Taylor named new Cornell track coach

Taylor, who said he enjoyed his tenure at Penn, was not actively searching for a head coaching position when the Big Red came calling. "Almost any assistant coach is always looking for an opportunity to be a head coach," Taylor said. "Some of the places where I applied sounded all right, but they really weren't." Cornell, however, is the kind of situation Taylor was looking for because he wanted to go to a school with a student body similar to that of Penn. For Cornell, the decision to add Taylor to the coaching staff was an easy one. Last season, Lou Duesing was head coach of both the men's and women's track programs. Taylor replaces Duesing at the helm of the men's team, while Duesing will continue to coach the women's squad. With Taylor's hiring, Duesing can now focus all of his attention towards improving the women's team. In his 11 years with the Quakers, Taylor coached two All-Americans, 10 NCAA qualifiers, 64 All-East and 81 All-Ivy performers. Taylor also helped Penn win four Heptagonal Championships. Nevertheless, as with most coaching changes, there will be a transition period. "Discipline and motivation in the face of lots of potential distractions is probably key to a successful program," Taylor said. "That's what Cornell thought I could bring." Taylor inherits a team that finished last out of nine teams at the 1999 Outdoor Heps and eighth at the Indoor Heps. Therefore, Cornell obviously has a lot of room for improvement, which seems likely given Taylor's past accolades as an assistant coach. "[Taylor] is a good coach; there's no question about it," Penn head coach Charlie Powell said. "If [Cornell] decides to put the effort into having a high-powered track program, he'll be successful." "I think he'll be very successful at Cornell," Penn junior thrower Kyle Turley added. "He has such a deep knowledge of so many events, which makes him very unique." According to Turley, Taylor's expertise is not the only thing that will be missed. "I will miss the way he cared," Turley said. "He was such a great guy and he was one of the reasons I came here." When Cornell and Penn compete for the first time during Taylor's campaign, Taylor expects it to be a "highly charged environment" for himself, but not necessarily for his athletes. "It will probably be one of the most emotional moments in my life," Taylor said. "I have very strong ties to the kids and the program." Taylor's former athletes share the same strong ties towards the new Big Red coach. "There are no hard feelings at all," Turley said. "He did what was right for his family, and many of us would have done the same thing." As Penn assistant coach, Taylor was in charge of the field events, while Powell ran the running program. Powell is still looking for Taylor's replacement.