Men's Cross Country
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- bailey_r@mercer.edu
- Phone:
- (478) 301-2144
Ryan Bailey has over 20 years experience coaching at a variety of levels and 15 years of NCAA head coaching experience. Since Bailey's NCAA debut in 2002 as head coach at Mercer, his athletes have set virtually every existing university record.
He is a 1984 graduate of Warner Robins High School in Warner Robins, Ga. Bailey participated in cross country and track as a member of some of the strongest distance squads in the history of the school.
Bailey went on to serve six distinguished active duty years in the United States Air Force, earning Southwest Asia Campaign and Air Force Achievement medals for his service during the first Gulf War. During the late 1980s, Bailey saw military service in England and enjoyed athletic success as a top runner in the 8th Air Force and as the coach of the cross country team at Lakenheath RAF.
Returning to the U.S. after an honorable discharge from the military, Bailey attended Texas Tech University. He ran for one season ('93) as a walk-on, gaining a position within the team's top-7 before leaving the squad for financial reasons. Bailey earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise and Sport Sciences with magna cum laude honors.
Bailey holds a variety of coaching credentials including a Level V Endurance Coaching diploma from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), a level III Endurance certification from USA Track & Field (USATF), as well as Level II certification in the Jumps event-group. He is also a USATF Level II Event-specific Instructor and a member of the Instructor Training Course faculty.
For several years, Bailey also served as the national Level I Schools Coordinator for USA Track & Field after being tapped for the job by the Head of Coaching Education, former Olympic Head Coach Terry Crawford.
In addition to his Coaching Education credentials, Bailey is also a published author, having credits in such periodicals as “Strength and Conditioning Journal” and “Track Coach” magazine.
Outside of his collegiate efforts, he has had great success with the youth athletes he has taken on over the years. Many of Coach Bailey's USATF athletes have qualified for and run in the Junior Olympics National finals with several podium finishes.
While coaching at the high school level, Bailey garnered numerous regional championships and five consecutive state championships in cross country. As a head track & field coach, his teams finished as runner-up three separate times in close contests. Coach Bailey also coached a dozen individual state champions in cross country and track. Bailey is the recipient of numerous coaching awards including five successive GISA Coaches Association Coach of the Year awards spanning the years 1997-2001.
Coach Bailey states that his philosophy of coaching is centered on building a "complete" team: "Even though cross country seems like an individual sport in many respects, it takes a complete, well-rounded team to win. I want each of my athletes to be able to get support and energy from every other athlete on the squad. As a coach, I understand that each individual runner on the roster can potentially make every other runner on the team a better athlete. On my team, one goal is to have athletes that build one another up and have a positive outlook. When a team gets truly cohesive, the group will naturally develop a work ethic and ambitious sub-culture that leads to success. Teams with these attributes tend to finish their races in a tight group – and that is how you win cross country meets".
Building an academically successful, cohesive, athletically ambitious team is a primary goal on Bailey's Mercer squads. His stated academic goal is to maintain a high standard of scholarship and work toward a 100% graduation rate among his athletes and he has been very successful in this endeavor. The cumulative GPA for all of his athletes, men and women combined, is consistently above 3.30. Many of Coach Bailey’s athletes have gone on to earn very prestigious post-collegiate awards including two Atlantic Sun Post-Collegiate Scholarships, a Wallace Odell DuVall Excellence in Leadership Award and one Fullbright Scholarship.
"Getting a great education is priority one, so I recruit athletes who are serious about their scholarship and that have shown academic success in high school," Bailey said. "Anyone coming to Mercer University ought to do so because we offer the programs and academics that will prepare them for their lives after college. However, I also recruit student-athletes who will make athletic success priority 'one-point-one' and are able to successfully balance the three dimensions of college life – that is to say, academics, athletics and their personal life.
"Ambition is the secret ingredient that drives success. I'm looking for runners with the ambition to study and make something of themselves and last but certainly not least, the ambition to be a great runner. Those kids who have a real love of the sport; who have immersed themselves in the sport; who identify with the subculture that is tied to it; those are the runners I want."
Bailey lives in Macon, Ga. with his wife of 30 years, Donna. Mrs. Bailey serves the track and cross country programs extensively as a volunteer coach and operations manager. She holds a USATF Level I coaching certification in addition to two undergraduate degrees (Education and Fine Art) and a master’s degree in logistics.
