Baylor School track and field coach Bill McMahan has never competed in the 100 meter or 400 meter dash, thrown the discus or the shot put.
“I played football, basketball and baseball while I was here at Baylor (graduated 1967) and never had anything to do with track and field until I started coaching the sport here at Baylor in the early 1970s,” said McMahan.
But the long-time – now in his 26th year –highly successful – eight state team titles – knows how to motivate talented teenagers and get them to do more than they believed they could do and has hired excellent assistant coaches over the years.
He and three other prep track coaches have have coached in all 23 Spring Fling state championships and earlier this week McMahan picked his top five track and field athletes.
Spring Fling Perfect Attendance: Bill McMahan (Baylor), Charlie Harper (Brentwood Acad.), Bobby Alston (MUS) and Robert Pruitt (MBA) have all coached in every Spring Fling 1-XXIII. Prior to 2016 they had combined to win 29 of the 44 boys and girls D-II state track championships.
Baylor Boys – Bill McMahan’s Top 5
1 Willie Idlette (2002)
“Best track and athlete I have ever coached … not even close.”
In his career he won the state decathlon, 100, 200 and 400 (3) meters plus long jump and triple jump
2 Brent Phillips (2002)
Hurdles champion and second in the decathlon to Idlette in 2002
3 Jamey Gifford (1997) – 3,200 meter champion, 2x 1,600 meter champion
4 Jamie Bach (2000) – 800 and 1,600 meter champion
5 Ryan Parker (2016)
2015 Discus champion
“What really impressed me about Ryan was when he won the state wrestling title at 170 pounds as a freshman and went on the win three more. For a freshman to win the state in the upper weights is very difficult to do. He reminds me of Baylor hall of famer Charlie Moore who won a national prep championship at heavyweight in wrestling (1962) and was a starter for the LSU football team in the mid-1960s.”
Baylor Girls – Bill McMahan’s Top 5
1 Marlena Kellerman (2008)
2008 Pentathlon champion … first Baylor athlete to win this event
2 Salena Popp (2013)
Pentathlon champion …. Also won 100 meters and the high jump
3 Kate McKenzie (2007)
“best runner I have ever coached”
State champion in 400 meters
4 Sally Warm (2010)
State triple jump champion
5 Rachel Smith current student-athlete
“Rachel could be the best female runner we have ever had.”
This year she was region champion in 4x200 relay, 100 and 300 hurdles and pole vault
contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net