Coaching Experience
Volunteer Assistant Coach, Cornell (2018-Present)
Head Women’s Coach, Cornell (2011-2017)
Director of Track and Field, Cornell (2016-17)
Assistant Coach, Cornell (1981-2011, 2017-18)
Assistant Coach, University of Kansas (1978-1981)
Head Coach, Minooka (Illinois) High School (1975-1978)
Education
BS, Eastern Illinois University, 1974
MS, Eastern Illinois University, 1975
Honors and Accomplishments
-50 Heptagonal Team Championships in men’s and women’s cross country and track during his tenure at Cornell, including 30 on the women’s side
-Coached over 150 Heptagonal champions
-45 school marks are held by athletes he has coached
-USTFCCCA Northeast Region Outdoor Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2013
-Ivy League Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year, 2016
Rich Bowman’s legendary coaching career at Cornell spans four decades and includes 50 Heptagonal team titles in men’s and women’s cross country and track. His mentorship of the women’s team led to 30 Heptagonal team titles and included some of the greatest women’s track athletes in the history of the Ivy League.
Retired as a full-time coach, Bowman returns in 2018-19 as a volunteer coach for his 38th year on the Big Red staff. During his career, Bowman has worked primarily with the men’s and women’s sprint-hurdlers and relay teams, and has coached Big Red athletes to over 150 Ivy League and Heptagonal Championships. Under his direction as head women’s coach from 2011-2017, four teams — 2011 cross country, 2012 outdoor track and field, 2012 cross country, and 2013 outdoor track and field — won Ivy League/Heptagonal team titles. Two teams – 2012 indoor track and field and 2016 outdoor track and field have won championships at the ECAC meets, the first Ivy teams ever to accomplish this feat. In 2005, His 4x400 relay team became the first women’s Ivy League squad to qualify for the NCAA Finals. Additionally, Bowman coached the 4x400 relay squad to back-to-back appearances in 2014 and 2015.
Under Bowman, Big Red hurdlers have collected 14 conference titles, while 21 indoor and outdoor 4x400 meter relay teams have won league championships. Eight of his athletes — Darren Roach, Lauren Kulik , Susie (Curtis) Schneider, Katy Jay, Hannah Garrity, Shonda Brown, Jessica Brown and Jamie Greubel — have entered Cornell’s prestigious Hall of Fame. Five of his athletes have earned the coveted Charles H. Moore as the Most Outstanding Senior Athlete at Cornell: Katy Jay, Hannah Garrity, Jamie Greubel, Jeomi Maduka and Udeme Akpaete
When he first arrived at Cornell, he helped the men’s team to a 1985 Heps title, coaching three jump champions, including Chris Chrysostomou – who continues to hold the Ivy League record in the long jump at 26-2. He has coached Olympians Curt Hampstead (high hurdles) and Jamie Greubel, former Trinidad national champion Mike Saunders (triple jump), Lauren Kulik, a two-time ECAC triple jump champion.
Prior to Cornell
Before coming to Cornell, Bowman coached for three years at the University of Kansas, where, in addition to working towards his doctorate in exercise physiology, he helped the Jayhawks to three consecutive Big Eight Conference championships. He served as an assistant to the director of the Kansas Relays, legendary coach, Bob Timmons.
A native of Palatine, Ill., Bowman 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 education. During his senior year, Bowman was part of the Panthers track and field squad that won the NCAA Division II Championships, while his cross country team finished fourth in the nation. He was recently honored at his alma mater with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.
After earning his master’s degree in 1975, Bowman spent two years as the head coach at Minooka High School. His teams won four conference titles and placed third at the Illinois State Championships in 1977. He coached state champions in the mile and two-mile runs that year. 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.
Personal
Rich and his wife, Janet, reside in the Finger Lakes town of Trumansburg and have two children, Theresa and Rob.
