LEARNING
EXPERIENCE
Peter Tegen considers himself less a coach and more a
teacher. In 30 years of building a storied program,
he made winning the Badgers' favorite subject
I
BY DIANE NORDSTROM • UW ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
f you ask Peter Tegen what he remembers
most fondly from his 30 years as the head
coach of the women's cross country and
track and field teams at Wisconsin, it isn't
the 43 individual national champions, the
249 All-Americans or the 236 Big Ten Conference
individual champions he coached. It isn't even the
two NCAA cross country championships, the 44
top-10 national finishes or the 39 Big Ten team
titles.
What Tegen, 73, remembers the most is what
some of his stars did for the sake of the team.
"It may be unfair to pick any particular incident
or athlete," said Tegen as he brought up names
like Suzy Favor, Kathy Butler, Amy Wickus, Cathy
Branta, Jenelle Deatherage, Sarah Renk and Clare
Eichner.
"They all ended up running on the international
circuit but they were all willing to participate and
risk their own chances of finishing high (at a conference championship) to have as many people
qualify for the finals."
For Tegen, coaching was about more than what
was happening on the track.
"… coaching is more about teaching rather than
the results," explains Tegen. "It's more about
young students trying to grow up and using athletics as a venue to try out things ― a venue where
you are allowed to make mistakes. It is all about
this wonderful experience about how far can you
go and respecting someone else who has different
talents, acknowledging that it's now all about you."
Coaching was about using his background in
sports science to bring innovative training to his
runners. Some of his unusual training methods included pulling athletes using rubber tubing to force
their legs to turn over faster and having sprinters
start or accelerate on a slight downhill slope. Tegen also created the technique of dynamic running
in which distance runners would include short
surges in their long-distance runs, forcing athletes
out of their comfort zone. He was also one of the
first coaches to use ice baths to speed up the recovery of his athletes after a race, years before others
adopted the technique.
But his greatest edge may have been the mental
aspect of training and racing.
"We can break mental boundaries, but first you
have to know they're there," said Tegen. "You have
to believe you can break them because someone
