Baylor Coach Clyde Hart Steps Aside; Todd Harbour Named New Coach
by RunTex Staff, 6/15/2005

Baylor Coach Clyde Hart
Steps Aside; Todd Harbour Named
New Coach

After 42 years with the Baylor University track-and-field program, Clyde Hart is stepping aside as coach. Well sort of. Hart will take a more limited role with the program as director of track and field which will allow him to still coach a few runners and be an ambassador for the program.

Succeeding Hart as head coach, will be former world-class miler Todd Harbour, who ran at Baylor from 1978-81, and has been an assistant coach (and head cross-country coach) at the Waco school for six years. Harbour, 46, who ran a 3:50.34 mile in 1981, is still the sixth fastest miler in U.S. history. He also still holds the collegiate mile record with that time.

During Hart's tenure at Baylor, his most famous runner was 200- and 400-meter world record holder Michael Johnson who also won three individual Olympic gold medals. Johnson is now the agent for reigning Olympic 400-meter champ Jeremy Wariner's who is one of the athletes Hart will continue to coach. Hart will also continue to coach NCAA 400 champ Darold Williamson and Sanya Richards, the former UT star, who has the second fastest 400 time (49.96) in the world so far this year.

"I have a good group to coach. Now I can just coach and not have to worry about other aspects of the NCAA rules and regulations, recruiting, academics and discipline problems," said Hart who was a sprinter at Baylor in the mid-50s. "It will be Coach Harbour's program to run."

During Hart's tenure, he has coached 29 NCAA champions and his athletes have set 10 world records-nine by Johnson, Wariner and Williamson.

But at the age of 71, Hart figured it was time to turn the reigns over to Harbour. "I've last two years longer than Moses," said Hart. "But this way I can still coach and get home before midnight. I can let these younger guys do the day-to-day work now and let them have their turn."

Harbour, who is originally from Port San Isabel in south Texas, admitted to having mixed emotions about the promotion to the head job. "This is something we knew was coming for awhile," Harbour said. "It's not completely a day where I am rejoicing because I have got to step into these huge shoes he has left. There is a little sadness as well knowing that I won't see him in the office every day and how much he has meant to us as a head coach."