1

Question: What have you most enjoyed about coaching?

Marty Owens: Working with the student-athletes is my biggest joy. I have been lucky to have been involved with a couple of championships, which was very nice. Watching a student-athlete achieve a personal best is more rewarding than any championship, though. It is great to see the look of accomplishment and satisfaction on their face after they see the rewards for all of their hard work at practice.
Jim Taylor: The close relationships I made with students. I enjoyed talking with them, often about things that had nothing to do with track, but things that were going on in their lives.

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Q: Marty, what is one thing you learned while serving as an assistant coach with Jim?

MO: There’s a plaque on the wall in the field house that reminds us of Jim’s favorite saying, “It’s a great day to get better.” I learned from Jim that this does not just pertain to the sport of track and field but in everything the team does in life. Just as important as developing good track and field athletes, we are also developing well-rounded people.

3

Q: Jim, what’s the secret to coaching success?

JT: I'm a heck of a coach with good athletes. When I don't have them, I am not very good. So I surrounded myself with quality athletes. And quality coaches. This is especially important in track and field, because of the wide range of events. I told the runners to start out, turn left, and hurry back. My technical aspects might not have been strong, but I was able to communicate with students. The important thing was not what I was able to do, but what I was able to get other people to do.

4

Q: What’s your favorite event?

MO: The 3000M steeplechase is my favorite event to watch at a meet. It always seems to draw a lot of attention. The water barrier is where the crowd will gather and be the loudest during the race, waiting for that one person to fall in the water pit. In fact, I will be getting my first crack at a steeplechase race next spring as part of a friendly contest between Paul Thistle '10, our top distance runner, and me. We chose the steeplechase as it is a fair distance between my being more of a 10K-and-up type of runner and Paul's being a strong miler-to-5K. So it should be fun.
JT: The 4 x 100 relay. So many bad things can happen. It's all about getting the stick around. We darn near won the national championship in 1994, with only one student who ran under an 11 second 100. We had three perfect passes, and led the race for 380 yards. We had no business even being in the race and we nearly stole it.

5

Q: When a high school student who participates in track and field is considering Susquehanna, and they ask you why they should apply, what do you tell them?

MO: The first thing I stress with recruits is the quality of education at Susquehanna University. I know many of them are looking at schools for track and field. As a Division III institution, we stress the educational experience here. I also reference the long tradition of excellence that we have enjoyed in the Middle Atlantic Conference and the new tradition about to be started in the Landmark Conference.
JT: Because you are going to get a great education, if we offer what you want in a major. That's got to be the number one priority. You have the opportunity to be successful here in academics. I always used to say, "If you fell off the curb and broke your leg, you'd better be at the school for all the right reasons - for the academics, as well as social aspects."

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Q: Can/did you see yourself coaching on the college level for 26 years?