Skip to Content Buy Tickets Shop Store Donate Now

NC State Wolfpack

Official GoPack.com
Online Store

     Rollie Geiger
    Rollie Geiger

    Position:
    Head Coach

    Alma Mater:
    Kent State, 1971


    04/20/2013

    NC State Women's Track & Field Records Best ACC Finish Since 1986

    Wolfpack women's team finishes third at ACC Outdoor Championships

    03/30/2013

    NC State Concludes Successful Raleigh Relays Weekend

    A record number of teams and entries highlight memorable meet

    11/01/2012

    Track & Field Announces 2012-13 Schedule

    NC State will host ACC Outdoor Championships in 2013

    08/17/2012

    Broadbent Joins Track and Field Staff

    Eric Broadbent hired as the new sprint and multi-event coach

    06/28/2012

    Hill, Lucas Just Miss Making U.S. Olympic T&F Team

    Junior Ryan Hil broke his own school record in the men's 5,000 meters, while former All-American Julia Lucas was nipped at the finish line for third place in the women's 5,000 meters.

    Since taking over the NC State men's and women's track and field programs in 1985, Rollie Geiger has guided the Wolfpack to unprecedented heights. The men's team has won seven ACC championships and has three ACC runner-up finishes. The Wolfpack women have had two ACC runner-up finishes, and both squads send athletes to the NCAA Championships every year.

    Geiger is in his 34th year at NC State with the start of the 2013 season. He served as distance coach for the track and field team from 1979-84 and was elevated to head coach starting in the 1984-85 school year.

    Since the beginning of Geiger's reign as head track coach, 64 Wolfpack athletes have earned 132 track and field All-America citations. Last season, Ryan Hill earned All-America honors in the indoor 3,000 meters, as well as the outdoor 1,500 meters, while thrower Nathaniel Williams earned the same honor in the men's discus. Andie Cozzarelli received her second-straight All-America recognition in the women's outdoor 10,000-meter run to round out NC State's best track & field performances on the national stage.

    In 2011, four Wolfpack athletes won All-America honors: Hill in the men's indoor 3,000 meters, junior T.J. Graham in the indoor 60 meters and the outdoor 100 meters, freshman Kenyetta Iyevbele in the women's outdoor 800 meters and sophomore Andie Cozzarelli in the outdoor 10,000 meters. In addition, both Hill and redshirt freshman Andrew Colley won honorable mention All-America honors in the outdoor 5,000 meters.

    Included in that group of All-Americans are seven NCAA champions. In 2002, Kristin Price won the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Championships, the Wolfpack's first individual title since 1993. NC State's 4x100 relay quartet of Auguston Young, Alston Glenn, Danny Peebles, and Harvey McSwain claimed the 1985 NCAA title, and in 1993 Tyrell Taitt captured the national championship in the outdoor triple jump. In 1991, Laurie Henes (current NC State track assistant coach and women's cross country head coach) captured the NCAA 5,000-meter championship. Geiger was also on the coaching staff and worked extensively with Betty Springs when she won the NCAA 5,000- and 10,000-meter championships in 1983.

    During his career, Geiger has coached five athletes to U.S. collegiate or national records -- Betty Springs for the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, Kathy Ormsby for the 10,000 meters, Suzie Tuffey to an American junior record at 5,000 meters, Jeff Warrick to a national high school record at 1,500 meters and, last summer, Kenyetta Iyevbele to the U.S.A. Junior National Championship in the 800 meters.

    In addition, Geiger has coached athletes to international prominence, including sprinter Kevin Braunskill (1988) and jumper Neil Chance (1992), who won the 200-meter dash and long jump, respectively, at the World Junior Championships. Braunskill also picked up a bronze medal at 200 meters at the World University Games in 1989. Iyevbele won the Pan Am Junior title at last year's Pan Am Junior Games.

    At the junior national level, Geiger helped place Lynn Strauss (3,000-meter run), Gavin Gaynor (steeplechase), Chris Corcoran (javelin), and Chris Dugan (steeplechase) on the United States National team in 1983, '84, '91 and '98 respectively. Under Geiger, javelin thrower Eric Schoenborn became a member of the '85 United States National team, and Emmanuel and Reggie Barnes joined Chance as members of Team USA in 1992.

    Geiger has also been head coach of the Wolfpack's ACC men's cross country dynasty since 1982, and served as the head coach of the women's cross country squad from 1982-2004 as well, winning 15 ACC men's championships and 17 ACC women's championships. His men's cross country team has won 12 of the last 16 ACC cross country titles, including the 2011 championship.

    NC State women's cross country has made more NCAA Championships appearances than any other school and had 10 national top-10 finishes under Geiger, including five top-five finishes in six years from 1983-88. The Wolfpack men have finished in the national top 10 a total of 10 times since 1987, including a 10th-place finish in 2011. Both squads finished in the top 10 in 2003, with the women placing sixth and the men taking 10th. Nine men and women have won individual ACC cross country championships under Geiger's tutelage, and two women, Betty Springs in 1983 and Suzie Tuffey in 1985, won individual national championships.

    In the classroom, Geiger's teams have exemplified what student-athletes are supposed to be. Kristin Price became the 15th track and field member to earn the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in 2004, with Tibor Vegh and Stephen Furst earning the scholarship in 2007. In the winter of 2007, both Georgia Davis and Jemissa Hess were awarded the James-Weaver-Corrigan Postgraduate Scholarship by the ACC, giving Geiger 14 student-athletes to receive that honor.

    Furst, now a volunteer assistant for the track and field team, was named the ACC Scholar Athlete of the Year after a tremendous senior season under Geiger's guidance and was also a NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winner with fellow senior Vegh in 2007.

    Much like his teams, Geiger has gained numerous ACC Coach of the Year honors. He has claimed 13 ACC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year Awards, and has been named the league's cross country coach of the year on the women's side a total of 15 times. Geiger was also named Southeast Region Coach of the Year after the 2007 men's cross country team won the regional meet.

    Most recently in track, Geiger was named the 2004 men's indoor coach of the year for his sixth ACC Track & Field Coach of the Year award. During his tenure in Raleigh, Geiger has been named conference coach of the year for track or cross country a staggering 34 times.

    Well-known nationally, Geiger has coached at the United States Olympic Festival and in 1987 was named coach of the United States National team for the World Cross Country Championships. He has also been a featured speaker at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

    Prior to coming to Raleigh, Geiger led a perennial powerhouse program at Bayshore High School in Bradenton, Fla. His teams consistently placed in the top 10 at the state, with individuals placing in every event.

    A 1971 graduate of Kent State University, Geiger was a three-time letterwinner in track and cross country. He majored in health education and received a minor in psychology. He is married to the former Betty Springs, one of the finest runners in NC State history, as she was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. They have two children, Rachel and Trey, both of whom attend NC State.

    ACC COACH OF THE YEAR
    Track and Field (6)
    1985, 1986, 1988, 1996 (2), 2004
    Men's Cross Country (13)
    1986, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011
    Women's Cross Country (15)
    1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001

    ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS
    Men's Track and Field (7)
    1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1996
    Men's Cross Country (15)
    1986, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011
    Women's Cross Country (20)
    1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006

    Recent News

    Wolfpack UnlimitedLive Tuffy Page