Thursday, 5/8/97 Success on and off the field Former Bruin,
two-time Olympian and head coach of UCLA’s women’s track and field
team talks about her love of coaching
By Donald Morrison Daily Bruin Contributor Women’s track and
field coach Jeanette Bolden has had many successful journeys in the
world of track and field. As a runner in the 4 X 100 meter relay
for the U.S. Olympic team in 1984, Bolden won a gold medal.
Although Bolden’s running career is over, she has stayed in track.
Bolden is now in her fourth year as head coach of the women’s track
and field team and is regarded as one of the top young track and
field coaches in the nation. "There’s a little saying that I quote
quite often and that is, ‘Success is a journey and not a
destination.’ It means that you’re always going to be faced with
challenges," Bolden said. "You don’t arrive at your goal and
accomplish your goal and stop. You keep on trying and keep striving
to accomplish bigger, better and higher goals for yourself." Bolden
and her teams rose up to the challenges they faced in her first
three years as a head coach. In those three years as head coach,
Bolden has been honored with two Pacific-10 conference Coach of the
Year awards, in 1994 and 1995. She was honored again in 1995 when
she was named District VIII Coach of the Year. Now, Bolden has an
unbeaten record as a head coach in dual-meet competitions with 35
straight wins. UCLA just finished a dual-meet competition this year
with a 10-0 record, giving Bolden a fourth straight unbeaten
season. Her teams won Pac-10 conference titles in 1994 and 1995 and
placed third in the conference in 1996. "I was surprised," Bolden
said of her first Coach of the Year award, "because it was just my
first year and for my comrades and co-workers to recognize me like
that made me feel extremely honored, but at the same time we have
to continue to win as a team and our team didn’t win last year. We
didn’t compete as well as we should have and that’s why I can never
be totally happy unless my team is doing well." "She is one of the
elite coaches because she is tremendously dedicated to detail,"
assistant coach Art Venegas said. "Nothing gets by her without
being done properly. I remember her as an athlete and she was very
prepared and skilled." But the awards and accolades that Bolden may
receive as a coach do not mean anything to her unless the team does
well. "(The coaching award) was only an honor and I felt good about
it because my teams did well those years as well," Bolden said.
"When my team does well then I’m happy with the accolades that I
get but if my team doesn’t do well and I still get an accolade I’m
not as happy." In her debut season as head coach in 1994 Bolden’s
team finished third in the NCAA outdoor competition and was named
the number one dual-meet team in the nation by "Track & Field
News." In 1995, the Bruins were ranked number two dual-meet team in
the nation, and finished second in the nation in the NCAA outdoor
and indoor competitions. "She commands respect and gets it,"
distance coach Eric Peterson said. "She’s also supportive and
gentle and that’s a nice combination to have as a head coach. She’s
been supportive and helpful to all the athletes on the team."
Bolden doesn’t just want to prepare the members of her team to
perform well on the field when they’re at UCLA, she wants to
prepare her athletes for their futures off the track. "After they
finish school here," Bolden said, "whether it’s four years or five
years – I want them, at that time, to be prepared academically and
athletically to go into any endeavor they want to go into." Bolden
believes no one should ever give up, and a person should always
seek challenges and goals. She also believes people should always
keep trying to accomplish goals even if they fail at first. She
takes that view onto the track with her. "You might have
disappointments, you might have adversities, but you have to
continue to try hard," Bolden said. "It’s not how hard you fall,
it’s how high you bounce (back) and how much you recover from
things." Men’s track and field coach Bob Larsen notes that Bolden
brings her own perspectives and personality into coaching thanks to
her experience as a runner. When Bolden was younger and a student
at UCLA, she enjoyed a great amount of success as a runner. Bolden
was a five-time All-American and helped lead UCLA to a national
title in women’s track and field in 1982. She placed second in the
100 meters in that year’s championships and was on the 4 X 100
meter relay team that finished third in the championships. In her
track career as a sprinter, she has been considered one of the top
female sprinters in the U.S. She was also a two-time Olympian,
participating in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics. In 1983 she set the
world indoor record for the 60-yard dash with a time of 6.60
seconds at the "Dallas Times Herald" meet. In 1986, she beat that
time with a dash of 6.54 seconds (that time is currently tied for
the record as the world’s best indoors). Bolden’s prior track
experience does have an impact on how she coaches. "She applies a
high standard to her athletes," Peterson said of Bolden. "(Her
track experience) gives her a strong awareness of what is going on
her athletes’ minds and bodies." Bolden’s accomplishments off the
track are equally impressive. She set up the Jeanette Bolden Asthma
and Allergy Clinic, which is a one-day track clinic where kids who
have asthma come out and learn different track and field events.
Bolden was also Co-Chairwoman of Drug-Alcohol Awareness Month in
1986 and 1987, and is Youth Adult Director of Greater Unity Baptist
Church. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the
Asthma and Allergy Foundation. "I’m working now to develop a
program for young students in Compton and the greater L.A. area to
better help them prepare for the SAT tests," Bolden said, and she
is even more ambitious about the future. "My ultimate long-term
goal is to open up my own youth center," she said. "I’ve always
enjoyed watching people achieve their goals. That’s what keeps me
coaching and that’s what made me start coaching." Jeanette Bolden,
UCLA’s women’s track coach, has excelled as a runner as well. Her
efforts on the U.S. Olympic 4 X 100-meter relay team earned her a
gold medal in 1984.