MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Peter Tegen, the women’s track and field coach at the University of Wisconsin, was named the Big Ten outdoor Coach of the Year on Wednesday.
Tegen led the Badgers to the 1996 conference outdoor title in a one-point defeat of second-place Illinois, 149-148.
Minnesota finished fifth in the outdoor Big Ten championships this year with a score of 71, which was less than half of what Wisconsin tallied.
The Badgers have won both the indoor and outdoor conference titles for the past two years. Tegen’s teams have never placed lower than fifth in either of the Big Ten championships. Tegen won the award, by a vote of his peers, for the eighth time.
The only coach in the 22-year history of the women’s track and field and cross country programs at Wisconsin, Tegen has led the Badgers to 32 Big Ten titles, more than any other school.
Wisconsin has won 22 titles in track and field, and 10 in cross country, including the 1995 championship.
Tegen has coached 181 Big Ten individual or relay champions, including five at the 1996 outdoor meet.
The Badgers have also experienced success on a national level under Tegen. His teams have placed ninth or higher in the NCAA indoor and outdoor meets 15 times since 1974.
Tegen, a native of Hanover, Germany, taught English and coached gymnastics and track in Germany, Africa and Latin America before starting the women’s track and cross country programs at Wisconsin in 1973.