Fred Harvey Position: Head Coach Experience: 7th Year

Fred Harvey enters his seventh year as the Director of Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross Country. After 15 years as an assistant and associate head coach at the University of Arizona, Harvey took the reigns during the 2002-03 school year. Harvey is one of the finest coaches in the nation, and in 2004 was named to the United States Track Coaches Association Executive Committee. His coaching expertise, combined with his enthusiastic recruiting, will continue to keep the Wildcats at the top of the track and field and cross country ranks.

During the 2008 season, the Wildcats saw four athletes earn Indoor All-American honors and five more were Outdoor All-Americans. Both the men's and women's team finished in the top-25 at the NCAA National Championships In addition to the success during the collegiate season, seven athletes went on to compete at the United States Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene, Ore. While no athlete from that group made the Olympic team, the seven members was one of the largest groups sent from an individual university.

In 2007, Harvey coached 10 athletes to All-American honors during the outdoor season and four athletes were indoor All-Americans. The men's team finished in 11th place at the NCAA championships outdoors and 14th indoors. In addition 17 Wildcats earned All-West Region Honors for the performances at the regional meet in Eugene, Oregon. In 2006, Harvey coached the Wildcats to their most successful season in recent memory. The men's squad placed third in the Pacific-10 and fourth at the NCAA National Championships. Six men and one woman earned all- America honors for the Wildcats. The team was also successful in the classroom, with 12 athletes being named to the Pac-10 All-Academic teams.

Over the past four years, Harvey has worked countless hours to create his "Template for Success." The top three factors in this template include recruiting the top athletes, recruiting the top staff and having the total support of his athletic department.

In recruiting the top athletes, Harvey and his staff have been able to land many of the world's best young talents and bring them here to "Wildcat Country". During this period, the Wildcats have signed 14 U.S. high school state champions, three U.S. Junior Champions, one Chinese Junior National Champion, three Junior College National Champions, and one NCAA Division III National Champion.

In recruiting the top staff members, Harvey has been able to lure some of the top coaches in the world to Arizona. Dr. James Li joined Coach Harvey's staff in 2002, and has returned the UA distance program to elite status.

Harvey also felt the need to make the horizontal and high jump areas more of a focal point within the program, and was able to bring Sheldon Blockburger to Arizona from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. Blockburger is regarded as one of the top jumps coaches in the country. At the 2005 NCAA Championships, he coached the national champion and the fourth-place finisher in the women's high jump. Since then Blockburger has gone on to lead two athletes to three more individual national championships with Jake Arnold winning the decathlon in 2006 and 2007 while high jumper Liz Patterson took home the glory at the most recent 2008 National Championships.

In the throws department, Coach Craig Carter joined the Wildcats staff last season from Utah State and had two athletes finish in the top six in the shot put at the NCAA championships. In the 2008 season, three Arizona shot putters earned All-American honors under Carter's tutelage.

Building Harvey's "Template for Success" requires a program to operate as a business without losing the ability to work personally with the student-athletes. The willingness of the upper administration to move Francesca Green from the marketing department and reassign her as the new Director of Operations for Track and Field and Cross Country has allowed the staff to work much more closely with the student-athletes on the 2007-08 roster.

On the national and world scene, Harvey has proven to be one of the best. Originating from San Francisco, he came to Arizona from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. There, he was the assistant women's coach for seven years and coached 14 NCAA Division II national champions, 52 Division II All- Americans and two Division I All-Americans. During his seven-year stint, the Mustangs won four Division II national titles.

Over his career, Harvey has coached 22 national champion performers, 123 All-Americans, 88 conference champions, seven Olympians, five World Championship team members and three World Cup team members. His most noted Olympian is local Tucsonan Michael Bates. Bates was the 1992 bronze medalist in the 200-meter dash at the Barcelona Games. In the 2000 Olympic Games, Patrick Nduwimana, a Harvey pupil, advanced to the semifinals after battling injuries.

Several of Harvey's former Arizona sprinters have gone on to earn acclaim at the national and world levels. Nduwimana not only ran well at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, but he set a school record in the 800m, clocking a time of 1:44.06 during the European season. Another of Harvey's pupils, hurdler Michelle Johnson, nearly made the U.S. Olympic team in the 400m hurdles.

At the 1999 World Championships in Spain, two of Harvey's pupils ran with considerable success. Nduwimana advanced to the semifinals of the 800m for his native Burundi, and Johnson finished sixth in the 400m hurdles, running 54.23 in the final.

Harvey also has earned international respect and was selected to coach the U.S. men at the 2003 Pan American Games. During the five-day event in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, he led the team to 21 total medals - seven gold, seven silver and seven bronzes.

Harvey has coached some of the most successful athletes in school history. He developed Brianna Glenn into one of the top female sprinters and long jumpers in the nation. In 2001, Glenn won the 200-meter dash and long jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, becoming the only athlete in history to accomplish that feat. Patrick Nduwimana broke the NCAA national meet record en route to winning the NCAA 800 meter titles indoors as well as outdoors.

In 2001, Harvey added to his resume by becoming Arizona's Spring Development Coach, working with the Wildcat football team. He trained the football players in the dynamics of sprinting and speed development that season, and it made a noticeable difference on the field.

In addition to his work with the Arizona teams, Harvey also works with former Wildcats, preparing them for post-collegiate competition. Bates is an 11-year NFL veteran, and he is a five-time Pro Bowl selection.

Harvey was a fine athlete himself at San Jose City College and Cal Poly- SLO. In 1979, he ran 5.81 in the indoor 50m, the fifth-fastest time in the world that year. In 1981, he ran the sixth-fastest time in the world in the same event. During his competitive years, Harvey had personal-best times of 10.1 (100m), 20.78 (200m) 45.7 (400m) and 1:50.2 (800m). While competing at Cal Poly-SLO, Harvey earned three Division II All-America honors and was a member of the winning 400m relay team at the Division II national championships.

Harvey earned his bachelor's degree from Cal Poly-SLO in 1983. He is married to Janet Harvey, a former elite hurdler and long jumper. Together, they have a son, Lauren, and two daughters, J' Lynn and Imani Lee.