Head Coach: Steve Shutt
Office: (937) 327-6493
E-mail: sshutt@wittenberg.edu

Postal Address: Wittenberg University P.O. Box 720 Springfield, Ohio 45501

Package Shipping Address: Wittenberg University 225 Fountain Ave. Springfield, Ohio 45504

Steve Shutt took over the coaching reins of the Wittenberg men's and women's cross country and track & field teams in 1999. Before resigning in 2006 to take the same position at Gettysburg College, Shutt regularly put the teams in position for North Coast Athletic Conference championships.

Under Shutt, Wittenberg's track & field teams set more than 40 men's and women's school records. Sixteen athletes were NCAC champions in track (multiple times in several cases) and one in cross country, dozens earned All-NCAC honors, eight were NCAA Division III national qualifiers (multiple times in several cases), 13 were Coaches Association Academic All-Americans and numerous NCAC Athlete of the Year designations were earned under Shutt's direction.

A 1994 graduate of Allegheny College with degrees in physics and psychology, Shutt was a four-year letterwinner for the Gators' indoor and outdoor track and field squads, earining all-conference honors in the pole vault. Shutt came to Wittenberg after serving as an assistant coach at Hillsdale College, where he also served as director of the intramural program. While at Hillsdale, Shutt coached several national qualifiers and an All-American.

Shutt also served as a graduate assistant coach at Slippery Rock University. While at SRU he studied exercise science, and worked numerous camps and clinics involving such events as men's and women's pole vault, high jump, javelin, multi-events and cross country. In addition, Shutt is an instructor for USATF Level I coaching schools and a Level II coach in the endurance events, jumps and throws.

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Assistant Coach: Ralph Bergdoll

Ralph Bergdoll became part of the Wittenberg coaching staff in 2000 after more than 40 years of coaching in the Dayton area. A graduate of West Virginia Weslyan and Xavier University, Bergdoll is also certified in Level I and II with the USTAF and is Level I instructor.

As a scholastic coach Bergdoll has experience with both cross-country and track programs. For ten consecutive years (1990-1999), he has had competitors qualify for the OHSAA State track meet. In 1988 Bergdoll was inducted in the Ohio Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame. He has served many years as a meet manager and has conducted four Level I schools for USATF.

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Assistant Coach: Dennis Robinson

Dennis Robinson joined the Tiger coaching staff in 2004 after working in the Dayton Public School District the last 17 years. Robinson taught physical education, health and driver's education at MacFarlane Middle School and Meadowdale High School, and he also served as head coach for the boy's and girl's cross country and track and field teams.

During his career at Meadowdale, Robinson led dozens of athletes to high finishes in the annual Ohio High School Athletic Association championship meet. His team's best finish was third in the 2001 boys state championship, and in 2002 Robinson coaches the second-fastest high school 110-meter high hurdler in the nation. In addition, Robinson served as head coach of the All-Ohio Boys' Track and Field team in 2001, earned recognition in Who's Who Among America's Teachers in 2000 and was a recipient of the OHSAA's Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Award in 2002.

A graduate of Central State University and a native of Dayton, Robinson's first head coaching assignment was in the Jefferson Township School District as head coach of the boys' and girls' track and field and cross country teams. He earned Coach of the Year in the Southwestern Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches in 1977, and he guided the boys team to the AA State Championship that same year.

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Assistant Coach: Andy Waddle

Andy Waddle returned to his alma mater in 2005 to take over coaching the football team's defensive backs and serve as an assistant with the Tiger track and field program.

Waddle played for two North Coast Athletic Conference championship teams in his three years at Wittenberg after transferring from the University of Findlay in 1999. At Findlay, Waddle was red-shirted during an NAIA national championship season in 1997 and was a starter for the Oilers the following year. In 2000, he tied an NCAA record for blocked punts in a game in his first appearance in the Red & White, turning away three Urbana attempts in the season opener.

Waddle earned first-team All-NCAC honors in football and track and field during his collegiate career. After graduating from Wittenberg in 2003 with a degree in sociology, Waddle spent one season at Mansfield University (Pa.), as the defensive backs coach for former Tiger defensive coordinator Chris Woods. He acted as a staff liaison to the university's athletic trainers and also learned the recruiting ropes while helping the Mountaineers to an 8-3 record, the program's first winning mark in nearly 30 years.

In 2004, Waddle was the defensive backs coach at Maryville College (Tenn.), and once again the program and its defensive unit made a dramatic improvement. Maryville won as many games in 2004 as it had won the previous three seasons combined, and the defense made a 17-point, 140-yard per game improvement. Waddle served as Maryville's video coordinator.

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Assistant Coach: Melissa Jensen

Melissa Jensen, a residence hall coordinator at Wittenberg, joined the track and field coaching staff working with the throwers in 2005.

Jensen was a successful track and field athlete for 11 years at Woodmore High School and the University of Findlay, including one year competing in collegiate events unattached. She has guided numerous Wittenberg athletes to personal best performances, including Andy Karcher, who won the hammer with a meet-record throw at the 2006 North Coast Athletic Conference championships after earlier setting a school record. In addition, Clyde Mayer won the discus at the conference meet.

Men's Track & Field Home Page

Women's Track & Field Home Page