Rich Bowman
Assistant Coach
Phone: 255-2709
Email:
rwb10@cornell.edu
Rich Bowman enters his 30th year at Cornell as an assistant coach. He works primarily with the men’s and women’s sprint-hurdlers and multi-events and has coached athletes to 139 Ivy League and Heptagonal championships. Currently, 45 school marks are held by athletes whom he has coached, while 33 teams have won Heps titles during his tenure.
At the 2009 indoor and outdoor Heptagonals, the Big Red men and women under his guidance won six individual events. Sprinter Jeomi Maduka set the all-time Ivy League mark for 60m at 7.45, winning both the 60m and 200m at the indoor Heps. Melissa Hewitt captured the 100m race at the outdoor conference meet as just a freshman. The relay teams he tutored had an outstanding season. The women’s 4x100m team won its eighth consecutive Ivy League title and set the league record at 45.71, while both the indoor and outdoor 4x400m teams were victorious, also holding Ivy best marks at 3:40.06 and 3:36.04, respectively. Three of his athletes -- Darren Roach, Lauren Kulik and Susie (Curtis) Schneider -- have entered Cornell’s prestigious Hall of Fame.
Before coming to Cornell, Bowman coached for three years at the University of Kansas, where, in addition to working toward his doctorate in exercise physiology, he helped the Jayhawks to three consecutive Big Eight Conference championships. When he came to Cornell, he helped the men’s team to a 1985 Heps title, coaching three jump champions, including Chris Chrysostomou, who set a school record of 26-2 in the long jump. He has coached Olympian Curt Hampstead (high hurdles); Trinidad national champion Mike Saunders (triple jump);Lauren Kulik, a two-time ECAC triple jump champion; and four out of the last seven Cornell senior women athletic MVP’s in Katy Jay, Hannah Garrity, Jamie Greubel and Jeomi Maduka.
A native of Palatine, Ill., Rich captained Palatine-William Fremd High School to the 1969 state cross country championships. He then attended Eastern Illinois University, where he earned his bachelor of science and master’s degrees in physical education. During his senior year, Bowman’s track and field squad won the NCAA Division II championships, while his cross country team finished fourth in the nation.
After earning his master’s degree in 1975, Rich spent two years as the head coach at Minooka High School. His teams won four conference titles and placed third at the Illinois championships in 1977. He coached state champions in the mile and two mile runs that year.
Bowman is also a physical education instructor at Cornell. He has coached at the USA Track and Field Elite Olympic Camp and is both Level I and Level II certified by USA Track and Field, and is currently working on his Level III certification. He has been a coach on six international track tours in Europe with the Cornell squad.
Rich and his wife, Janet, reside in the Finger Lakes town of Trumansburg and have two children, Theresa and Rob.
Return to Coaching Staff