Rick Sloan Position: Head Coach

• BORN: November 10, 1946
• HOMETOWN: Anaheim, California
• HIGH SCHOOL: Anaheim High, 1964
• COLLEGE: Fullerton College, 1964-66; UCLA, 1966-69 (BS); WSU, 1978 (MS)
• WIFE: Sandy
• CHILDREN: daughter Kim, son Scott
• GRANDCHILDREN: granddaughters Logan and Ellis
• COACHING EXPERIENCE: California Institute of Technology and Pasadena City College, 1972; Mt. San Antonio Junior College, 1972-73.
• WSU APPOINTMENTS: 1973 - Assistant track and field coach; 1982 - Associate track and field coach; 1994 - Head coach men's track and field; 1995 - Head coach men's and women's track and field.

Head coach Rick Sloan shares a lifetime of passion for track and field with the student-athletes on the men's and women's teams at Washington State University, and they have found success athletically and academically under his tutelage.

A dynamic coach and skilled technician, Sloan and his Cougar coaching staff have searched far and wide to bring the best student-athletes to Pullman, Washington, and then have worked tirelessly to have each one reach their greatest potential.

The programs' continued success is evident in the consistent accomplishments achieved at the Pacific-10 Conference, NCAA Regional and National Championships, the USA Track and Field and World levels.

WSU brought home 46 All-America certificates during the past seven indoor and outdoor seasons.

In 2008 two Cougar freshmen ascended to national acclaim. Ebba Jungmark won the women's high jump gold medal at the NCAA Indoor Championships, clearing 6-feet, 2 1/2 inches which is the second-best height in WSU history. Jeshua Anderson claimed the men's 400m hurdles title at the NCAA Outdoor Championships after grabbing the Pac-10 crown. He also won the US Junior and World Junior gold medals in the intermediate hurdles and claimed the school record with a time of 48.68 seconds. Jungmark joined another national high jump champion who thrived under Sloan's mentoring, Whitney Evans. Evans won the 2003 outdoor title and earned eight All-America honors making her the most-decorated woman athlete in Washington State University history.

Recognized internationally as a highly successful multi-event coach, Sloan has directed five Cougars to NCAA top finishes in the past seven years including Julie Pickler's second-place finish in the 2007 heptatathlon, Diana Pickler and Julie Pickler with third and fifth-place heptathlon finishes in 2006, and Rickey Moody's eighth place finish in the 2008 decathlon.

As a Head Coach, Sloan has directed 38 WSU athletes to NCAA Outdoor All-American status 63 times, and directed 26 athletes to NCAA Indoor All-American status 39 times.

In his 14 years as the WSU Track Program's mentor, Sloan has seen Cougar men set 14 school records and Cougar women set 41 school records. Additionally, 20 men's freshmen and 36 women's freshmen records have been rewritten in this time frame. When Sloan was named the head track and field coach at Washington State in June of 1994, he had already invested 21 years of service to the program and the university as an assistant coach.

When Sloan was named the head track and field coach at Washington State in June of 1994, he had already invested 21 years of service to the program and the university as an assistant coach.

From 1973 until the summer of 1994, he was an assistant coach, directing WSU athletes in field events, hurdles, sprints, and decathlon.

Sloan came to coach at Washington State after a highly successful competitive career. An outstanding athlete while at UCLA, Sloan became the first Bruin to clear 7-0 in the high jump and was an All-American in the pole vault as an undergraduate.

He captained the Bruin track team as a senior and became the fourth American to surpass 8,000 points in the decathlon. As a 21-year-old, Sloan finished seventh in the decathlon at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. A year later he toured Europe with the U.S. National team.

While competing, Sloan held world decathlon records in the pole vault with a height of 16-7, and the high jump with a leap of 6-11 3/4. As a decathlete, he was ranked second in the United States in 1968 and 1969, and ranked 10th in the world in 1969. Sloan's 8,051 points was the fourth best mark in the world in 1969.

This Cougar mentor began his coaching career at California Institute of Technology and at Pasadena City College in 1972. Sloan also coached at Mt. San Antonio Junior College, home of the respected Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., before coming to WSU in 1973.

In September of 1994, USA Track and Field accorded Sloan the title of Master Coach, the highest recognition in coaching education.

Sloan is well-known internationally in the decathlon circuits because of his 14 years as coach for four-time world champion, Olympic champion and American record-holder Dan O'Brien.

Sloan is a much sought-after clinician who is the author of Track and Field Techniques and Training, and has produced nine instructional video tapes. He served as the head coach of the U.S.A. decathlon team which competed in the USSR in 1983. In 1988, he conducted clinics for the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) in Georgetown, Guyana.

In the fall of 2002, Sloan served as an assistant men's coach for the United States team competing at the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) World Cup in Madrid, Spain.

Cougar Highlights under Head Coach Rick Sloan
1994 - Named Head Coach for the Washington State men's Track & Field Team.

1995 - Named Head Coach for the combined Washington State men's and women's Track & Field Program.

1996 - Dominque Arnold won the men's 110m high hurdles title at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

1998 - Men's team won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championship...Men's team earned third place at NCAA Indoor Championships with the distance medley relay team winning in a world record time...Sloan named MPSF Coach of the Year (men and women) and selected District 8 Men's Coach of the Year.

1999 - Women's team won MPSF Indoor Championship...Sloan named MPSF Women's Coach of the Year...Men's team finished 10th at the NCAA Indoor Championships as Bernard Lagat won both the mile and 3000m...Lagat named Male Athlete of the Year...Women's team finished third at Pac-10 Championships and went on to place 20th at NCAA Outdoor Championships while men's team finished 11th at the NCAAs...Lagat won NCAA men's 5000m title...Sloan selected United States Track Coaches Association (USTCA) Region VIII Women's Coach of the Year.

2000 - Women's team repeats as MPSF Indoor Champions...Sloan selected USTCA Region VIII Women's Coach of the Year.

2001 - Men's team won MPSF Indoor Championship...Sloan named MPSF Men's Coach of the Year...Women's team finished fourth at Pac-10 Championships and went on to an 18th place finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships...Sloan named USTCA Men's West Region Coach of the Year.

2002 - Women's team finished tied for 15th at the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championships...Ellannee Richardson and Anson Henry named Mondo West Region Outdoor Track Athletes of the Year...Pac-10 champions include Whitney Evans (high jump), Richardson (heptathlon) and Henry (100m, 200m)...Sloan named USTCA Men's West Region Coach of the Year.

2003 - Women's team takes 12th place at NCAA Outdoor Championships...Whitney Evans wins high jump, Ellannee Richardson heptathlon runner-up after winning Pac-10 title...Darion Powell (decathlon) and Eric Dudley (400m hurdles) earn All-America...Anthony Buchanan (100m) and 4x100m relay (Lamarr Kirk, Bennie Chatman, James McSwain, Buchanan) also win Pac-10 title.

2004 - For the third consecutive year a WSU sprinter won the Pac-10 men's 100m dash...Anthony Buchanan won his second conseutive 100m dash title and placed seventh in the 100m at the NCAA Championships.

2005 - Diana Pickler NCAA indoor All-America (pentathlon)...Pac-10 champions Julie Pickler (heptathlon), Darion Powell (decathlon) and Robin Mikesh (high jump)...All-America honors to Julie Pickler and Diana Pickler (heptathlon), Tamara Diles (pole vault) and Tyson Byers (pole vault).

2006 - Julie Pickler NCAA indoor All-America as runner-up in pentathlon...NCAA outdoor All-America honors to John Cassleman (400m hurdles), Matt Lamb (discus), Diana Pickler and Julie Pickler (heptathlon)...Diana Pickler fifth in heptathlon at USA Track & Field Championships with school record 5,855 points.

2007 - At NCAA Indoor Championships Diana Pickler third and Julie Pickler ninth in pentathlon, Tyson Byers third in pole vault...Diana Pickler won Pac-10 heptathlon and sets school records in pentathlon, heptathlon, and 100m hurdles, and placed second in the heptathlon at the USA Track & Field Championships...Julie Pickler runner-up in NCAA heptathlon, placed sixth at USATF Championships...Sara Trané won Pac-10 steeplechase...discus throwers McKenzie Garberg and Matt Lamb reach All-America.

2008 - Ebba Jungmark won NCAA Indoor high jump title...Jeshua Anderson won Pac-10, NCAA West Regional and NCAA Outdoor intermediate hurdles...went on to win US and World Junior gold medals...Sara Trané successfully defended Pac-10 steeplechase title...Trent Arrivey won NCAA West Regional high jump title..All-America certificates also go to McKenzie Garberg (5th discus, 6th hammer), Anna Layman (8th 800m), Rickey Moody (8th decathlon) and Arrivey (9th high jump).

2009 Cougar Track & Field Coaching Staff:
Head Coach: Rick Sloan (UCLA, 1969 - WSU, 1978, 15th year head coach, 36th year with program [Office: 509-335-0248, Fax: 509-335-0344]
Associate Coach: Debra Farwell (WSU 1983) [335-0260]
Head Coach Cross Country: Jason Drake (Colorado, 1994) [335-0230]
Assistant Coaches:
Mark Macdonald (WSU 1992 - WSU 1993) [335-0246]
Ellannee Richardson (WSU, 2002) [335-4730]
Matt McGee (WSU, 2001) [335-0288]
Volunteer Assistant Coaches: Kyle Chandler, Megan Johnson, Rickey Moody