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Long regarded as one of the nation's premier developers of
outstanding track and field student-athletes, Winckler's teams have
won 11 Big Ten championships, and he has been named Big Ten Coach of
the Year 11 times and NCAA Coach of the Year three times. During
Winckler's tenure, Illini athletes have won 266 individual Big Ten
titles and 51 have earned All-America recognition a total of 188
times. "First, I want to thank Gary for the exceptional job he has
done as our women's track and field coach," said Ron Guenther,
director of athletics. "His teams competed for Big Ten championships
on an annual basis, and he has been recognized nationally as a
premier coach."
Winckler has coached 13 different athletes who have reached the
Olympic Games in the sprints, hurdles or relays and have won gold,
silver and bronze medals. Dating back to 1992, athletes coached by
Winckler have appeared in every World Championship and Olympic
Games. Included in that group are former Illinois greats Perdita
Felicien, Celena Mondie-Milner, Aspen Burkett, Yvonne Harrison,
Susanna Kallur and Tonja Buford-Bailey.
Some of Winckler's best Illinois teams came in 1995 and 1996,
when the Illini achieved back-to-back fourth-place finishes at the
NCAA Outdoor Championships and a sixth-place national indoor finish
in 1996.
Prior to coming to Illinois, Winckler directed Florida State to
the outdoor national title in 1984 and the indoor crown in 1985.
Since 1985, Winckler has graduated 97 percent of his
student-athletes, with 74 of them receiving 156 total Academic
All-Big Ten awards and two receiving Academic All-America
recognition: Felicien and Cassie Hunt. Four Illini under Winckler
have earned the Big Ten Medal of Honor, including Yvonne Mensah in
2007; the honor is the conference's highest award given to the
student-athletes who have best demonstrated proficiency in
scholarship and academics.
Winckler coached Felicien to a gold medal in the 100-meter
hurdles at the 2003 World Championships, the first-ever gold medal
for an Illini athlete at the World Championships. Felicien, a
two-time Olympian, capped her brilliant collegiate career by winning
her second NCAA 100-meter hurdles crown in 2003. She left Illinois
as the NCAA record holder in the 60-meter hurdles, a three-time NCAA
champion and a 10-time All-American.
Celena Mondie-Milner, who won 19 Big Ten crowns under Winckler,
earned a gold medal at the 1995 World Championships as part of the
4x100-meter relay.
Other highlights for Winckler include head coaching stints with
the United States World Championship team in 1997 in Athens, Greece,
and at the 1989 World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
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Tonja Buford-Bailey, associate head coach, who is finishing her
sixth season on the Illini staff, will be elevated to the head
coaching position following the outdoor season. Another one of
Winckler's superb line of hurdlers, Buford-Bailey was a 10-time
All-American and won a Big Ten-record 25 individual and team titles.
A three-time Olympian, she earned a bronze medal in the 400-meter
hurdles at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Her mark of 52.62 seconds in
the 400-meter hurdles still remains third on the all-time world
list.
"It's very gratifying any time you can appoint one of your own as
a head coach," Guenther said. "Tonja was an outstanding athlete and
Olympian while competing and has done a fantastic job for the
University of Illinois. She has a passion for coaching and had a
great mentor in Gary Winckler."
"It's been a great 23 years at Illinois, a very good experience
for me and my family," Winckler said. "I always said I wouldn't be
one of those coaches who would hang on too long. The addition of
Tonja Buford-Bailey makes this the appropriate time to pursue other
avenues in my life. Tonja brings some youth and enthusiasm to
continue moving the program forward."
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Gary Winckler file
Coaching experience
University of Illinois, head coach, 1985-2008; Florida State
University, head coach, 1982-85; Florida State University, assistant
coach, 1980-82; Oregon State University, assistant coach, 1977-80;
Seattle Pacific University, assistant coach, 1974-77
Coaching honors
Head coach of the USA Outdoor World Championship team, 1997; head
coach of the USA Indoor World Championship Team, 1989; NCAA Coach of
the Year: 1984, 1985, 1989; national championships: 1984 NCAA
Outdoor, 1985 NCAA Indoor; USTFCCCA Midwest Region Outdoor Coach of
the Year, 2007; Varsity "I" Association Merit Award, 2007; Big Ten
Indoor Coach of the Year: 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996; Big Ten
Outdoor Coach of the Year: 1988, 1989, 1992, 1995, 2005, 2007; Big
Ten championships, 11: 1988 outdoor, 1989 indoor and outdoor, 1992
indoor and outdoor, 1993 indoor, 1995 indoor and outdoor, 1996
indoor, 2005 outdoor, 2007 outdoor
Big Ten championships while coaching at Illinois
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16, Maxwell
Garrett, fencing, 1941-72
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11, Gary Winckler,
women's track and field, 1985-2008
11, Gary Wieneke, men's track and field and cross country,
1967-2003
11, Charlie Pond, men's gymnastics, 1949-61, 1963-73
[Text from file received from Kent
Brown, sports information director,
University of Illinois]
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