USTFCCCA Awards
Joe Vigil Announced as New Namesake for NCAA DII Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year
By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA November 17, 2016   

Joe Vigil Announced as New Namesake for NCAA DII Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association is proud to announce former Adams State coach and USTFCCCA Hall of Fame member Joe Vigil as the namesake for the NCAA Division II Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year Award.

Effective this current 2016 season, the Joe Vigil Men’s Coach of the Year Award will annually honor the most outstanding coach of a men’s team in NCAA Division II Cross Country. The NCAA Division II Cross Country Men’s Coach of the Year award has been administered by the USTFCCCA since the association’s formation in 2005.

“Few coaches in NCAA Division II history have made as big an impact on the sport of cross country at all levels as Joe Vigil,” USTFCCCA CEO Sam Seemes said. “To this day, no coach at any level of the NCAA has been able to assemble a team to match Coach Vigil and Adams State’s legendary perfect score at the 1992 NCAA Championships, and we are proud to associate our highest award for NCAA DII cross country coaches with that level of excellence.”

Joe Vigil, head coach at Adams State College for nearly 30 years, is the consummate coach-scientist, one who combines systems of training, sport science and motivation towards having his athletes achieve at the highest levels.

Vigil led teams to 12 NAIA National Cross Country Championships and two NCAA Division II national titles in 1992 and 1993. His team won the 1992 NCAA Division II National Cross Country Championship with a perfect score of 15 points. In cross country and track & field, Vigil’s teams won a total of 19 national championships.

For these accomplishments, Vigil was named National Coach of the Year on 14 different occasions. He also produced 425 All Americans and 87 individual national champions during his tenure at Adams State between cross country and track & field.

The Joe Vigil Men’s Coach of the Year Award is one of four newly named national awards for NCAA Division II Cross Country: