Tucked between Wood Hall and the Dail Softball Complex sits an athletics building where a man, who has won more than many other N.C . State coaches, works.
In the Weisiger-Brown Athletics Building you’ll find Rollie Geiger, men’s cross country and track and field coach, who is in his 30th year at N.C . State and is a true testament to what hard work and passion for a sport can bring to a university.
Since his arrival in 1979, N.C . State Athletics has won 71 Atlantic Coast Conference team championships, 56 percent of which have been won by Geiger’s teams. Geiger has coached runners who have been named All-Americans a staggering 67 times and have won 40 ACC team championships combined, which is the most by a coach in the history of the ACC.
Despite the success, Geiger, in all his modesty, refused to take sole credit.
“I think coaches are only as good as the athletes they have in the program,” Geiger said. “I have been very fortunate over the years. We have had quality athletes in the program. I give the directions, I plan the Xs and Os , but the ones performing are the athletes in the program. So I think the credit over the years for the success of the program has to go to back to the individuals running the race.”
Geiger, who is one of the most respectable coaches in his field in the nation, claimed a lot of coaches and his fellow athletes during the days when he competed left a deep mark on him.
“I go back to my basketball coach from high school and my track and field coach from high school. They have had that great influence on me,” Geiger said. “I was very fortunate throughout my career to be surrounded by other really high-level athletes and so that had a big impact on me.”
Despite achieving almost everything he could as a coach, Geiger accepted that he experienced numerous challenges of his own on the way.
“The women when I came in were really at a high level, but sustaining that was a challenge. There are those who think that, if you have success then it doesn’t remain a challenge anymore, but it is a challenge; it’s so difficult,” Geiger said. “First there were eight and then 10 and now there are 12 teams in the conference, so winning becomes more difficult with the higher numbers.”
As passionate as Geiger is about sports, his number one concern remains ensuring the athletes get good education while at N.C . State, something evident from the numerous academic All-Americans the program has produced.
“I tell athletes, ‘it’s not about four years, it’s about forty,'” Geiger said. “‘You are here to get an education. We are not paying these kids to play. We are offsetting their costs for their education.”
While it’s hard to pinpoint a moment he cherishes in a long career such as his, there are some things that have really stuck with Geiger.
“Sometimes you get an athlete who was not great in high school, then they have the success in college level and then they are All-Americans. Those are great stories,” Geiger said. “The ones who is so committed to getting better, not the most gifted, those are the individuals who make up the team, those are the things you remember.”
Ask Geiger what he looks forward to the most in a normal day of work and Geiger says, “Young individuals keep you young, they really do, when we go outside for practice, that is the highlight of my day. Those athletes keep me in my thirties.”
Sophomore Andrew Colley , who was recently named an All-American after last month’s NCAA cross country championships, felt Geiger had a big impact on him and his successes.
“He really throws himself into what we do. So he makes me want to throw my full self into it,” Colley said. “It makes me want to be as much dedicated as I can so that I can give him the credit that he deserves.”
Colley claimed Geiger’s greatest skill was in getting to know each student-athlete individually.
“He knows personally with each person what they can do and how they can do it and guides you in a such way that you will be successful,” Colley said. “It’s different for everyone, and he’s very good at figuring out what it takes for that certain person to be successful.”
Chris Seaton , who first trained under Geiger en route to becoming an All-American and currently works as the assistant coach under him, said Geiger’s passion for the sport is unparalleled.
“He is someone who has a good sense of humor but has a seriousness and dedication to what he does that is unsurpassed by anything I have seen before because he has a genuine love for the sport,” Seaton said. “The love of winning, and the love of the sport is the main motivation for him. From that, he gets the commitment and dedication and all the work that goes into it.”
