SCIAC News

Men's Track/XC Coach Pat Mulcahy retires after 38 years

Longtime men's cross country and track & field coach Pat Mulcahy has retired, Pomona-Pitzer's athletic department announced in August. Mulcahy coached both sports for 38 years, and mentored numerous athletes to conference, regional and national prominence.

"Coach Mulcahy has been a tremendous teacher, coach, and vital member of the College community over the past 38 years," said Pomona-Pitzer Athletic Director Charles Katsiaficas. "He will be sorely missed. He has provided outstanding leadership to so many students for nearly four decades, and his legacy in both track and cross country in Division III is firmly established."

In 1969, Mulcahy became head cross-country and track coach for the combined Pomona-Pitzer Colleges athletic program. Through his career, he oversaw the improvements of hundreds of student-athletes - from mere beginners to elite-level superstars. He coached 40 athletes to 76 NCAA All-American performances, with ten of those athletes becoming national champions. Four of these champions set national records in their events.

Mulcahy coached the Pomona-Pitzer men's track & field teams to five SCIAC conference titles and the men's cross country teams to ten SCIAC conference titles. At the NCAA Division III National level, Mulcahy's track & field teams finished in the Top-20 in team scoring 15 times, with a high placing of 4th in 1984. Mulcahy's cross country teams advanced to the national meet eight times, with a high finish of 10th in 1979.

Mulcahy also established the spring Pomona-Pitzer Track & Field Invitational, held each year in April. The meet, conceived in 1987, annually draws thousands of college and open athletes from across the nation to Pomona College's blue Strehle Track.

Mulcahy is widely acknowledged as one of the foremost field events coaches in the country and previously served as president of the NCAA Division III Track Coaches Association.

Mulcahy graduated from Pomona College in 1966. He played soccer and threw javelin at Pomona, and went on to receive his Ph.D. in Urban Sociology from UCLA in 1972. During this period he continued to throw javelin and traveled extensively in Europe studying the event. In the 1970s, Mulcahy served as an assistant coach for both men and women on national teams that toured the Philippines and Taiwan, giving clinics to coaches of both countries.

Pomona-Pitzer's men's cross country and track & field teams will be led by interim coach David Longyear this year while a search is held for Mulcahy's replacement.