d Nuttycombe called Mick Byrne and told
him that they needed to talk.
"Oh, man," Byrne thought to himself, "something big is going down here."
The meeting took place on Memorial Day in Nuttycombe's fourth floor office at Kellner Hall.
"The building was vacant," said Nuttycombe. "Not
by design, it was just how it worked out."
Byrne plopped down on a couch and asked, "All
right, what do we have to talk about here?"
Nuttycombe informed him that he was retiring as
the men's track and field coach at Wisconsin.
"Mick was the first one outside of my immediate
family that I told," Nuttycombe said. "I think he was
surprised. But, then, the conversation moved to,
'Where do we go from here?"'
For Byrne, the men's cross country coach, it was
already beginning to crystallize.
"When he told me," Byrne remembered, "I said,
'Aaaaah, that explains it."'
The Badgers had just returned from the NCAA
preliminary round in Austin, Texas. A couple of
times, Byrne caught Nuttycombe sitting by himself
with a distant look. Something was on his mind.
"But I couldn't put my finger on it," Byrne said.
"Then he drops this on me."
Neither Nuttycombe nor Byrne wanted this to be
a distraction for their athletes.
E
40
//
VARSITY August 15, 2013
"We both agreed that it would be best to keep it
under wraps until after the NCAA meet (two weeks
later)," Nuttycombe said. "That was what I wanted
to do and I was glad that he echoed that."
There was only one more thing to discuss.
As Nuttycombe began to talk, Byrne's heart began
to race.
"I was hoping," Byrne said, "he'd finish the sentence and say, 'I want you to be the guy … I said all
along that you are going to be my guy … "'
It was pretty much what Nuttycombe had to say.
"I told him I would do everything I could," Nuttycombe said, "so that he would take over. Of course,
he was appreciative."
That doesn't begin to describe Byrne's feelings.
"It was emotional," Byrne said. "Five years ago, I
left my home (in New York) and I left my wife and
my youngest kid (behind) …
"I told them at that time that this was going to be
a good move for me professionally and it was going
to be a good move for our family.
"And now to hear Ed saying, 'Hey, you're the guy I
want to take my place …"'
Byrne got emotional again revisiting the moment.
"First of all, he's a legend in our sport," Byrne said.
"Even to be mentioned in that same sentence ― 'I
want you to succeed me' ― it was all a little overwhelming."
