A women's track coach has been hired, per the Ozone.
The fact that she was the head track coach for the 2000 Olympics makes this an impressive hire for Gene Smith.
theozone.net/TrackWomen's Track Former U. S. Olympic Head Coach to Take the Reins OSU Women's Track Team By John Porentas
Ohio State has a women's track coach for the first time since 1993.
Former OSU track coach Russ Rodgers coached both the men's and the women's track teams at OSU, but with Rodgers' retirement this spring, OSU administrators decided to hire separate coaches for the men's and women's teams. Karen Dennis has been hired to head the OSU women's track program and will be the first OSU women's track coach since Mamie Rallins last held the position in 1993. <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=100 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>Karen Dennis at Jesse Owens Stadium
Photo by Jim Davidson
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Dennis is a Detroit native who attended Michigan State. She was a track athlete for the Spartans and was hired in there in 1981 as the women's track coach. She served in that capacity until 1991 and led the Spartans to a Big Ten team championship in 1982. Dennis moved on to UNLV in 1992 where she also led the Rebels to a conference championship.
In 2000 Dennis was named the head coach of the U.S. Olympic team that competed in Sydney Australia. In 1995 she served as an assistant coach of the World Championship squad that competed in Gotteberg, Sweden. and guided the U. S. Women's team at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba.
Dennis remained at UNLV until 2002 when she came to Ohio to take a position on Russ Rodgers' staff as a sprints and hurdles assistant where she coached both men and women. Dennis said her return to the Midwest, specifically to Ohio State, was a dream come true.
"When I was at Michigan State coaching, Mamie Rallins was coaching here, and I always looked at Ohio State from afar and thought 'Boy, that's a nice place to be.'
"I've always really respected and admired Ohio State. Being in the Big Ten is special, that it's the most special conference in the country anyway because of its rich athletic and academic tradition," Dennis said.
Dennis has set her sights on returning the Buckeye track program to the ranks of the elite.
"I think it can be," she said.
"I think its going to take a lot of work and some restructuring and re-energizing and refocusing of just the Ohio high school coaches in track and field, them looking at Ohio State as a product that they would want to send their students. Recruiting really is the key."
One of the tools at her disposal in recruiting future athletes is Jesse Owens Stadium, the state-of-the art track facility at Ohio State.
"It's unbelievable," said Dennis.
"This is one of the features that will attract young people to come to Ohio State. The Jesse Owens stadium is world renowned.
"Just having his name on the stadium invokes greatness in track tradition. What we would like to do is bring in the standard and quality of student-athlete that Jesse Owens could look down on and say 'Way to go. Way to go.'"
Dennis is on the USA Track and Field International Competition Committee and is a past president of the Athletic Congress Women's Track Coaches Association. Dennis has also served as a member of the NCAA Women's Track and Field Committee and NCAA Track Coaches Association.