Coach Alan Connie announces retirement
After a 28-year coaching career, Alan Connie has announced his retirement as the head women’s cross-country/track and field coach at Coastal Carolina University.
“It has been such a privilege to have been asked to start this program 28 years ago and to have coached so many outstanding student-athletes,” said Connie. “When I started, it would’ve been beyond my wildest dreams that the program could win 28 Big South Championships in 28 years, but that is what our athletes have achieved in women’s cross-country and track and field. I am equally proud of the great success these athletes have achieved in their lives after their graduation.”
“Along with his remarkable coaching record, Alan has also been a tremendous ambassador for Coastal Carolina University," said Interim Director of Athletics Matt Hogue. "He has embodied class, integrity and humility and is proud to call himself a Chanticleer. We wish him all the best in his retirement."
Connie is the only head coach in Coastal Carolina women’s cross-country/track and field history. He built the program into one of nation’s best and is going out as a Triple Crown winner after taking the 2013 Big South Cross-Country Championship, the 2014 Big South Indoor Track and Field Championship and the 2014 Big South Outdoor Track and Field Championship. Connie led the Chanticleers to four triple crowns during his tenure, having also achieved the feat in 2003-04, 2005-06 and 2008-09.
Connie started the cross-country program in 1986 and led the charge to add the outdoor track and field program in 1994 and the indoor program in 1998. During his career, the women’s cross-country/track and field programs have won a combined 28 Big South titles.
Veteran Men's Head Cross-Country/Track and Field Coach Jeff Jacobs will take over as director of cross-country/track and field following Connie’s departure.
Connie is a 33-time Big South Coach of the Year including 13 recognitions in cross-country, 10 in indoor track and field and 10 in outdoor track and field. He was also named the 2004 Southeast Region Coach of the Year for indoor track and field. He was recently named the Big South Coach of the Decade in cross-country (1990s and 2000s), in indoor track and field (2000s) and in outdoor track and field (2000s).
Connie built the CCU's women's cross-country program into the most successful in the Big South Conference. The program has produced 13 conference championships, 85 All-Conference selections, 15 individual champions who have been named the Big South's Runner of the Year, 17 NCAA All-Southeast Region selections, nine NCAA National Championship qualifiers and two NCAA All-Americans. The 15 Big South individual champions include a stretch of eight consecutive titles from 1992 to 1999, two consecutive winners in 2002 and 2003, and three straight winners from 2005 to 2007.
The Chanticleer cross country program has also garnered national acclaim under Connie, having ended the season nationally ranked three times. Following a No. 24 final ranking in 1996, Connie’s Chanticleers ranked 20th in 1997 and 30th in 2002.
In track and field, Connie has coached student-athletes to 10 All-American honors, as well as 91 Big South Indoor Champions, 115 Big South Outdoor Champions, and a combined 543 indoor and outdoor All-Conference selections. In addition to the successes on the track and cross-country courses, Connie's student-athletes have proven that academics definitely come first. The cross-country team has earned 17 consecutive Academic All-American Team with distinction honors from the United States Track and Field and Cross-Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The track team has earned 11 consecutive All-Academic Team honors as well. In 2007, Coastal was sixth out of 327 Division I track and field programs with a 3.421 cumulative team GPA and in 2008 ranked 21st nationally with a 3.319 cumulative GPA.
Additionally, four of Connie's athletes have earned Academic All-America honors as selected by College Sports Information Directors Association. Felicitas Mensing earned the Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year Triple Crown in the 2007-08 season and was only the third athlete in Big South history to accomplish the feat. Her efforts in the classroom earned her Second Team ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America honors.
Connie has two daughters, Sara and Kira. He married his wife Rita in February 2012.
