Cam Magnall flanked by two of his highest achieving athletes at Falcon High School, Wes Rickman and Kevin Johnson. Contributed photo.
Some people go through life looking for greener pastures.
Not Cam Magnall. At the end of the 2011 track season, Magnall traded in his Falcon green for Bulldog red.
A collection of Falcon track and cross country t-shirts is becoming, at the suggestion of a former assistant coach at the high school, a memory quilt. But most of the green, black, and gold polos and jackets no longer occupy closet space. The Magnalls had to make room for the red apparel of the McPherson College Bulldogs.
Although the transition is already a done deal, the full impact of the transition won't hit many of us in the coaching ranks until we face Falcon on the course this fall. The familiar face, friendly smile, and understated ways of Cam Magnall won't be there to greet us.
Magnall confesses, "I had always known that coaching at the college level was my ultimate career goal. I always struggled with finding the right time to make the change from high school to college."
"My parents are good friends with a couple who were alumni of the school, so I had heard about it growing up. Three years ago, I had applied for this same job, interviewed on campus, and finished second in the hiring process. My wife and I both enjoyed that experience and when the job opened up again this spring, I decided to apply for it again."
Now that the transition has been made, the reality of taking on the job is settling in.
"The biggest challenge so far was finding out after being hired that we were hosting both our invitational and the conference cross country championships this fall. The previous course had many sharp turns, so I was tasked with finding a new, more open course to run on. And in a small town of 13,000, there are not a lot of open areas that can have a 8k course. With the help of some local former high school coaches, I think we’ve found a very good 2k loop course that goes around a lake here in town that will be both spectator and runner friendly."
While Magnall won't be going about his coaching duties alone, McPherson presents certain challenges of staffing that would not normally accompany an NCAA Division I track and field coaching position.
"I have a full-time throws assistant, and I will have a part-time assistant as well who will hopefully be working with sprinters and hurdlers. I will have to take on more duties than I have in the past with the jumping events and adding in several more distance events--5K, 10K, steeple, racewalk and half-marathon--than I’m used to."
The half-marathon is an event unique to the NAIA collection of college programs.
And, while looking back is time-consuming and, sometimes, emotionally costly, Magnall has taken the opportunity to look back and survey the landscape of his years at Falcon High School. It's never exactly easy for a coach to make a break from the cradle of his first real coaching successes.
"As a coach you build strong relationships with your athletes. You tell yourself that you can walk away after a certain group has graduated, but then there’s always a new group of kids that comes in that you think could be special. And you find there’s never a natural break. Leaving this next year’s group of seniors was tough because they had the makings of being as special as the group we had in ’08.
And 2008 was certainly a landmark season in the history of Magnall's tenure over Falcon cross country...
"Winning the state cross championship [in 2008] with the same team that hadn’t even qualified the season before and having the opportunity to travel around the country going to national meets--NXN, Arcadia, Nike Indoor and Outdoor nationals--are memories that I will never forget."
Magnall is also not likely to forget his connections with Colorado. Part and parcel of building any collegiate track and field program is the recruiting piece. And so, if you see Magnall (probably wearing a bright red jacket with a Bulldog embroidered on the front) at a meet sometime in the not-too-distant future, it might be a safe assumption that he's looking for some Colorado talent to help build his program.
Given what we've seen from Magnall over these last six years, it should surprise nobody if McPherson College starts wreaking some havoc in Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference cross country and track and field. One of the first targets on the list would be the Southwestern College, winners of 32 consecutive men's conference championships.