Gonzaga cross-country and track land legendary coach

Pat Tyson’s nomadic ways have taken him to another unexpected destination: home again.

Gonzaga University will announce today that the legendary Mead High School distance “Pied Piper” has been hired as the college’s first fulltime cross country and track coach.

“There’s been kind of a void since leaving Mead and trying to find that great fit,” said Tyson. “I think this Gonzaga thing will be pretty cool.”

Tyson will replace Kevin Swaim, who coached GU’s teams part-time for 13 years, highlighted by a West Coast Conference women’s cross country championship in 1995, before resigning in January.

“Ever since then, I’ve had people in running circles here stopping by, e-mailing and calling, saying they had the perfect person for us,” said Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth. “Now, that happens when we have other coaching positions open, too, but it’s always a bunch of different names. For this position, only one name kept coming up over and over, and that was Pat.”

It’s not surprising. In 20 years at Mead, Tyson’s boys cross country teams won 12 state championships – including nine in a row – and finished among the top three at state 18 times. The Panthers were 145-6 in dual meets, and won 26 individual state championships in cross country and track.

He took a leave from Mead in the spring of 2005 to assist at his alma mater, the University of Oregon, on a volunteer basis. When his hopes of remaining on staff there didn’t work out, he returned to Mead for a year, then accepted a job as an assistant at the University of Kentucky, where he remained for a year. Last fall, he accepted the head track and field coaching job at South Eugene High School in Oregon.

But Tyson, 58, remained determined to test his abilities at the college level.

“So many of my former athletes – Rob Aubrey and Matt and Micah Davis – have told me, ‘You’ve done the high school thing – you need the opportunity to see what you can do at the college level,’ ” Tyson said. “I can develop kids. I think I’m good at that. And this is like when I came to Mead – you knew you were entering fertile ground.”

WCC cross country has been dominated for years by the University of Portland, which has won every men’s title since 1979 and 18 of the last 21 for women.

“They’ve been very successful,” said Roth. “They made a commitment with coaching and scholarships and it’s shown. I believe that we can compete with them ultimately, if we take the appropriate steps and that starts with coaching.”

Cross country was the last sport in Gonzaga’s athletic department overseen by a part-time coach.

“It’s going to take some time,” said Tyson. “The scholarships and program support are the things that are ‘under construction.’ But what was expressed to me is that they want a competitive program that can ultimately contend for championships in the WCC.

“I love the running history in Spokane – I was a part of that and I’m happy to be part of it again.

“Here is a chance to get back to the community and reconnect with the buzz that’s already going on.”