When Bill Gautier first stepped on campus at UT-Chattanooga, he really didn't know how long he'd be here.
Now some 24 years later, the veteran and knowledgeable track and cross country coach can't imagine being anywhere else.
He's really been a one-man miracle worker since that time in 1991 when he and his family first made Chattanooga home.
Chances are good that he's produced more Southern Conference champions and championships than anyone else in Chattanooga sports history and he's done so with less money, less resources and less facilities.
Now if you know Bill at all, you know that he's one of the most intense and competitive people on earth. He may not win every time out, but he's not one to give up without a fight.
Most of you also know Bill's wife Jan, who was one of his runners in his earliest days of college coaching. She is now the boys cross country coach at Baylor.
They are also the proud parents of two daughters, 25-year-old Taylor who is in graduate school in Nashville and Sydney, who is now 19 and a freshman at UTC
A couple of weekends ago, Gautier took his women and men's teams to Greenville, S.C. for the SoCon championships. The guys did fare well as they finished seventh, but the ladies came through with an incredible performance to finish second to Furman.
Gautier was then named Women's Coach of the Year for such startling results.
This guy has a head full of positive memories of the young people whose lives he's touched and he has lots and lots of stories about the roles each as played during their time here, but he's not one to keep count of stuff like the number of times he's been the coach of the year.
"I really have no idea. Probably more than 10, but less than 20," he said earlier this week while sitting beside the GPS track before an afternoon workout began.
The 57-year-old Gautier has gone through plenty of good times, but he's also endured more than his share of bad, including the news earlier this year that the university would no longer be fielding a men's track team.
He was also told in the first six months on the job that he should leave this job and pursue a coaching position elsewhere in a place where a program might be supported on a greater financial level.
He came real close to leaving at the end of 1999. Actually, he had already accepted a position as the head track and cross country coach at Florida State. About the same time, his father Woody got sick and Bill just felt like the timing wasn't right to leave Chattanooga, so he resigned that position and came back home to be welcomed back with open arms.
Mr. Gautier died a few weeks later. Members of the running community surrounded the Gautiers with love and support and it's been that way ever since.
If you follow track and cross country at all in this town, you know that the Mocs don't have a track of their own. Through the generosity of Stacey Hill and those fine folks at GPS, the Mocs go across the river and use the GPS track when there's not a scheduling conflict.
And they've made the grassy areas around Moccasin Bend Hospital their cross country course. It's turned into a really nice venue for invitational races and Gautier has spent literally hundreds of hours over their mowing to make it the best he could.
And he's genuinely thankful for the opportunity that has come his way and the young folks who have chosen Chattanooga as their school to run and compete at the next level.
"You know that we have had some quality kids come our way, but success breeds success. We did really well in the beginning as we had more money to work with, but tuition has more than doubled since that time. I've learned to live with what I have," he said as a gentle breeze came sweeping acoss the field from the Tennessee River.
"Folks like Stacey Hill, Chad Varga and Louis Priddy have literally saved our program as it's become like a family for us. And I've been really fortunate to have the connection I have with GPS and Baylor.
"We've lost some great runners since they said that men's track would no longer be offered, but these kids just have to focus on academics. They come here to earn a degree first and foremost and cross country is just a vehicle to help make it happen.
"Not only have we had some great runners, we've brought in some great students as well. Our men's team has the number-one grade point average of anyone in the NCAA for the last two years," Gautier said with pride.
But most recently, his girls gave overwhelming favorite Furman a real run for their money as they finished second for the second straight year.
Junior Teghan Henderson was the overall runner-up after finishing first last year and was joined by sophomore Emily Drouin as first-team All-Conference. Hannah Chamblin and Anna Chance, a couple of redshirt sophomores, also ran well and were named to the second team.
"What a great group of girls. You can win a league championship with runners like that. We almost beat Furman. I thought we'd get them," Gautier remembered.
The running Mocs are headed to Tuscaloosa for the Regional meet on Friday morning.
But Gautier can tell stories long past sundown about kids who have chosen Chattanooga as the place for them to further their education and to become the best runners they could possibly be.
"It seems like I have a different connection with every team I've had here, but something must be working right. These girls just want to be together and they're willing to pay the price to achieve success.
"We give them a chance to get a good education because we don't have anything else to offer, but they get a degree first and running will take care of itself. I think they like the family atmosphere we've created, but it's a dream come true for a coach like me," Gautier concluded.
Bill Gautier is the epitome of what hard work can do. He has the young ladies on his team believing along the same lines.
And as long as that's the case, they'll keep winning conference championships and he'll keep piling up the Coach of the Year awards.
And to think that he can't think of a better place to be doing it.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)