  |
Rod O'Donnell is one of Hudson’s most experienced coaches with 35 seasons of cross
country and track under his belt. He has been the head coach for Hudson high school boys
cross country and track teams since 1997. He has also coached these sports at Caldwell
High School, Kent State University, Marshall University and Rio Grande College.
While coaching at Hudson, Coach O’Donnell’s boys cross country teams have won 6
League Championships, 4 District Championships, 2 regional runners-up finishes and
have won 2 Regional Championships. Hudson has also made 6 State Meet appearances
where they have placed 7th in 1999, 5th in 2000, 14th in 2003, 10th in 2005, 3rd in 2006
and a 1st place State Cross Country Championship in 2001. Besides coaching the six
state qualifying teams, he has also had 3 individual state qualifiers. One of his runners,
Wesley Smith, was the 2002 Individual State Cross Country Champion and the 2002
Footlocker National Cross Country runner-up.
In 2002, Coach O’Donnell was named the State Coach of the Year and in 2005, he was
inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country
Coaches. He was also the Northeast Ohio District Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2001 as
well as being named the Western Reserve Conference Cross Country Coach of the Year in
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005.
Before coming to Hudson, Rod O’Donnell coached cross country and track at Kent State
from 1986 to 1994 where he was MAC Coach of the Year in 1988 and 1989. During this
time at Kent State, he had 27 NCAA qualifiers and 11 All-Americans in cross country and
track.
While coaching at Marshall University from 1975 to 1986, he was named Southern
Conference Coach of the Year in 1977 and 1984. His cross country and track teams had
25 Conference Champions and three NCAA qualifiers.
His first coaching job was at Caldwell High School where he coached cross country and
track from 1970 - 1974. He started Caldwell's cross country program in 1970 and his team
won the State Cross Country Championship in 1973. Besides the state championship in
1973, they made 2 other State Meet appearances where they placed 8th in 1971 and 2nd
in 1972. His dual meet record at Caldwell was 38-0.
Overall, Coach O'Donnell has a high school dual meet record in cross country of 87 wins
and 8 loses. When not coaching or teaching health and physical education at Hudson,
Coach O’Donnell enjoys running, mountain biking, golfing and spending time with his
wonderful wife Cathy.
Rod is always willing to help others in the field of running and has written many articles and
has spoken at numerous clinics encouraging others to give back to the sport.
|
|||
