Background:

Coach Paul Chegwidden has been the head cross-country coach and assistant track and field distance coach here at Montclair State University for the past three years. Coach Paul is an educator, husband, and father of three, in addition to being a coach. The athletic department at Montclair has decided to split the men's and women's track and field teams into two separate teams. The athletic department should have given prior coaches or athletes a say in what we all wanted and needed. The majority of the team feels blindsided by the situation. We ask that the athletic department consider making, at least, the head cross-country coaching position work for Coach Paul so we athletes can have him back to an extent and Coach Paul can continue doing what he loves. 

Insight on Coach Paul:

      We respectfully request that Paul Chegwidden remain as the head cross-country coach. Our team feels that Coach Paul has significantly impacted the team/program, and it would be a disadvantage for the team to lose him. Coach Paul should be able to coach both track and field and cross-country. But if Coach Paul can only do one, we want him as our head coach for cross country. We need to keep Coach Paul as our coach for many reasons. Coach Paul's resume and experience speak for itself - Hall of Famer at Felician University, a Division 2 school, and has almost fifteen years of coaching experience. On top of his successful running career, he has been a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist for years and continues to pursue his education in the exercise science field by enrolling in graduate school for kinesiology with a concentration in exercise psychology. Coach Paul also works less than ten minutes from the school, making this job convenient for him and easily accessible for us. 

     Coach Paul has built this program from the ground up. When he entered the program, a new coach had just left after two weeks. Coach Paul stepped in and turned this team from a place no one wanted to be to somewhere no one wanted to leave. Coach Paul makes this team a positive space. Not giving him the opportunity to be our head coach removes the stability, flexibility, and culture he's brought to this program. Coach Paul had no intention of leaving. With the history of this program, where coaches stayed at most four years, Coach Paul intended to stay well over four years and grow this program. He remains flexible with his athletes, as almost half the team are commuters or live far from campus. After communicating with him, he would accommodate runs for team members by letting them run independently if it conflicts with practice. If Coach Paul is forced to leave this team, that sense of flexibility is also on the line. The culture is also on the line. Coach Paul makes sure this team is more than a team. With Coach Paul here, this team has molded into a family. 

      He worked tirelessly on giving us exceptional periodization training, recruiting new athletes, and building a safe space and personal relationship with each athlete. Coach Paul's training speaks for itself - from athletes achieving lifetime personal records to a season's best and peaking at the perfect moment in the season. Everyone on both the cross country and track team, men included, has seen substantial progress and improvements under Coach Paul. He guided alumni Kelly Weckstein to receiving second-team all-NJAC honors his first year, and in his second season, the cross-country team was recognized as the "dark horse" in the NJAC rankings. This year, the team is on track to potentially place fourth at NJACs; since this sport has been reintroduced at Montclair, it has never placed higher than fifth. In addition to NJAC places, he helped move the team to place in the top half of the region, whereas, before Coach Paul, Montclair's cross-country team was constantly finishing in the bottom half. Taking him away from this program could sacrifice the steps the program is making in the right direction. Coach Paul is working on building this team through recruiting, where he hosts tours, lunches, and overnight visits and goes out of his way to visit high school meets. Coach Paul goes above and beyond in all aspects of coaching, especially when it comes to his athletes. Coach Paul truly cares and believes in every single one of his athletes. He will always make the time of day for his athletes, whether by sending a quick message or an athlete who needs to talk with him. He will never say no when an athlete needs help. Coach Paul always has the right words to say before and after a meet or when an athlete struggles. He goes to great lengths to be the best coach he can be. Coach Paul always goes the extra mile, not because he feels he has to, but because he wants to.   

      Coach Paul commits so much of himself to this position, which is a part-time coaching position. He sends weekly emails overviewing the week and made an online bulletin overviewing the season. The bulletin board includes important documents, multiple strength training routines, his planned out, thoughtful training, and the team philosophy. On the bulletin, there is a Google form that each athlete fills out to provide feedback on the run/workout of the day, including the pace, how they felt, a scale from 1-5 on effort, and an option to upload the athlete's heart rate variability. This information ensures him that we feel good and will progress accordingly; with that, he can modify anything for the athlete individually, optimizing his training. Coach Paul devotes so much time and energy to this program that although he is in a part-time position at Montclair State University, he works full-time hours - all for his athletes. 

Keeping Coach Paul as our head cross-country coach under his conditions would be optimal for this team.