Reid Harter is in his eleventh season as the Head Track and Cross Country Coach for The University of Texas-Pan American. A highly respected coach at the NCAA Division I level, Harter has been coaching collegiate track and field for twenty years. He has coached more than 70 NJCAA and NCAA All-Americans. Harter spent six years in the junior college ranks, where his men's and women's teams won four NJCAA National Championships. He continued his winning ways at Texas A&I University, in the NCAA Division II where his men's cross country team took the Lone Star Conference title in 1984, and his men's track team finished runner-up. "One of the things I am most proud of," Harter states, "is that my teams have enjoyed success in each division I have coached." The amiable coach has been named NJCAA National Women's Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year (1982); NCAA Division II South Region Men's Track and Field Coach of the Year as well as South Region Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year (both in 1984). Harter earned the 1984 Lone Star Conference Men's Track and Field Coach of the Year honor, plus the 1984 Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year award. At UT-Pan American, Harter has been chosen American South Conference Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year (1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990), American South Women's Indoor Track Coach of the Year (1989, 1990, and 1991), while also being selected as the 1991 American South Conference Women's Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year. This past Fall Reid was chosen Sun Belt Conference Women's Cross Country Coach of the Year after his women's team won the 1995 SBC Championship Coach Harter is certified by USA Track and Field as a Lead Instructor for the Level I Coaching Education Program as well as a Level II Track and Field Coach. Harter has participated in the Level I certification of more than 100 coaches. He is certified by USA Track and Field as a Track and Field Official. The busy Bronc Coach computerized meet management for the NJCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Odessa, Texas. Harter teaches in the Department of Health and Kinesiology, and offers Level I certification in his Theory of Track and Field Class. He also serves as Activity Director of the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP). The NYSP offers sports participation, drug and career education for more than 500 disadvantaged youth from the Lower Rio Grande Valley. This program is supported by grants from the NCAA and the Department of Health and Human Services. The program is in its fifteenth year at The University of Texas-Pan American. Coach Harter competed as a distance runner for Coach Ralph Tate at Oklahoma State Univer-sity. In 1972 Harter helped lead his team to the Big Eight Championships, a seventh place finish at the NCAA Championship, and won the USTFF National Championship in cross country. The Broncs Coach competed nationally and internationally for the Santa Monica Track Club under the famed Mihaly Igloi, and Joe Douglas. The Coach ran the Marathon in the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Trials, and finished second in the 1973 Western Hemisphere Marathon. In 1974, Harter placed 13th at the prestigious Boston Marathon in 2:19:12. That year, Harter was the AAU National 30 Kilometer Champion, setting a national record of 1:35:30. Harter holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Oklahoma State University and a Master of Arts degree in American Studies from the University of Southem California. Harter is a frequent lecturer in the area and throughout the state. Coach Harter was chosen to be a speaker at the 1992 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Harter has two articles to his credit. "Systematic Middle Distance Training" was published in the September 1981 issue of Coaching: Women's Athletics. This article explores the building of seasonal base endurance and working toward peak performances. "Mihaly Igloi Revisited," published in the Summer 1989 issue of Track and Field Quarterly Review, is a remembrance of the legendary Hungarian expatriate coach. The Broncs Coach's philosophy is summarized when he states: "I have had the pleasure to coach hundreds of young people during my career, yet the true joy in coaching is to see these student-athletes grow and mature as adults." Coach Harter is married to Portia Moore Harter, and they have two children, Eamonn and Kersti. Coach Harter and his family live in McAllen, a short drive from the campus.
