THE FLATS – Entering his 46th year with the Georgia Tech track and field program and 32nd as the head coach of the men’s team, Grover Hinsdale announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.
“Being a part of the men’s track and field program and the Georgia Tech Athletic Association for the last 45 years has been one of the greatest honors and blessings of my life,” Hinsdale said. “There are so many people to thank for making that possible, starting with the support and love of my beautiful wife and family. My eternal thanks to Buddy Fowlkes for giving a young upstart coach fresh out of grad school a chance back in 1979. To all the wonderful and talented coaches that have been with us and are with us now. To the seven athletics directors, including our current AD, J Batt, that allowed me to start, continue and finish my entire professional coaching career at this incredible Institute. I appreciate and thank you all. To all the team members that were here before I arrived and have been so supportive. A very special thanks to the hundreds of young men that cast their lots with this Brotherhood and gave me the honor of being their coach. You are what kept me here and loving every day for all these years. You will be my main men forever and always.”
“From his beginnings as an assistant coach to his development of Olympic medalists, national champions and conference titlists as the program’s head coach for 32 years, Grover Hinsdale has left an indelible mark on Georgia Tech,” Batt said. “He has not only coached champions on the track, but also countless men that have gone on to represent Tech with distinction in all walks of life as alumni. We could not be more appreciative of Coach Hinsdale’s contributions to Georgia Tech over the past five decades and look forward to honoring him and his legacy as he continues to pour his heart into coaching his team over this final year of his legendary career.”
The Yellow Jackets have placed in the top 10 at the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships seven times during Hinsdale’s tenure, including two top-four finishes. He was named Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Coach of the Year in 2002 and 2008 and has coached three Olympic gold medalists, 13 NCAA champions and 87 all-Americans. Twenty-five members of the men’s team during his tenure have gone on to be inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.
Among the group of talented athletes that struck gold is Derrick Adkins, who won Olympic gold in 1996, and was a two-time national champion and six-time all-American during his Tech career. A second Olympic medalist is Derek Mills, who won gold as part of the 4×400 relay team in Atlanta. He was a four-time national champion and an 11-time all-American for the Jackets.
The third Olympic gold medalist is Angelo Taylor, who won gold in the 400 intermediate hurdles at the 2000 Sydney Games, for which Hinsdale was honored with the USATF Outstanding Coach Award. Taylor also won two NCAA titles and was a four-time all-American during his career on The Flats.
Other top runners Hinsdale has tutored include Octavius Terry, a three-time national champion and nine-time all-American, and Jonas Motiejunas, a two-time national champion and five-time all-American, as well as national champions Michael Johnson and Tomas Motiejunas.
Hinsdale came to Tech in September 1979 as an assistant track coach, a position he held for 13 years under the legendary mentor Buddy Fowlkes. He was promoted to assistant head coach in 1992 and was named head coach the following year.
A former decathlete at Ferris State, Hinsdale’s first 14 years with Tech were spent in the field events.
Some of the top field performers under Hinsdale include Rich Thompson, a three-time all-American in the triple jump; Mark White, an all-American discus thrower who won two ACC Championships in the discus and was the 1990 ACC Champion in the shotput. Other top athletes are Eric Bowers, the 1995 and 1996 ACC champion and current ACC record holder in the long jump; along with Joe McDonald, who broke the school record in the decathlon for the third straight time in 1992 and was the ACC indoor long jump champion in 1991.
A Sand Creek, Mich., native, Hinsdale lettered four years in track and field at Ferris State. He graduated in 1976 with a bachelor of science degree in psychology and human science. He later received his master’s degree in physical education from Eastern Kentucky in 1979. Hinsdale was inducted into the Ferris State Hall of Fame on Sept. 19, 2003.
Hinsdale previously worked as a graduate assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky in 1978-79 and as assistant coach at Ferris State from 1976-78 before coming to Tech. He is a member of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Hinsdale and his wife, Laura, have two sons, Bobby and Luke and a daughter, Kelsey. Bobby and his wife, Abby, have a son, Finn.
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of the development of Yellow Jackets that thrive academically at the Institute and compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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