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Mike De Witt

Mike De Witt has been named the first Ave Maria University Head Cross Country and Track coach.  De Witt comes to AMU from NCAA II Wisconsin-Parkside, where he has directed both the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country and Track Programs for the past 3 years and has coached Cross Country and Track at the university for the past 29 years.

De Witt was elected to the NAIA Hall of Fame as the Women’s Cross Country Coach for Parkside when they competed in the NAIA from 1981 until 1994.  During that time the UWP Women’s Program won the NAIA National Championship (1986), placed in the Top 5 as a team 8 times as well as finishing outside of the Top 10 twice in 14 years.  When the program switched to NCAA II, his success continued as the program finished in the Top 10 of the NCAA II Championships 6 times and was ranked in the Top 20 in all but 3 seasons since 1995.

He has coached over 125 All American runners and race walkers during his career and over 25 collegiate National Champions.  Six of his athletes competed for the United States in the Olympic Games since 1984.

Beyond the coaching success he has had during his career, his teams have earned numerous Academic and Sportsmanship Awards as part of the NAIA, NCAA II Great Lakes Region, and NCAA II Great Lakes Valley Conference more than 15 of his recruited athletes graduated as the top student in their academic field as well. 

De Witt graduated from UW Parkside where he was the first ever Track All American (’72) in the new university at the time.  He competed in 4 different Olympic Trials as well as representing the United States in international competition on six occasions including the 1989 World Cup.  He has also been the Head Coach for the USA Team in the Pan Am Cup (2001).

“Moving to Ave Maria was based on the opportunity to deepen my Catholic faith and to continue to grow professionally in starting up a new program.  So many things have fallen into place in the process, including my wife Pam fitting into the Donahue Academy in a middle school teaching position.”  “The goals for the coming school year is to establish a base for the program with the interest there is on campus as well as adding those student/athletes who are still seeking a college for the coming year.  We will also begin to build a base of a track team through recruiting.”  “AMU is in a great track state and the university has a national reputation, each will contribute to competitive success as we leave the starting block in the Sun Conference, the NAIA and USCAA.”