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Mel Rosen
Melvin "Mel" Rosen (March 24, 1928 – March 25, 2018) was an American track coach.[1][2] He was head coach of the Auburn University Tigers track team for 28 years, from 1963 to 1991, during which time the team won four consecutive Southeastern Conference (SEC) Indoor Track & Field Championships, from 1977 to 1980, and an outdoor track and field championship in 1979.[2][3] Early lifeRosen was Jewish, was born in The Bronx, New York, and grew up in Brooklyn, New York.[2][4][5][6] He graduated from the University of Iowa, where he was a middle distance runner, in 1950.[1][2][4][6] Coaching careerRosen then coached at University of Iowa as an assistant for three years, while earning a master's degree and beginning work on a doctorate which he then continued to study for at Auburn.[1][2][6] In addition, he served two years in the Army at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he was track coach for the post.[1][5] Rosen joined Auburn in 1955, as an assistant professor in the university's physical education department, and as an assistant track coach.[1][2][4] He was in charge of the school's distance and relay teams until 1964, when he became head coach.[1][4] In 1978, Rosen was named the SEC and NCAA Coach of the Year, in both indoor and outdoor competition.[1][2][4] That year his team placed second at the SEC outdoor, fifth at the NCAA outdoor, first at the SEC indoor, and second at the NCAA indoor meets.[1][4] His teams finished in the top ten at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships for four consecutive years (1976–79).[2][4] He was again named NCAA Indoor Coach of the Year in 1980, and SEC Indoor Coach of the Year in 1985.[1][2][4] During his coaching career he coached 7 Olympians and 143 All-Americans.[1][2][4] After the 1991 season, he left as Auburn's track coach to become head coach of the 1992 U.S. Men's Olympic Track Team.[1][2][4][7] He had been assistant coach for the 1984 Olympic Team, and head coach of the 1987 Outdoor World Championships team.[1][2] Rosen was USA Track & Field men's track & field committee chairman.[1][2] He was President of the track coaches association from 1978–79.[1] To honor him and another former track coach, Auburn renamed its new track and field complex Hutsell-Rosen Track in 2006.[5] Awards and inductionsRosen was inducted as a member of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, and was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1995.[1][2][3][4][5] He was inducted as a member of the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2001.[1][5] In 2004, he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[6] References
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