Alumnus enjoys coaching with alma mater’s track and field program

For Kevin Hanson, there’s something special about track and field. So much so, that the St. Cloud State University alumnus helps coach within his alma mater’s program.

A multi-sport athlete as a child, Hanson was first introduced to pole vaulting while on his seventh-grad track team, and said he’s been “hooked ever since.” He earned his degree in earth science from SCSU in 1982, all while juggling a number of different commitments.

“If I can do it, anybody can do it. My senior year, I was student teaching, I was working, we had a newborn son, I was married, I was on the track team and still doing my thing as a graduate or an undergrad assistant teacher and a student,” he said. “It’s a lot to juggle, but boy, when I got out there — I loved it.”

Hanson credits the late Bob Waxlax — coach of the former SCSU men's cross country and men's track and field programs — with allowing Hanson to walk on to the team and compete in pole vaulting throughout his time on campus.

“He's the reason I vaulted throughout college and after. I kind of had to give up vaulting in my 50s as my body was no longer bulletproof and starting to fall apart,” Hanson said. “But he also helped me develop as a track and field official, got me involved in the conference track meets — which took me to some national track meets, took me to a bunch of Olympic trials, and I was able to officiate track and field at the Atlanta Olympic Games.”

Hanson went on to pursue his master’s degree before spending the majority of his career as a science teacher. Through the years he has coached football, basketball, track and Olympic lifting. He initially volunteered as an assistant track and field coach in pole vaulting from 1990 to 2016 at St. Cloud State, before his career took him out of state for a period of time until he came back to central Minnesota.

When current Huskies women’s track and field and cross country head coach Gabrielle “Elle” Brown joined the University and had a pole vaulter walk on to the team, she reached out to Hanson and asked if he’d return to coaching the field event once again. He’s now been with the current program for three years. Hanson said he especially enjoys seeing former athletes he coached take the reins and mentor a new generation of track and field participants.

“I like the fact that a couple years ago, I got called a grandpa coach. One of my college athletes I had coached got their coaching and education degree, and now they're coaching,” Hanson said. “So we call that a coaching family tree. I've coached coaches who are coaching coaches, and it’s nice to know there are people I've had success with being involved in their development who have continued with it.”

One example is SCSU alumnus Patrick Woelfel ’99, who is an assistant coach with Becker High School’s boys’ and girls’ track and field programs. Patrick Woelfel helped coach his daughter, Lauren Woelfel, while she was in high school, and she now works with Hanson as a sophomore member of SCSU’s track and field team.

“Because my dad was my high school coach for my junior and senior year of high school, he knows me obviously as his daughter, but he knows me also as a vaulter,” Lauren Woelfel said. “He’s like Kevin in the way that they both are obsessed with pole vaulting — in a good way. They just love it so much. They love the scene and they love the environment of pole vaulting and going to meets. My parents have been at most of my college meets, helping out Kevin, helping coach, taking videos and all that.”

For Brown, alumni staying connected with the program is essential.

“There’s something special about watching the baton be passed from one generation to the next,” she said. “Kevin’s involvement allows our athletes to see what’s possible beyond their time here, while staying rooted in the values of this program and the institution.”

Hanson believes the team’s athletes value alumni contributions as well.

“I know we have a lot of people here, a lot of young ladies who love the opportunity to connect with current and former athletes and coaches,” he said. “They appreciate those people who came before them, and in many cases, they're chasing some of those people. There's top 10s and top 20s, and they’re thinking, ‘Where can I sit? Where can I place in that? Can I become part of this?’ The history of the events and the history of the program is so important.”

A dual athlete who competes on the Huskies swim and dive team while studying in the nursing program, Lauren Woelfel appreciats that Hanson flexes around her schedule in addition to bringing a great attitude to their sport.

“Kevin's really, really awesome. He's not the kind of coach who’s a dictator or anything like that,” she said. “He really likes actually working with us as athletes and as people, too.”

Hanson said he likes to encourage his athletes to “know their penguin,” a phrase he came up with from the movie “Happy Feet.”

“I’d like them to understand how complex it is. You can't argue with physics and vaulting is basically all physics and math. Something weird I'll talk with them about and they maybe don't understand right away is ‘know your penguin.’ Emperor penguins, how many gazillion of them are out there all together on a sheet of ice? How does that mom and that dad know which penguin is their baby? They just know. So if you are a brain surgeon, your penguin is brain surgery. You know your penguin,” he said. “So with pole vaulters; they have a certain height, they have a certain weight, they have a certain athletic ability, a certain strength and speed, and the poles are different lengths. They're different weights, they're different flexes, they're different bendies. There's different lengths of runways. The standards move back and forth; there are a ton of variables. And they've got to know their penguin.”

Hanson hopes his coaching has a trickle-down effect, and that his athletes can help each other as well as future generations going forward.

“To me, pole vaulting and coaching are kind of like playing Yahtzee. Roll the dice, and hope you guessed about 10 variables all perfectly,” he said. “I hope the athletes know their penguin pretty well and eventually can go out and teach everything to others. In the case of the two ladies right now who are jumping, if I can't make it to a meet or practice, they should be able to coach each other.”

“Kevin’s presence with our team is a powerful reminder of the standard that’s been built here,” Brown said. “Having an alum return to pour into our current athletes bridges generations and reinforces that what we do in this program extends far beyond a single season.”