Coach Barron Named New England Outdoor Coach of the Year

(5/28/2007)

MEDFORD -- Ethan Barron, the head coach of the Tufts University men's track & field and cross country teams, earned the fifth Coach of the Year honor of his young career recently when he was recognized as the 2007 New England Region Division III Outdoor Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The awards were announced on Monday prior to the start of the NCAA Championships this week.

The 27-year old coach has three New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and two New England coaching awards already. He was voted NESCAC Track & Field Coach of the Year earlier this month. In March, the USTFCCCA named Barron as its New England Region Indoor Coach of the Year. During the 2005-06 season, Barron was NESCAC Co-Coach of the Year in Cross Country and the NESCAC Track & Field Coach of the Year for the first time. An assistant coach under former Jumbo leader Connie Putnam, Barron was promoted to interim head coach following Putnam's retirement in August 2005. The interim tag was then removed when he was promoted to full-time head coach in June 2006.

This spring, the Jumbo outdoor team ended Williams College's dominance at the NESCAC Championships by tying the Ephs for the team title. Both teams scored 197.5 points at the meet hosted by Middlebury College. The Ephs had won six straight titles and 14 of 15 prior to this year. It was Tufts' first title since 1991. Tufts was also second at the New England Division III Championships and ninth at the Open New England meet. The team's successful finishers were not the results of a few individual champions, but of the depth of a line-up that scored points up and down the event list.