Dave Wrath, Augustana Sports Information

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Fred Whiteside, whose association with Augustana goes back to the early 1970s, has announced that he will retire as the head women's cross country and track & field coach at the end of the 2014-15 school year. When Whiteside puts down his stopwatch for the final time this spring, it will mark the end of a remarkable career that spanned a total of 61 seasons as head coach.

He started his head coaching career in the fall of 1982 with the Vikings' cross country team and five years later he added the track & field position to his resume. At the time of his retirement he will have logged 33 years as the head coach in women's cross country and 28 in women's track & field. He has the two longest tenures in Augustana women's athletics history as head coach.

"I was truly blessed to be here so long," said Whiteside, a 1974 graduate of Augustana and the school's first NCAA Division III All-American in men's cross country. "I have enjoyed my time here and one thing I always appreciated from the various directors of athletics was the freedom and ability to run the cross country and track & field programs in the image we wanted. Those were people who said 'work hard and get the job done' and I was happy to be able to do that."

Few could argue that fact as the Vikings won 12 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin track & field titles during his tenure, including a conference record nine in a row from 1993 through 2001. They also placed second in the CCIW seven times in the outdoor and twice in the indoor championships.

Augustana also captured seven CCIW titles in cross country, with the latest coming in 2013. The Vikings were second six times. His 1997 and 1998 teams qualified for the NCAA Division III national cross country championships, the only time in school history that Augustana has done that.

"Fred Whiteside has been a fixture at Augustana for five decades, and his boundless enthusiasm and passion to mentor our student-athletes will be deeply missed," said Mike Zapolski, director of athletics. "Fred has made a significant investment of time, talent and treasure at Augustana dating back to his time as a student in the 1970's. He has compiled an impressive resume' of success and positively impacted the lives of countless athletes and colleagues during his coaching career."

Whiteside got his start in coaching as an assistant for Paul Olsen and the men's track & field team, a position he held for 12 years from 1975 through 1987.

Whiteside, a 1974 graduate of Augustana, earned All-America honors in the very first NCAA Division III cross country championship in 1973. He also set the Augustana school record in the mile when he placed eighth in the NCAA national meet in track & field as a senior. He still holds a school record as a member of the indoor 3200 relay team.

At Augustana, Whiteside majored in business administration, Spanish, secondary education and physical education. He received an M.S.S. degree in sport coaching from the United States Sports Academy in 1989. Besides coaching, he is an instructor in the physical education department where he teaches lifetime wellness, archery, physical conditioning, badminton and the coaching and officiating of track & field. He has held a variety of administrative posts on campus, including director of off-campus housing, director of janitorial services and building director of the Carver PE Center.
                                                                
A native of Reynolds, Illinois where he grew up on a farm, Whiteside attended Rockridge High School. He participated in football, basketball, track & field and baseball. He taught and coached at Westmer High School in Joy, Illinois for one year before coming back to Augustana. Through the years, he has worked in various capacities on Augustana campus, including director of off-campus housing, director of custodial services, director of intramurals and associate athletic director. His wife Cathie, also an Augustana graduate is executive vice-president/corporate strategy and branding of QCR Holdings, Inc.

Whiteside credits much of the past success at Augustana to a pair of coaches who were with him for some time. Ron Standley, who began coaching at Augustana in 1988, served as the co-head coach in track & field from 1993 until 2002. All but two of the Augustana school records in track & field have been set with athletes either recruited or coached by Standley. For over 20 years, Doug Sand was an integral part of the cross country program, even serving as the co-head coach from 1993 until 2001.

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The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services eight member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2013-14 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,400 academic all-conference recipients, 14 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 33 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients and 87 all-Americans.