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Larry Cole, whose programs have produced 36 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference track and field championships, has retired after his 21st season at Rose-Hulman in 2023-24. Cole will remain on the staff for his 22nd year as the NCAA Meet Director for the 2024 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships.
Cole led the Fightin' Engineers to 13 consecutive HCAC Men's Outdoor Track and Field championships from 2008-21. The Fightin' Engineers also won 11 consecutive HCAC indoor championships from 2011-21. Between the indoor and outdoor programs, Cole led Rose-Hulman to 24 consecutive men's track and field conference titles from 2008-21.
Cole has also helped Rose-Hulman individuals earn 21 All-American honors and five NCAA Division III national championships in his era at the college. In addition, Cole helped the men's and women's teams sweep both the HCAC Indoor and Outdoor Team Championships in 2018 and 2021.
A strong athletic administrator, Cole also served as interim athletic director at Rose-Hulman from July-December 2021.
For his efforts, Cole has earned 32 HCAC Coach of the Year honors since 2008. During Cole's tenure at Rose-Hulman, the Fightin' Engineers have combined for 322 indoor and outdoor men's and women's individual and relay conference champions since joining the HCAC in 2007.
The Rose-Hulman men's and women's track and field programs have enjoyed record setting success under Cole. Since 2003, the women's program has rewritten all 22 indoor school records and all 21 outdoor standards. The men have combined for 15 indoor and 13 outdoor school records during the era.
In the classroom, Cole's squads have produced 12 Academic All-Americans.
Regarded by his peers as one of Division III's finest meet directors, Cole's efforts helped Rose-Hulman land the hosting role for the 2007 and 2009 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field National Championships. He previously served as the meet director for the 1995 NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Nationals at Ohio Northern.
His efforts were also instrumental in Rose-Hulman securing the 2012 and upcoming 2024 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships at the LaVern Gibson Course.
Cole began his coaching career at Muskingum College (Ohio) as the men's and women's track and field coach from 1982-90. At Muskingum, he coached 52 conference champions, 15 NCAA Division III All-Americans, and four conference women's championship teams.
Cole then moved on to Ohio Northern, where his programs produced 72 league champions, 33 All-Americans, and was twice named conference Coach of the Year from 1990-97. He was also named both the Great Lakes Region men's and women's Coach of the Year in 1996.
Twenty-two of Cole's former student-athletes have been inducted into the Muskingum and Ohio Northern Halls of Fame. Cole himself was inducted into the Muskingum Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016.
Off the track, Cole served on the Board of Directors of the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. He served as the group’s treasurer from 2012-16.
Cole and his wife Cathy reside in Terre Haute. Cathy is employed by the Vigo County School Corporation as a kindergarten teacher at Dixie Bee Elementary. The couple has three sons, Matthew (Matt), Braden and Alex, along with five grandchildren.
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