Courtesy of Milwaukee Athletics
MILWAUKEE - Andrew Basler has been hired as the new head coach of the Milwaukee track & field and cross country programs, Director of Athletics Amanda Braun announced today.
"After an extensive national search that produced a group of highly-qualified finalists, Andrew quickly rose to the top as our choice to lead the program," Braun said. "His background of success on both the conference and national level is impressive and we believe he can help us take the program to the next level."
"I am extremely excited to join the Panther Family," Basler said. "I am very thankful to Amanda Braun and Kathy Litzau and the rest of the search committee for this process and having the confidence in me to be able to step in, fill some big shoes, and be the next head coach at Milwaukee."
Basler comes to Milwaukee following five years as the assistant men's and women's track & field coach at Central Michigan University. He also served as a graduate assistant coach at CMU from 2005-07.
"There is a rich history and tradition of winning at Milwaukee," Basler said. "I am excited for the challenge that will bring and for the opportunity to be able to grow on that. I am looking to bring in a new energy and a new passion. I am excited to get there and get the ball rolling – meet the staff and sit down with the athletes and get a chance to get to know them."
Most recently at CMU, Basler assisted the head coach with all administration of the program while also writing and implementing training programs for jumps and combined events. He helped in recruiting and also planned and budgeted for all team travel. During his first stint at CMU, Basler was in charge of sprints, jumps, hurdles and combined events with the Chippewas.
Under his watch, the program achieved a pair of USA Olympic Trials Qualifiers, three USA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships Qualifiers and three USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships Qualifiers.
At the NCAA level, the list included three NCAA Division I Outdoor National Championships participants, 10 NCAA Division I Outdoor East Prelims/Regional participants, two NCAA Division I Indoor National Championships participants and an NCAA Division I Indoor All-American.
At the conference level, the program claimed seven Indoor/Outdoor Mid-American Conference (MAC) champions, 14 Indoor/Outdoor MAC All-Conference selections, three Indoor/Outdoor MAC record-holders, one Outdoor MAC Championship record-holder and 16 Indoor/Outdoor school record-holders.
"I am not big on 'success promises' – what I call where a new coach will say 'we plan to win by this certain year'," Basler said. "I feel there are too many things we can't control with opponents and other teams. We just have to focus on what we can control and how we respond. The promise I can make is that the process is going to be very good. And, usually, when the process is good, the outcome will be good as well. I am ready for the challenge and really grateful for the opportunity."
From 2007-13, Basler was the associate head women's track and field coach and the assistant men's coach at UC-Riverside, where he worked directly with the sprints, hurdles, jumps, javelin and combined-events.
Administratively, Basler managed the program's travel and equipment budgets while also serving as meet director for home track and field and cross country meets, including the Big West Conference Championships from 2008-12.
At UC-Riverside, Basler coached six USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships qualifiers, five USA Junior National Championships qualifiers, two USA Indoor National Championships qualifiers, five NCAA All-Americans (combined indoor and outdoor), 19 NCAA Division I Outdoor West Prelims/Regional participants, 12 Big West outdoor conference champions and 37 school record holders (combined indoor and outdoor).
During Basler's years of coaching, he has also coached multiple post-collegiate athletes on the national and international stages. Highlights of his post-collegiate coaching include guiding Riverside alum Ted Hooper (long jump) to the 2016 Indoor World Championships, as well as second-place finishes at the 2015 Indoor USA Championships, 2015 Taiwan Open Athletic Championships, and the 2015 Asian Athletic Championships. In addition, Basler helped guide Riverside alum Allison Wilder (triple jump) to a third-place medal at the 2016 British Indoor Championships.
Under the tutelage of coach Mark Guthrie at Wisconsin-La Crosse, Basler won the 2002 NCAA Division III indoor national title in the long jump. He was a three-time NCAA Division III All-American and was the captain of La Crosse's teams that swept the indoor and outdoor NCAA team championships in 2001 and 2002.
Basler earned a Bachelor of Science degree in art from La Crosse in 2002 and his a Master of Arts in Sport Administration degree from Central Michigan in 2014.
"I would be remiss not to thank Jenny Swieton (Director of track and field at Central Michigan)," Basler said. "In just the one year I have been able to watch her and grow from her and to have her support and guidance – even through this process – was great. I have mentors who are head coaches and athletic directors that I have been able to rely on through this process and ultimately, the student-athletes. They have helped me grow into the person that is ready for this opportunity."
Basler, who is slated to start at Milwaukee on Sept. 26, takes the reigns from Pete Corfeld, who retired in July following almost 30 years at the helm, in which his teams claimed 51 league titles.