Hired in 1996, Professor Toby Schwarz, Ph.D., is Whitworth’s longest-serving current coach. Over 29 seasons as the head track & field coach and 27 seasons as cross country coach, he has built a powerhouse program. During his tenure, he has earned over 40 coach of the year awards at the conference and regional levels and was named national coach of the year once. Here he shares about his coaching philosophy and this year’s season.
Q. Why do you feel it’s important to emphasize that your student-athletes are a TEAM?
A. There are millions of teams, but we emphasize that we are more than “a group of individuals.” We are a TEAM. Our goal is for each athlete to pursue their potential in four key areas: athletically, academically, socially and, if it is important to them, spiritually. We have resources to help each student-athlete in our program reach their full potential. Matthew 5:48 says: “Be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect.” This does not mean flawlessness but maturity and completeness. The key is that they need to want to pursue that completeness themselves. Life is a TEAM sport. Love God and love others. We try to help each member realize that doing something with and for others is not only more meaningful, but will also help us become more successful by investing in others and not only ourselves.
Q. Why do you love coaching at Whitworth?
A. I am allowed to coach the student-athletes FULLY. We are not robots that are purely physical creatures that only move and think. We are emotional and spiritual beings who require both encouragement and correction. I am given the autonomy at Whitworth to tell student-athletes what they NEED to hear and not what they WANT to hear. I am able to tell them that I love them and care about them, while also showing that love and care by holding them to higher standards and pushing them toward their potential.
Q. What’s it like having a larger roster this year after recruiting over 70 new student-athletes last fall?
A. As with any growth, there are growing pains. In a sport where numbers often equate to success, we welcome the pain. A larger number requires more attention, and when half of the TEAM is new, we must be intentional about making sure our culture remains intact. As we approach the Northwest Conference Track & Field Championship portion of our season, we are very pleased with the impact the new TEAMmates have provided to the TEAM and equally impressed by how the more veteran members have stepped up to mentor them.
Q. What should fans watch for during the remainder of this season?
A. The NWC Track & Field Championship is Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27, hosted by Lewis & Clark College. We currently have 85 athletes qualified out of our 110 on the roster. We hope the numbers and the quality will be enough to bring home a couple of conference championship trophies. In addition, we currently have nine athletes who are ranked in the top 20 in the nation, and our hope is that those athletes, and a few more, will qualify for the national championships. One athlete is more than most teams. Five is a huge number of qualifiers. Ten puts you in the top programs in the country.
Q. What trait is most important to an athlete’s success?
A. Resilience – the ability to respond to adverse situations. Life will only get harder. God did not send Jesus to make life easy. He sent him to make life meaningful (Bob Goff). Our life is not about being comfortable or avoiding challenges but to learn to COPE with and learn from the challenges we face. Life will get harder, but we will learn to deal with those hard things, better. Take a deep breath, understand the situation you are in, control your emotions, recognize the facts of the situation, make a plan and then execute that plan.
Worth a Look 