Olympian Bickford Named SJC Cross Country Coach

STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph’s College Athletic Director Brian Curtin has named Bruce Bickford as the Monks’ Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Head Coach. Bickford fills the spot vacated by Tom Dann, who stepped down earlier this summer after 14 years as the program leader, and will be the sixth coach in team history.

Bickford comes to St. Joe’s after a three-year stint at Cheverus High School in Portland, Maine where he guided the Stags’ cross country and track and field programs. Prior to coaching at Cheverus, he served as the head coach at University of Southern Maine for four years and Brandeis University for seven seasons. Along with his role as the cross country coach, Bickford will also work with the SJC track and field club teams.

Bickford is widely regarded as one of the most prolific runners to hail from the State of Maine, if not New England. After graduating from Lawrence High School, he headed to Northeastern University where he earned four NCAA Division I All-America honors and was named as the Huskies’ Trackman of the Year on two occasions.

Following a record-filled career at Northeastern, (Bickford still owns the Huskies’ two-mile (8:40.56) and 3,000 meter steeplechase (8:33.6) records) he began a career as a national and international long-distance runner.  He qualified for the Olympic trials for the 1980 Moscow games, which was boycotted by the United States, in three events (3000M steeplechase, 5,000M and 10,000M) and served as an alternate on the 1984 Olympic team.

In 1985, after winning a 10K race in Stockholm, Sweden - with a 27:37.7 time, the fastest 10K effort that year in the world - Bickford was ranked first internationally in the 10,000 by Track and Field News. He also was the TAC (The Athletic Congress, later renamed as USATF) 10,000 meter Champion in 1985 and the 1987 PanAm Games Champion in the 10,000. Bickford won the Olympic Trials in Indianapolis a year later to gain a place on the 1988 USA Olympic Team and was the only American to qualify for the finals in the 10,000 meter event in the Seoul Games.

After an accolade-filled running career, Bickford turned to coaching. He served as an assistant coach at Villanova for one year and, as the Head Administrator of Nike Boston for two years (1991-1993), he guided men’s and women’s teams that finished second and fifth, respectively, at the TAC/USA Cross Country Championships. In 1992, he was appointed by the USA Track and Field Men’s Distance Committee to coach and manage the United State Ekiden Team in Chiba, Japan.

Bickford, a twelve-time US National Track and Field member and four-time World Cross Country Team member, has been inducted into the Maine Running (1989), Northeastern University (1991) and Maine Sports (1993) Halls of Fame.

“We are excited to have Coach Bickford join our staff,” adds Curtin. “He brings a solid background in all levels of running and coaching. Saint Joseph’s College has been fortunate to have very devoted cross country coaches over the years and we are confident that Coach Bickford will be able to build off of all that hard work to advance our cross country program.”

*Courtesy St. Joe's Maine Athletic Communications