Hillsdale's Lundberg Announces Retirement From Coaching

Hillsdale's Lundberg Announces Retirement From Coaching

Release courtesy of Brad Monastiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations and Event Management, Hillsdale College

Hillsdale, Mich. -- Coach Bill Lundberg has announced his retirement from his coaching duties at Hillsdale College, effective at the end of the 2011 men’s cross country season. Coach  Lundberg will continue his teaching responsibilities at the college through the academic year.

“Coach Lundberg has carried a challenging load for many years with his combined coaching and teaching duties,” said Director of Athletics Don Brubacher. “He has served Hillsdale College with distinction for many years and now is excited about new possibilities for his life and his work. We know he will continue his unwavering interest in people and his commitment to his faith as he seeks new challenges in the future.”

“It has been a privilege to serve Hillsdale College these past 26 years and my teaching and coaching have been most rewarding,” Coach Lundberg said. “With a career in education that started 34 years ago, I have been blessed with leading young people and helping them achieve their goals. My student-athletes and colleagues, my family and friends have always been my motivation.

“I look forward to new challenges and the opportunity to focus on other aspects of my work and career. As Proverbs 16:9 says, ‘The mind of a man plans his way, but, the Lord directs his steps.’”

Coach Lundberg will go down as a successful and one of the longest-tenured head coaches in the nearly 120-year history of athletics at Hillsdale College. A man who shaped and defined track and field at the college for a quarter-century carries with him the knowledge, enthusiasm and love that have endeared him to multiple generations of student-athletes.

Lundberg began his coaching career at Hillsdale in February 1985, starting out leading the men’s track and cross country programs. Women’s track and cross country coaching duties were added to his responsibilities on two occasions, including each year since the start of the 2003-04 season. His teams have enjoyed great success, winning 25 conference championships while making a smooth and successful transition from NAIA status to NCAA Division II classification. He’s guided the careers of 17 NCAA and NAIA national champions, and more than 200 Academic and Athletic All-Americans. In the 2009-10 school year alone, 10 different track and field and cross country athletes earned All-American honors.

Coach of the Year honors surround Coach Lundberg. He was named the 1994 NAIA national coach of the year, and earned a total of 22 GLIAC Coach of the Year honors throughout his career guiding the Chargers’ cross country, indoor track and outdoor track programs. His teams captured 23 conference championships among those three sports during his coaching tenure.

His coaching career began at Jackson Community College in 1977, when he became the youngest track coach of any college-level track program in the nation. He then moved on to assistant coaching positions at Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan before being hired to Hillsdale College by former Athletic Director Jack McAvoy in 1985.

Lundberg, a 1972 graduate of Jackson Lumen Christi High School, competed collegiately for the University of Kansas. In 1976 and in 1980, he participated in the United States Olympic Trials in the steeplechase event. He and his wife Sharon have been married for 28 years. They have three children: Steve, Kate and Thomas.