Since his arrival at SMU in 1988, Dave Wollman has put together one of the top track and field programs in the country on the Hilltop. The Mustangs have had remarkable success at the NCAA Championships during Wollman[apos]s tenure. Wollman has led the SMU program to top-10 finishes in three of the last seven seasons at the National Indoor meet while guiding them to top-six honors at five of the last ten National Outdoor meets.
In 2004, Wollman led the Mustang team to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Wollman also coached Nevena Lendel to a sixth-place high jump mark at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Wollman[apos]s reputation as a coach has attracted many premier performers to the SMU campus. When he came to SMU in 1988, Wollman inherited a track and field program that had very few returning letterwinners. He immediately brought in an outstanding coaching staff, recruited several extremely talented athletes and built a closeness among team members. Wollman has been the architect of the SMU women[apos]s team, which was just a year old when he arrived in 1988.
[quote]We now have elite athletes in numerous events,[quote] said Wollman. [quote]We have built a tradition that attracts top-level talent from all over the world. Athletes choose to come to SMU because of the combination of quality coaching and quality academics that it offers. I honestly believe that SMU is one of the greatest opportunities for a young person from anywhere in the world.[quote]
Wollman[apos]s status as an elite coach was reinforced at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. He coached multiple athletes at the games in four throwing events, including Bronze Medallist Aleksander Tammert and finalist Hannes Hopley.
In addition, Wollman has been named a [quote]Master Coach[quote] by the U.S. Track & Field Coaches Association and was tabbed to serve as coach of the U.S. team at a competiton in the off-season.
Since his arrival on the Hilltop, SMU student-athletes have earned 154 All-America awards and in the last five years, his athletes have been honored as All-Americans 81 times. Wollman has also guided 34 NCAA Champions during his tenure.
[quote]I am extremely proud of every student-athlete, present and past,[quote] said Wollman. [quote]We continue to have exceptional talent at SMU, but the most amazing ingredient in the makeup of these young people is their personal qualities. Their parents should be proud.[quote]
Wollman[apos]s peers have taken notice of his coaching expertise, as he has been selected to speak at a variety of clinics all over the world and was selected to serve as an assistant coach for the 1995 Junior Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile. He also was enshrined in the Mt. Sac Relays Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Indiana Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2005.
Wollman came to SMU after six years as an assistant at Stanford, where he coached two Olympians, four NCAA champions and 44 All-Americans.
Prior to Stanford, Wollman was an assistant at Purdue from 1981-82 and a teacher and coach at Concord High School in Elkhart, Ind., from 1979-81.
Wollman received a bachelor[apos]s degree in physical education and business education from Indiana Central University in Indianapolis in 1979, and was later inducted into the school[apos]s Hall of Fame. He won the NCAA Division II shot put championship in 1977 and was runner-up the next two seasons. He also was a four-year starter at defensive end for the football team.
At Stanford, Wollman was very active in community relations. He and his wife, Shelley, were co-founders and directors of the Champs Foundation, the San Francisco 49ers football camp for underprivileged children in the bay area. Shelley was a member of the 49ers[apos] public relations staff for six years before moving to Dallas.
Born in Highland Park, Mich., Wollman graduated from Wawasee High School in Syracuse, Ind.
