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Coach Brian Bedard is entering his third year as the Rams' head coach, and his 20th season as a track coach for Colorado State University. During his coaching tenure, Colorado State track and field athletes have won many great honors, including the history-making women's victory at the 2008 Mountain West Conference Outdoor Championships, the first-ever outdoor title in school history. "It was a special year for our coaching staff, and a historic year for our program," Bedard says. "The women's cross country team got us off to a great start with a first-ever MWC title and NCAA regional title. Their effort carried over to the track side, motivating our women's team in the indoor and outdoor seasons. It was a season that I will never forget as a coach. The 2008 women's team was very special to me, consisting of several seniors who had `grown up' in our program and who believed in what we are trying to achieve at Colorado State." Bedard earned the recognition of Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year for women's outdoor track as a result of the team's victory. Coach Bedard has been on the Rams' coaching staff since the fall of 1988 when he began his career as the throwing events coach. He was honored as the Mountain Region and NCAA Division I Assistant Coach of the Year in 2005. He has coached two Olympians, two national champions, 32 All-America performances, and 49 conference champions. All of Colorado State's school records in the throwing events have been set during Bedard's tenure. In 2005, Bedard was inducted into the Colorado State University Hall of Honor for his accomplishments as a coach. One of Coach Bedard's most successful athletes is Casey Malone, a discus thrower he originally recruited from Colorado's Arvada West High School. Bedard and Malone have worked together for over 12 years and in 2008 Casey placed third at the United States Olympic Trials, securing a spot on the United States Olympic Team that competed in Beijing. During the 2006 season, Malone was the USA Championship runner-up in the discus. Malone also made the U.S. Olympic Team in 2004 and placed sixth in the discus competition at the Athens Olympics. In 1996, when Malone was a freshman at Colorado State, Bedard coached him to a junior national title and a junior world championship gold medal. In all during his collegiate career, Malone garnered four All- America certificates and an NCAA title in the discus. He currently owns the Colorado State University school record in the discus at 211 ft. 6 in. Another of Bedard's standout throwers is Loree Smith, the 2005 NCAA national champion hammer thrower, who was also the runner-up in the indoor weight throw and a five-time All-American. Smith set the American collegiate record in the indoor weight throw with a mark of 74 ft. 3 in. during the 2005 indoor season. She also set an NCAA collegiate record in the hammer throw at the MWC championships with a throw of 229 ft. 9 in. (70.02 m). Smith earned a spot on the United States Olympic Team in 2008 and competed in the hammer throw in the Beijing Olympics. Many other athletes have enjoyed tremendous success under Coach Bedard's guidance. He coached Shelly Greathouse- Borrman, a Fort Collins native, five-time All- American and 1999 NCAA discus runner-up, who still owns the Colorado State school record and Western Athletic Conference record in the discus with a throw of 198 ft. 8 in. Another discus thrower, Liz Toman, placed second in the 2001 NCAA national championships. Drew Loftin was the 2003 NCAA indoor runner-up in the weight throw and outdoor runner-up in the hammer. Loftin threw 71 ft. 1.5 in. in the weight throw and 232 ft. in the hammer while competing for the Rams. Bedard's most recent All-American thrower is Jason Schutz,who placed sixth in the discus at the 2008 NCAA championships and 16th at the Olympic Trials. Coach Bedard's expertise extends beyond throwing events. For three seasons he coached the long jump and triple jump events and was also the heptathlon/ decathlon coordinator for 10 seasons. He coached Toman to a school record, conference championship and NCAA qualifying mark in the high jump. In multi events, Bedard coached Doug Crumb and Matt Smoldt to conference titles in the decathlon, and Lindsey Malone to a school-record point total of 5,160 in the heptathlon. Coach Bedard has shared his coaching expertise as a featured speaker at numerous conferences and clinics across the country. He has also developed a nationally renowned instructional video on discus throwing technique, which is available through Championship Books and Videos. Before he began his coaching career, Bedard was a student-athlete in track and field at Colorado State University from 1983-88. He finished as the Western Athletic Conference runnerup in the discus and placed eighth in the shot put. Bedard is married to the former Jill Johnson, a volleyball standout for Colorado State from 1987-90. They have two daughters, 12-year-old Kelcey and 10-year-old Baylee.
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