Mark Rodriguez enters his first season as the throws coach for the Miami University women's track and field program.

Over his career, Rodriguez has coached an NCAA National Champion, seven Olympic Trial qualifiers, 18 All-Americans, 31 Academic All-Americans, 77 NCAA Championships qualifiers, 35 US Championship qualifiers, 38 NCAA Regional qualifiers, 131 school record breakers, 88 conference champions and 190 all-conference throwers.

MU head women's track and field coach Dr. Richard Ceronie raved about Rodriguez's accolades. "I was delighted when Mark applied for the position this summer as I had known of his body of work for a long time. I had always considered Mark to be one of the top throwing coaches in the country, who had shown a remarkable ability to take good high school throwers, and make them into national-caliber athletes. His expertise in the bio-mechanics and strength development areas is extensive, and our athletes at Miami will benefit greatly from his teaching and coaching. Better yet, Mark is an outstanding person of high character who was the right person at the right time for Miami. We have designs on taking our program to the next level, and his background meshes well with that goal. With Mark Rodriguez we have someone who can assist our program to become the model of excellence we all desire".

Rodriguez commented on his arrival in Oxford. "I am very excited to be at Miami University and back in collegiate athletics. I accepted this position because of the vision and commitment both (athletic director) Brad Bates and head coach Rich Ceronie have for Miami Athletics, especially in the strategic planning and concept of the "Culture of Champions" that has recently been implemented. I am thrilled with the chance to be at the forefront of a new era of winning for Women's Track and Field and Miami University Athletics."

Rodriguez served most recently as an assistant coach at Buena Vista University, Iowa, where he mentored student-athletes that set eight school records, earned Academic All-American Team recognition, and set the program's high-water marks for their finish in the conference championships.

Prior to his time at BVU, Rodriguez was the throws coach at the University of Louisville. He helped build the Cardinals into a top four Mideast Regional team and nationally-ranked teams. His throwers became a dominant force in the Big East, capturing nine individual conference titles, setting 25 school records and nine meet records. His throwers also placed at the Big East Championships 40 times, earned 29 all-conference accolades, and qualified for NCAA Regionals 17 times and NCAA Championships nine times. On the national and internationally level, his Cardinal throwers finished on Tilastopaja's World Rankings 31 times, earned eight individual and two team Academic All-American honors, and appeared in the U.S., Canadian, and U.S. Junior National Championships. Coach Rodriguez resigned unexpectedly to take care of a family emergency.

Before joining the Cardinal staff, Rodriguez built an impressive body of work at Indiana State University where he helped the Sycamore throwers set 51 school records, 37 meet records and 13 all-time Missouri Valley Conference marks, while capturing 35 individual conference championships with 93 All-Conference athletes, 8 MVC Field Athletes of the Meet and nine Academic All-Americans. At ISU, Rodriguez helped build six MVC championship teams, four NCAA top 20 teams and had four squads named Academic All-American teams ranked as high as 2nd & 6th in the nation. His throwers qualified for six Olympic Trials, 32 U.S. Championships, 21 NCAA Regionals and 14 NCAA Championships and have finished ranked on Tilastopaja¡¦s World Rankings 62 times with the highest finishing 5th and 8th in the world.

Rodriguez began his coaching career at Manchester College, Indiana, where he helped the Spartans set 30 school records and 11 conference marks,qualified for nationals 19 times with 14 Academic All-Americans and helped one former Spartan qualify for the Olympic Trials. Manchester placed as high as fifth and sixth at the NCAA Championships, had four Academic All-American Teams ranked as high as 2nd and 6th in the nation.

Prior to his coaching career, Rodriguez began his collegiate career majoring in computer programming at Purdue University. He was a thrower for the Boilermakers before an injury ended his career. He then transferred to Manchester College where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education in 1994. He finished his classes towards his Master's in Exercise Science at Indiana State in 1997. He is certified by USA Track & Field as a Level I & Level II Coach, Level I Instructor and as a National level Official.

TOTAL CAREER STATISTICS

344 Conference Place Winners

190 All-Conference Throwers

131 School Records broken

126 National qualification performances

93 Times throwers have been ranked in the world

88 Conference Champions

77 National Qualifiers

38 NCAA Mideast Regional Qualifiers

35 US Championships Qualifiers

31 Academic All-Americans

30 All-Time Conference Records broken

18 All-Americans

11 Canadian National Qualifiers

9 Strength and Conditioning All-Americans

9 Academic All-American Track Teams

7 World Police and Fire Games Medalists

7 US Junior National Qualifiers

7 Olympic Trials Qualifiers

5 Canadian National Placers

3 Canadian Nationals Medalist

1 NCAA National Champion