out, I take attendance, talk to the kids and then I’m back to being a coach.”

And coaching comes easily to Wallace.

Wallace keeps a busy schedule. Mornings find him at Rockwood Clinic, where he works as the program coordinator in the Sports Performance Center. He then travels to West Valley, where he works with special education teacher Kevin Murphy. After coaching track workouts, he heads back to Rockwood Clinic.

“When my head hits the pillow at night, I’m pretty tired,” he said. “Free time? That’s the time I spend driving.”

When he arrived on the job at West Valley in September, he said, he knew his first to-do item would be to put together a staff to run home track meets.

“I was heading for the door to leave that first day when Kevin said ‘Oh, by the way – I’m the meet announcer for home track meets and your whole meet staff is already assembled,’ ” Wallace said. “I thought, alright! One less thing to do.”

On Thursday Wallace coaxed his athletes through a training workout. In between explaining the intervals he wanted run, Wallace offered instruction on both form and the amount of effort he wanted. There were frequent stops to marvel at different athlete’s abilities.

“Look at that!” was one typical comment. “That’s a freshman!”

The point of these early-season workouts, he said, is to instill proper form.

“The speed will come later,” he said. “Right now, I want them to have good form and we want to make those adjustments now. That way, when the speed comes, there will be fewer injuries.”

Wallace has been asking his athletes to be versatile.

“We have 42 kids out and will get a few more when the basketball team finishes,” he said. “I don’t know how that number compares to previous years, but I’m pleased with it. It’s not like it was at Mead, where we would regularly have 100 boys out for track.

“Right now, we’re asking everyone to try everything. I’m hoping that, by the time the first meet rolls around that we’ll have everyone doing four events.”

Wallace will have plenty of experienced help. Longtime East Valley coach Howard Dolphin, a legend for his work with throwers, will return.

“Howard will be out, but not until it warms up,” girls coach Rick Kuhl laughed. “After 53 years or so coaching, he knows enough not to come back from Hawaii or Arizona or wherever it is he goes until it warms up a little more.”

The Eagles have athletes to work with.

The school’s cross country team, still coached by McLachlan, was one of the state’s best 2A teams last fall, giving the track team a nucleus of middle and distance runners to work with. Football standout Tim Pring decided against playing baseball and turned out for track, where he wants to pole vault and throw the javelin.

“I think we’re going to have some pretty good kids to work with,” Wallace said.