University Star

Texas State recently announced the hiring of new Track and Field Coach Dana Boone. Boone, a former associate head women’s coach at Oklahoma, will replace Galina Bukharina, who retired at the end of last season after nine years with the Bobcats. The University Star had a chance to speak to Boone about her philosophy, experience and next year’s move to the Western Athletic Conference.

CI: What is your coaching philosophy? DB: First of all, I’m really excited to be here. I think Texas State is a great place and has a lot of potential. My coaching philosophy is to build a program to be able to score in every event area. My philosophy is to start with the sprints, hurdles, jumps, throws and distances in that order. That’s how we’re going to build a team here at Texas State.

CI: You’re taking over a team that has found a lot of success and for a coach that won eight coach of the year awards in nine seasons. How difficult or how much of a blessing is it to be in that situation? DB: It’s good to know that the previous coach was quite successful and I just hope to continue to build on what was already started and keep it growing.

CI: What does moving into the Western Athletic Conference mean to you and mean to the program? DB: I definitely think it adds more exposure nationally because it gets Texas State out there, due to it being a bigger conference and having more schools outside the State of Texas. The philosophy doesn’t change on how you build a team. I think no matter where you go, track and field championships are won with the same philosophy.

CI: What’s your favorite track and field event? DB: Especially as a sprint coach, we all have favorites and I love all aspects of track and field, but I love watching the 100, the corner, the 800 is extremely fun to watch and as a field event person, where I started my career, I always like to watch the long jump and triple jump in particular.

CI: Do you think that world-record holder Usain Bolt helped get the word out about track and field more, and how can that get transferred to Texas State? DB: He’s been good for the sport; it’s good to have a star. Back in the day, we used to have great superstars for the United States and any time you have superstars and highly talented people, it always brings that interest to your sport. Having the new facility is going to be great. I hope we utilize it and have more home meets so people can come out and see what the track team does. It’s always good to have home meets because you gain support and people start to know the kids. It’s my job to recruit some high caliber kids to make a name for Texas State. We want a team oriented group.

    CI: What did Oklahoma do for you and what did it teach you going into your first head coaching position? DB: Being at Oklahoma, it helped me learn how to build a program.  When I came to Oklahoma six years ago, we were 12th in the conference and in our second year, we won a title. Learning about the importance of recruiting and building a culture of winning because when you come into a program that’s been at the bottom, there’s no sense of what it takes to win. Oklahoma taught me to lay a foundation.

CI: Your hometown is in Virginia but your entire coaching career has been down south. Do you miss being back east? DB: At first it did but as you go along it’s very hard to find coaching jobs where you want to be, but at this point in my career I’ve learned to love the south and was glad to come back to Texas. I consider wherever I am, it’s home. Home is where you lay your hat.