LAWRENCE, Kan. — When you are watching the 2024 Paris Olympics next month, keep an eye out for Stanley Redwine.
Stanley is the head track and field coach at the University of Kansas.
It’s that experience that made him standout to earn the nod to coach Team USA’s Men’s Track team in the Olympics.
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I had the chance to catch up with Stanley recently on KU’s track to get a better idea of what the Olympic experience means to him.
“Yes, yes, very excited about that,” he told me. “I was nominated and selected to be the men’s coach and I’m excited to serve.”
In doing my research for this story, I found out he was a pretty good choice for Team USA.
He’s one of the most decorated track and field coaches in the country.
Not only is he the longest tenured coach at KU, he's a five-time Big 12 Champion and a five-time Big 12 Coach of the Year.
On the national level, he served as assistant coach for Team USA at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and at the 2015 Pan-American Games.
"It’s really exhilarating,” he told me of his experiences. “I think I’ve coached some athletes that have received medals and I think for them it’s just a dream come true. Everyone wants to be an Olympic medalist and to see someone actually becoming Olympic medalist is amazing."
On the day we were there, he was actually training one of his KU athletes, Michael Joseph, who's already qualified for the Olympics.
I looked on as Stanley and Michael talked about the pace he’ll need to maintain during the competition.
The only catch? Michael is competing for his home county St. Lucia.
"I want for him to do extremely well, but it will be all about Team USA at that point,” Stanley said of heading to the Olympics.
Before turning to coaching, Stanley was quite the runner in his own right. He qualified for five straight Olympic trials in the 1980s and 90s.
He competed for Team USA in five track and field World Championships. He twice was champion of the U.S. men’s 800 meter competition.
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