John McNichols, the dean of Sycamore coaches, was the longest-tenured coach in Indiana State history following 34 years at the helm of the track & field and cross country programs before his untimely death at the age of 66Â on Dec. 21, 2016, following complications from a stroke suffered on Dec. 17 after attending the USTFCCCAÂ Convention in Orlando.
McNichols was born Aug. 28, 1950, in St. Charles, Iowa. The McNichols family moved to Ellettsville, Ind., his senior year of high school in 1967, where he went on to excel on the track and in football while also meeting his future wife, Linda Worstall. McNichols enrolled at nearby Indiana University in the fall of 1968 on a track scholarship as a hurdler, where he eventually graduated with both a bachelor's (1972) and a master's (1977) in physical education. During his junior year at IU, McNichols and Worstall wed in Ellettsville on Dec. 20, 1970.
Following graduation, McNichols enjoyed several years of coaching and teaching in the Monroe County School Corporation before a successful stint as the head boys track & field coach at Bloomington North High School.
McNichols was named the head men's track & field and cross country coach at Indiana State in 1983, and despite many opportunities over the years to leave for higher-level jobs, he remained for 34 years until his death in 2016. With the addition of close friend John Gartland as the women's head coach in 1988, McNichols took over the combined men's and women's program the following season in 1989-90 in a joint effort with Gartland to more efficiently run the program.
In that span of time, McNichols not only turned ISU into a track and cross country powerhouse, but he also transformed the sport of cross country and put Terre Haute on the map worldwide as Cross Country Town USA with his vision and design for the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, site of 12 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships since 2002.
In 34 years as the men's head coach and 28 seasons as the director of the combined program, McNichols coached in 100 total Missouri Valley Conference Championships (33 indoor, 33 outdoor, 34 cross country), taking home 38 total team titles -- 11 cross country titles (nine men, two women), 10 indoor track titles (six women, four men) and 17 outdoor track titles (10 men, seven women).
McNichols was named MVC Coach of the Year 23 times for his 23 men's titles, which does little to show just how much success the McNichols-led Sycamores had in the Valley. During his career, he coached 456 MVC Track Champions (251 women, 205 men), eight MVC Cross Country Champions (four men, four women), 355 Track MVC Scholar-Athletes (201 women, 154 men) and 110 Cross Country MVC Scholar-Athletes (56 men, 54 women). In addition, McNichols is just one of 11 coaches in Valley history to be named to the MVC All-Centennial Team (unveiled in 2007). He was named alongside Gartland, the only coaching duo to make the list. McNichols coached 37 members of that MVC All-Centennial Team.
McNichols' success wasn't limited to the conference level, though, as he brought Indiana State national prestige in both track and cross country. During his career he coached 15 NCAA Track Champions, 113 All-Americans (across both track and cross), 173 NCAA Track National Qualifiers (98 women, 75 men) and 13 NCAA Cross Country National Qualifiers (10 men, three women). McNichols and Gartland-led track teams also finished in the top-25 nationally 16 times (11 women, five men), which included two incredible streaks: four-straight top-15 finishes for the Sycamore women during the 1993-94 seasons (three of which were top-10) and four top-25 finishes for the men from 1999-2001. The men had an all-time high finish of 11th indoors in 1990 in Indianapolis and the women finished tied for fifth at the 1993 indoor championships, also in Indianapolis.
McNichols coached many great athletes during his time at Indiana State, but will be most remembered for establishing a hurdles dynasty (once coined "Hurdle U" by David Woods of the Indianapolis Star) and a rock-steady men's cross country program.
On the hurdles side, McNichols coached some of the greatest not only in the Valley, but in the nation as well with four under the 13.45 mark outdoors in the 110-meter hurdles and five under the 7.77 mark indoors in the 60-meter hurdles.
McNichols' first prodigy was Chris Lancaster, a three-time All-American and the 1990 outdoor 110-meter hurdles NCAA Champion, the first national title in Indiana State history. Less than a decade later McNichols would coach Aubrey Herring, seven-time All-American, three-time NCAA runner-up and 2001 indoor 60-meter hurdles champion.
Later in his career, McNichols coached five-time All-American Greggmar Swift of Barbados, who became the first track & field Olympian in Indiana State history after making Barbados'Â national team for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.
McNichols' last hurdle star was three-time All-American Adarius Washington, who finished third outdoors in 2016 in the 110-meter hurdles.
His success in the hurdles events did not go unnoticed nationally, as he was the USA Track & Field 110-meter hurdles chair from 1989-99, as well as the USATF's Men's Development Committee Hurdles Broad Event Chair from 2000-09. In both capacities, McNichols assisted and interacted with the nation's best hurdlers and hurdle coaches in order to perfect the event on a national scale.
One of McNichols' most prized pupils, though, was seven-time NCAA Champion Holli Hyche, who was one of the best sprinters in the United States during her illustrious Sycamore career. All seven of her national titles were consecutive, sweeping the 55-meter and 200-meter dashes indoors in 1993 and 1994, sweeping the 100-meter and 200-meter outdoors in 1993, once again sweeping the indoor 55 and 200 in 1994 before winning the 100 in 1994 but finishing runner-up in the 200 in 1994. In total, Hyche was a 10-time All-American.
Even though he never ran cross country or distance events during his own career, McNichols became one of the better distance coaches in the nation during his distinguished career. At the top of the list of notable distance pupils is John Mascari, four-time NCAA cross country national qualifier, two-time cross All-American and first-ever four-time champion of both the Missouri Valley Conference and the Indiana Intercollegiates.
McNichols coached 10 men's NCAA cross country qualifiers as well as track All-Americans Dustin Betz, Jordan Fife and most recently mid-distance specialist David Timlin.
However, McNichols' crowning achievement was his vision and then execution of designing and constructing what became the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute. On the site of an abandoned coal mine turned landfill, McNichols and the local Gibson family of Terre Haute saw what could become a championship cross country course. After years of designing, LaVern Gibson was awarded the 2002 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships (and, by extension, the Pre-National Invitational), the first of 12 national meets to be hosted.
With plenty of parking and a fan-friendly atmosphere, LaVern Gibson stands as one of, if not the, nicest cross country course in the United States. One of the finest perks of the course, which was McNichols' vision, is that fans and coaches alike can see up to 90 percent of the race with an uninhibited view from trees and other obstacles, thus fulfilling McNichols' hopes to help make cross country a more accessible sport to the public.
McNichols also served in management positions at some of the world's biggest meets. He worked as a meet official at the 1984 Summer OIympics in Los Angeles, the 1987 Pan-American Games in Indianapolis, the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials also in Indianapolis before earning the great honor of being the Head Marshal of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. McNichols was also the men's commissioner of five different U.S. Olympic Festivals in Raleigh/Durham, Oklahoma City, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and San Antonio.
He also served on the many different national coaching staffs. In 1995, he served as an assistant coach for the North Team at the U.S. Olympic Festival in Colorado Springs, Colo. He was chosen as the men's head coach three different times for the Junior Pan-Am Championships for Team USA in 1999, 2011 and 2016, as well as the distance coach in 2005. McNichols was also the assistant coach for sprints and hurdles for Team USA at the 2007 Pan-American Games in Rio.
McNichols has been inducted into two Halls of Fame: the Indiana Association of Track & Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Drake Relays Coaching Hall of Fame in 2008.
John McNichols - By the Numbers
Men's Head Coach, 1983-2016
Men's and Women's Program Coordinator, 1989-2016
- 34 seasons at Indiana State - longest tenured coach in school history
- 38 MVC team titles; 11 cross country (nine men, two women), 10 indoor track (six women, four men), 17 outdoor track (10 men, seven women)
- 23-time MVC Coach of the Year
- Six-time regional coach of the year (District V: 1988, 1993, 1997, 2001; Great Lakes: 2009, 2013)
- 37 members of MVC All-Centennial Team (13 men's track, 10 women's track, 10 men's XC, four women's XC)
- 15 NCAA Track Champions
- 10 NCAA Runners-Up
- 113 All-Americans - 46 men's track, 64 women's track, two men's XC, one women's XC
- 16 NCAA Top-25 team finishes (11 women, 5 men)
- 173 NCAA Track Qualifiers (98 women, 75 men)
- 13 NCAA XC National Qualifiers (10 men, three women)
- 456 MVC Track Champions (94 men indoor, 111 men outdoor, 108 women indoor, 143 women outdoor)
- Eight XC MVC Champions (four men, four women)
- 35 XC All-Region (23 men, 12 women)
- 54 XC All-MVC (37 men, 16 women)
- 355 Track MVC Scholar-Athletes (154 men, 201 women)
- 110 XC MVC Scholar-Athletes (56 men, 54 women)
- 38 Academic All-American XC Teams (21 women, 17 men)
- Nine XC Academic All-Americans (six women, three men)
- Two Olympians (Felisha Johnson, Team USA, Rio 2016; Greggmar Swift, Barbados, London 2012)
John McNichols - Career Highlights
- Meet Official, 1984 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles
- Meet Official, 1987 Pan-American Games, Indianapolis
- Meet Official, 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, Indianapolis
- Head Marshal, 1996 Summer Olympics, Atlanta
- Five-time men's commissioner of U.S. Olympic Festival
- USA Track & Field Men's Development Committee Hurdles Broad Event Chair, 2000-09
- USATF 110-Meter Hurdles Chair, 1989-99
- Chair of NCAA Rules Committee, 2012-2016
- NCAA Division I Track & Field Subcommittee, 2010
- Architect of the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, site of 12 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships
- Helped in development of Gibson Track & Field Complex, the first project of the Terre Haute riverscape development
- Helped in the development and maintenance of the Wabashiki Trail and Heritage Trail
- 2007 Indiana Association of Track & Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame
- 2008 Drake Relays Coaching Hall of Fame
