Doug Watts Announced as New Namesake for NCAA DII Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year
NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association is proud to announce former Edinboro coach and USTFCCCA Hall of Fame member Doug Watts as the namesake for the NCAA Division II Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year Award.
Effective this current 2016 season, the Doug Watts Men’s Athlete of the Year Award will annually honor the most outstanding male runner in NCAA Division II Cross Country. The NCAA Division II Cross Country Men’s Athlete of the Year award has been administered by the USTFCCCA since the association’s formation in 2005.
“Throughout his nearly half a century at Edinboro, Doug Watts established a tradition of excellence that resulted in Running Scots men perennially competing for national titles and All-America honors,” USTFCCCA CEO Sam Seemes said. “It’s our honor to be able to associate Coach Watts’ legacy of excellence with this award and its future winners.”
In 44 years of coaching, Watts brought success to Edinboro at all levels in cross country and track & field. Watts, who began Edinboro’s program in 1969, led the Running Scots to six national championships in cross country, including two NAIA national crowns in the 1970s and four NCAA Division II national championships in 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1990. In five other instances, his men’s cross country team finished as national runner-up.
Watts coached four individual national champions (three at the NCAA level) in men’s cross country. Watts’ men’s cross country team owns a current NCAA Division II record of having qualified 29 consecutive times for the national championships.
The Doug Watts Men’s Athlete of the Year Award is one of four newly named national awards for NCAA Division II Cross Country: