New Mexico State University track and field head coach Orin Richburg will represent his country in the 2008 Beijing Olympics in August as the head relay coordinator of the USA Track and Field team.
Richburg was named to the Team USA coaching staff in November, but with the NMSU track and field season coming to an end, he will begin his work with the Olympic-bound athletes this summer.
"Our preparation this summer will be a series of overseas meets that we will do to get our 4x100 and 4x400 meter relay teams ready to be at the highest level possible," Richburg said. "This is the second time I've been able to be a part of the Olympic staff. Some people have the opportunity to be selected once, but the second time you look at it and realize it's something that just doesn't happen every day."
As the relay coordinator, Richburg organizes the top track athletes into teams of four, deciding which runners will start and end each race. In a relay, the athletes must learn to work together, so Richburg brings them together to coordinate with one another and build chemistry. Richburg also helps set the competition schedule for the team, setting up domestic races across the country.
This will be Richburg's second consecutive time as the head relay coordinator for Team USA. His first duty was in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. Richburg said the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) decided to hire a relay coordinator after the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, during which the men's 4x100 relay team celebrated their gold medal in what was thought to be a disrespectful manner.
"When they took their victory lap, it wasn't something that was very conducive to represent the United States," Richburg said. "The kids pulled their shirts down and they were sort of doing some antics going around the track. At the time, the national office and some other people involved felt we needed to get a relay coordinator so that we can do some things leading up to our big events."
Richburg said the USOC provided money to the USA Track and Field Team to fund a domestic relay program that would allow the team to compete across the country. At the time, Richburg was coaching the track and field team at the University of Washington, but stepped down when he was offered the position with Team USA.
In addition to his other responsibilities, Richburg said he makes sure the athletes represent the country and themselves properly during events at domestic relays. He said the races allow the athletes to get used to the procedure of an event and how to behave.
"We want to represent a good image around the world, that we're not only good athletes, but we're good citizens," Richburg said.
With such a prestigious coaching background, Richburg has brought much experience, along with higher standards, to NMSU.
"I chose to hire coach Richburg because of his outstanding experience as a Division I track and field coach, obviously because of his expertise with the national sports team and his role with the current Olympic team," NMSU Athletic Director McKinley Boston said. "We're very interested in being a quality program across the board in all of our sports including cross-country and track and field."
In recent years, the track and field program has fallen to the bottom of the Western Athletic Conference, and Boston said he hopes Richburg can turn the program around.
Junior thrower Randi Grimes said Richburg has placed a new set of standards for the team, which were absent in the past. She also said Richburg has instilled a different level of dedication in the athletes.
"The entire coaching staff is dedicated and involved with all the athletes, not just particular groups," Grimes said. "There's a team unity, something we haven't had. He has a lot of experience, and it's a privilege to be an athlete under him."
Boston said Richburg has done a lot in his first year to upgrade the track and field program, changing the team's expectations. Boston also said he feels good about Richburg's early recruiting.
Because he arrived at NMSU at the beginning of the cross-country season, he was unable to recruit many of his own athletes. He was able to bring in freshman Devin Brooks and sophomore Jordan Veney, both of whom have broken school records in their respective events and placed among the top-10 on the record list.
"All of my coaches know [Richburg], so I met him at the Texas Relays," Brooks said. "All of my coaches were saying how good of a coach he was. It's mainly why I decided to come here. He definitely knows what he's talking about in every event. There's always something to learn and he does it with descriptive detail."
Track and field assistant coach Paul Harkins said he came to NMSU for the opportunity to work with Richburg again.
"When he got the position at NMSU, he found where I landed and gave me a call," Harkins said. "As a boss, he's gone above and beyond and treated me as his son."
Richburg said his family is important to him and his career as he tries to create a family-like relationship within the track and field team.
"Coach Richburg has always encouraged a family atmosphere, which extends to the coaching staff as well," Meaghan Gregory, NMSU assistant track and field coach, said. "He has tremendous enthusiasm, and he instills that into his athletes and employees. He doesn't make me feel like an employee, more like a partner."
Richburg said he tries to instill a certain mentality in his athletes to make sure they don't take for granted the privilege of being scholarship athletes.
"As an athlete you have an obligation to make sure, because you're in the lime light, that you don't do anything outside of your sport that will bring attention to you that will be a negative influence to you or your family or the university you represent," Richburg said.
He said he stresses the importance of the student-athlete concept, that the members of the track and field team are students before athletes and because of this, Richburg said he is a teacher before he is a coach.
"It gives me the opportunity to work with young people trying to get them to understand what it is to be successful in life, and that's to have a priority system in what we do," Richburg explained. "Once you get your degree, nobody can take that away from you."
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