Rick Sloan Position: Head Coach

• BORN: November 10, 1946
• HOMETOWN: Anaheim, California
• HIGH SCHOOL: Anaheim High, 1964
• COLLEGE: Fullerton College, 1964-66; UCLA, 1966-69 (BS); WSU, 1978 (MS)
• WIFE: Sandy
• CHILDREN: daughter Kim, son Scott
• GRANDCHILDREN: granddaughter Logan
• COACHING EXPERIENCE: California Institute of Technology and Pasadena City College, 1972; Mt. San Antonio Junior College, 1972-73.
• WSU APPOINTMENTS: 1973 - Assistant track and field coach; 1982 - Associate track and field coach; 1994 - Head coach men's track and field; 1995 - Head coach men's and women's track and field.

The student-athletes on the men's and women's track and field teams at Washington State University have found success athletically and academically under the direction of head coach Rick Sloan.

A dynamic coach and skilled technician, Sloan and his Cougar coaching staff have searched far and wide to bring the best student-athletes to Pullman, Washington, and then have worked tirelessly to have each one reach their greatest potential.

The programs' rise to success is evident in the accomplishments in the recent seasons including the 2006 outdoor season when 14 student-athletes qualified to compete at the NCAA Track & Field Championships, the largest Cougar contingent to compete at the national meet since 1991. WSU brought home 25 All-America certificates during the past four indoor and outdoor seasons.

Whitney Evans won the women's high jump title at the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Championships with a career-best leap of 6-feet, 1 1/4-inches, and earned her eighth All-America honor making her the most-decorated woman athlete in Washington State University history.

Recognized internationally as a highly successful multi-event coach, Sloan has directed four Cougars to NCAA top finishes in the past four years including Diana Pickler and Julie Pickler with third and fifth place heptathlon finishes in 2006.

As a Head Coach, Sloan has directed 29 WSU athletes to NCAA Outdoor All-American status 50 times, and directed 21 athletes to NCAA Indoor All-American status 33 times.

In his 12 years as the WSU Track Program's mentor, Sloan has seen Cougar men set 11 school records and Cougar women set 33 school records. Additionally, 16 men's freshmen and 29 women's freshman records have been rewritten in this time frame.

When Sloan was named the head track and field coach at Washington State in June of 1994, he had already invested 21 years of service to the program and the university as an assistant coach.

From 1973 until the summer of 1994, he was an assistant coach, directing WSU athletes in field events, hurdles, sprints, and decathlon.

Sloan came to coach at Washington State after a highly successful competitive career. An outstanding athlete while at UCLA, Sloan became the first Bruin to clear 7-0 in the high jump and was an All-American in the pole vault as an undergraduate.

He captained the Bruin track team as a senior and became the fourth American to surpass 8,000 points in the decathlon. As a 21-year-old, Sloan finished seventh in the decathlon at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. A year later he toured Europe with the U.S. National team.

While competing, Sloan held world decathlon records in the pole vault with a height of 16-7, and the high jump with a leap of 6-11 3/4. As a decathlete, he was ranked second in the United States in 1968 and 1969, and ranked 10th in the world in 1969. Sloan's 8,051 points was the fourth best mark in the world in 1969.

This Cougar mentor began his coaching career at California Institute of Technology and at Pasadena City College in 1972. Sloan also coached at Mt. San Antonio Junior College, home of the respected Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., before coming to WSU in 1973.

In September of 1994, USA Track and Field accorded Sloan the title of Master Coach, the highest recognition in coaching education.

Sloan is well-known internationally in the decathlon circuits because of his 14 years as coach for four-time world champion, Olympic champion and American record-holder Dan O'Brien.

Sloan is a much sought-after clinician who is the author of Track and Field Techniques and Training, and has produced nine instructional video tapes. He served as the head coach of the U.S.A. decathlon team which competed in the USSR in 1983. In 1988, he conducted clinics for the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) in Georgetown, Guyana.

In the fall of 2002, Sloan served as an assistant men's coach for the United States team competing at the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Cup in Madrid, Spain.

Cougar Highlights under Head Coach Rick Sloan
1994 - Named Head Coach for the Washington State men's Track & Field Team.
1995 - Named Head Coach for the combined Washington State men's and women's Track & Field Program.
1996 - Dominque Arnold won the men's 110m high hurdles title at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
1998 - Men's team won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships title...Men's team earned third place at the NCAA Indoor Championships with the distance medley relay team winning that event with a world record time...Sloan named MPSF Coach of the Year for both men and women, selected District 8 Men's Coach of the Year.
1999 - Women's team won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships...Sloan named MPSF Women's Coach of the Year...Men's team finished 10th at the NCAA Indoor Championships as Bernard Lagat won both the mile and 3000m...Lagat named Male Athlete of the Year...Women's team finished third at the Pac-10 Conference Championships and went on to place 20th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships...Men's team finished seventh at the Pac-10 Championships but rebounded with an 11th place finish at the NCAA Championships...Lagat won the men's NCAA men's 5000m title...Sloan selected United States Track Coaches Association (USTCA) Region VIII Women's Coach of the Year.
2000 - Women's team repeats as the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Champions...Sloan selected USTCA Region VIII Women's Coach of the Year.
2001 - Men's team won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships title...Sloan named MPSF Men's Coach of the Year...Women's team finished fourth at the Pac-10 Championships and went on to an 18th place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships...Sloan named USTCA Men's West Region Coach of the Year.
2002 - Women's team finished tied for 15th at the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championships...Ellannee Richardson and Anson Henry named Mondo West Region Outdoor Track Athletes of the Year...Pac-10 champions include Whitney Evans (high jump), Richardson (heptathlon) and Henry (100m, 200m)...Sloan named USTCA Men's West Region Coach of the Year.
2003 - Women's team takes 12th place at NCAA Outdoor Championships...Whitney Evans wins high jump, Ellannee Richardson heptathlon runner-up after winning Pac-10 titles...Darion Powell (decathlon) and Eric Dudley (intermediate hurdles) earn All-America...Anthony Buchanan (100m) and 4x100m relay (Lamarr Kirk, Bennie Chatman, James McSwain, Buchanan) also win Pac-10 championship.
2004 - For the third consecutive year, a WSU sprinter won the Pac-10 men's 100m dash...Anthony Buchanan won his second conseutive 100m dash title and placed seventh in the 100m at the NCAA Championships.
2005 - Diana Pickler NCAA indoor All-America (pentathlon)...Pac-10 champions Julie Pickler (heptathlon), Darion Powell (decathlon) and Robin Mikesh (high jump)...All-America honors to Julie Pickler and Diana Pickler (heptathlon), Tamara Diles and Tyson Byers (pole vault).
2006 - Julie Pickler NCAA indoor All-America after runner-up in pentathlon...NCAA outdoor All-America honors to John Cassleman (400m hurdles), Matt Lamb (discus), Diana Pickler and Julie Pickler (heptathlon)...Diana Pickler fifth in heptathlon at USA Track & Field Championships with school record 5,855 points.

2007 Cougar Track & Field Coaching Staff:
Head Coach: Rick Sloan (UCLA, 1969 - WSU, 1978, 11th year head coach, 32nd year with program [Office: 509-335-0248, Fax: 509-335-0344]
Associate Coach: Debra Farwell (WSU 1983) [335-0260]
Head Coach Cross Country: Jason Drake (Colorado, 1994) [335-0230]
Assistant Coaches:
Mark Macdonald (WSU 1992 - WSU 1993) [335-0246]
Ellannee Richardson (WSU, 2002) [335-4730]
Matt McGee (WSU, 2001) [335-0288]
Volunteer Assistant Coach: Tamara Diles