Coaches' Corner: Assistant Cross Country and Track & Field Coach Rob Hansen
8/25/2016 7:46:00 PM | UC Riverside Athletics Association
My path to UCR has led me all over the country. I competed for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside from 2004-2009. My experiences as a student-athlete, both positive and negative, have driven my desire to coach at the collegiate level. I hope to provide a great student-athlete experience for everyone in our program here at UCR.Â
After graduating from UWP, I became a GA at McNeese State University for one semester. Realizing McNeese was not the right fit, I transferred to the University of Louisiana Monroe, where I finished my Master's Degree in Exercise Science (Dec 2012). I was a volunteer assistant coach for cross country at ULM while simultaneously working as a GA in Graduate School admissions.
The last component of my Master's degree was completing a 650 hour internship for my last semester before comprehensive exams. For my internship, I served as a volunteer assistant coach for the women's cross country/track and field team at the University of Arkansas, The University of Arkansas is known as the track capitol of the world, as the track and field programs have combined to win 46 NCAA National Championships. My mentorship there was pivotal in honing my skills, creating my philosophy and developing my network. I was able to build off of my mentorship and earn a position on staff as the distance coach at the University of Texas-Pan American.
UTPA gave me full autonomy over my own event group, for the first time in my career, in August 2013. In August 2015, UTPA and UT-Brownsville combined institutions to found one brand new institution, the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. In all I spent 3 years at UTPA/UTRGV where the distance program was able to set 8 school records, and 13 All WAC awards. More importantly, at UTRGV, the culture we established is something I hope to emulate and expound upon. The path to UCR taught me togetherness, accountability, and commitment - staples that will continue to be emphasized within our program.
UCRs campus is beautiful. Every direction you look, there are wonderful views. The weather in Riverside is 100% better than anywhere I've ever lived. Sure there are hot days ... this is SoCal, but with the lack of humidity, 100 degrees is pretty manageable. That type of weather could be found in South Texas, and it made training considerably more difficult. Also, compared to the 6 months of winter I faced for the majority of my running career back home in Wisconsin, it's hard to beat what we have here.Â
Most importantly, the running opportunities at hand around UCR are pivotal to what we do. Our cross country course is one of the best in the western region. On top of that, we have miles and miles of canals and mountainous trails only 1-2 miles from campus in all directions. I consider this area to be a training gold mine. Furthermore, if the mood strikes us, Big Bear Lake is only 60-70 driving minutes away, which is an elevation location where professional distance runners train. hese are only a few of the countless reasons why I think UCR is very special.
My vision for the team is to grow. We want to grow as individuals, both in our academic lives and our athletic lives. We want to grow as a family, growing in our goals and desires to be successful and to take the UCR brand and stretch beyond California. The desire to have a national presence is something that we've talked about within the program. Ultimately, however, we do want to win Big West Championships. That is one of our highest outcome goals.
Alumni are very important to what we're hoping to accomplish here, with time, presence, monetary contribution, social media attention; any of these things can make a difference. Any time people are talking about us, in a positive manner, on social media, it expands our visibility. We want people to know us. Any time someone can contribute financially, our program can benefit in a big way. Whether it be a large contribution or just few dollars, every contribution can help build our program. Having fans present at our home competitions is absolutely the best! Our student-athletes thrive on performing for the home crowd. We take special pride in representing UCR, and knowing the community cares about us, is extremely important.
I haven't been on staff long, but the unity we have formed so quickly, is proof that the program is heading down the right path. There is a ton of energy and motivation to recruit hard and develop well. I couldn't be more proud to be a part of the UC Riverside track staff that is Coach Browne, Coach Pagel and Coach Newell.
Something people don't know about me is that my mustache is a large source of pride, although it comes and goes. Also, I am immensely blessed to have a wonderful support system of my own. My wife, ready and willing, left her immediate family to follow me across the country so that I could chase my dreams. I am forever grateful to love my better half, Lucy.
After graduating from UWP, I became a GA at McNeese State University for one semester. Realizing McNeese was not the right fit, I transferred to the University of Louisiana Monroe, where I finished my Master's Degree in Exercise Science (Dec 2012). I was a volunteer assistant coach for cross country at ULM while simultaneously working as a GA in Graduate School admissions.
The last component of my Master's degree was completing a 650 hour internship for my last semester before comprehensive exams. For my internship, I served as a volunteer assistant coach for the women's cross country/track and field team at the University of Arkansas, The University of Arkansas is known as the track capitol of the world, as the track and field programs have combined to win 46 NCAA National Championships. My mentorship there was pivotal in honing my skills, creating my philosophy and developing my network. I was able to build off of my mentorship and earn a position on staff as the distance coach at the University of Texas-Pan American.
UTPA gave me full autonomy over my own event group, for the first time in my career, in August 2013. In August 2015, UTPA and UT-Brownsville combined institutions to found one brand new institution, the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. In all I spent 3 years at UTPA/UTRGV where the distance program was able to set 8 school records, and 13 All WAC awards. More importantly, at UTRGV, the culture we established is something I hope to emulate and expound upon. The path to UCR taught me togetherness, accountability, and commitment - staples that will continue to be emphasized within our program.
UCRs campus is beautiful. Every direction you look, there are wonderful views. The weather in Riverside is 100% better than anywhere I've ever lived. Sure there are hot days ... this is SoCal, but with the lack of humidity, 100 degrees is pretty manageable. That type of weather could be found in South Texas, and it made training considerably more difficult. Also, compared to the 6 months of winter I faced for the majority of my running career back home in Wisconsin, it's hard to beat what we have here.Â
Most importantly, the running opportunities at hand around UCR are pivotal to what we do. Our cross country course is one of the best in the western region. On top of that, we have miles and miles of canals and mountainous trails only 1-2 miles from campus in all directions. I consider this area to be a training gold mine. Furthermore, if the mood strikes us, Big Bear Lake is only 60-70 driving minutes away, which is an elevation location where professional distance runners train. hese are only a few of the countless reasons why I think UCR is very special.
My vision for the team is to grow. We want to grow as individuals, both in our academic lives and our athletic lives. We want to grow as a family, growing in our goals and desires to be successful and to take the UCR brand and stretch beyond California. The desire to have a national presence is something that we've talked about within the program. Ultimately, however, we do want to win Big West Championships. That is one of our highest outcome goals.
Alumni are very important to what we're hoping to accomplish here, with time, presence, monetary contribution, social media attention; any of these things can make a difference. Any time people are talking about us, in a positive manner, on social media, it expands our visibility. We want people to know us. Any time someone can contribute financially, our program can benefit in a big way. Whether it be a large contribution or just few dollars, every contribution can help build our program. Having fans present at our home competitions is absolutely the best! Our student-athletes thrive on performing for the home crowd. We take special pride in representing UCR, and knowing the community cares about us, is extremely important.
I haven't been on staff long, but the unity we have formed so quickly, is proof that the program is heading down the right path. There is a ton of energy and motivation to recruit hard and develop well. I couldn't be more proud to be a part of the UC Riverside track staff that is Coach Browne, Coach Pagel and Coach Newell.
Something people don't know about me is that my mustache is a large source of pride, although it comes and goes. Also, I am immensely blessed to have a wonderful support system of my own. My wife, ready and willing, left her immediate family to follow me across the country so that I could chase my dreams. I am forever grateful to love my better half, Lucy.
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