USTFCCCA — U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association

What is the USTFCCCA?

The USTFCCCA describes itself as “a non-profit professional organization representing cross country and track & field coaches of all levels”, with “thousands of coaching members encompassing NCAA track & field programs (DI, DII, and DIII) and includes members representing the NAIA and NJCAA, as well as a number of state high school coaches associations.”^[1] The first purpose its board handbook lists is “To provide an organization that represents the interests of coaches of Track and Field and Cross Country at all levels of competition”.^[4]

The sports are athletics — indoor and outdoor track & field — and cross country, at college level above all, with some state high school coaches’ associations among its members. The association is a coaches’ body, not a governing body. Athletics is governed worldwide by World Athletics, and in the United States by USATF; college championships are conducted by the NCAA, the NAIA and the NJCAA.

Its own pages call it “non-profit”.^[1] An older about page on its site, last updated in January 2010, described it as “the non-profit professional organization that represents men’s and women’s cross country and track & field coaches in the United States”.^[12]

What does the USTFCCCA govern or do?

The USTFCCCA governs no competition and writes no competition rules. The national championships its honours rest on — the NCAA Track & Field Championships, the NCAA cross country championships, and the NAIA and NJCAA championships — are those bodies’ events; the association’s All-America criteria are written in terms of places at them.^[6]

What it does is select, rank and convene. Its awards programme covers national and regional athletes of the year, All-America and All-Region honours, national athletes of the week, programmes of the year, scholar athletes and scholar teams of the year, All-Academic individuals and teams, national and regional coaches and assistant coaches of the year, several halls of fame and The Bowerman.^[5] It publishes polls and rankings, which its rankings hub describes as “Coach-voted national polls, regional rankings, and national rankings” for “NCAA and NAIA cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field.”^[8] It holds a national convention, the 2026 edition in December.^[10]

Much of this is tied to membership. In Division I the All-America criteria in each season carry the condition “team must have USTFCCCA membership”,^[6] so the honours describe performance by athletes from member programmes rather than by every finisher.

When was the USTFCCCA founded and where is it based?

No primary source for the USTFCCCA’s founding could be retrieved. Neither its association page, its board page, its board handbook nor its older about page states a founding date, the date of any merger or the names of predecessor bodies, and its bylaws, linked from the board page, could not be opened.^{[1][2][4][12]}

The association’s records reach further back than the association itself. Its Division I All-America lists begin in 1938 for cross country, 1942 for outdoor track & field and 1965 for indoor track & field,^[6] and its national coach of the year lists begin in 1969 for Division I men’s cross country.^[11] These are the earliest years it lists, not the year it was founded.

The national office is at 1100 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70163; the association’s page gives the suite as 1750 in one place and 2050 in another.^[1] The chief executive is Sam Seemes, listed as CEO on the board of directors page. The elected officers are president Connie Price-Smith of the University of Mississippi, secretary Katie Rees of Adelphi University and treasurer Luke Syverson of Berry College, each with a term ending on 20 December 2028; past president Caryl Smith Gilbert of the University of Georgia also sits on the board.^[2]

How is the USTFCCCA recognised?

The USTFCCCA is a private association of coaches. It calls itself non-profit.^[1] Cause IQ, a commercial directory of non-profits, files the USTFCCCA under EIN 59-3207329.^[14] The IRS data for that EIN, published by ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer, carry a different legal name, “United States Track Coaches Association Inc”, in New Orleans, under subsection 501(c)(6) — the category of business leagues, not of charities — with a tax exemption issued in August 1995; the most recent return shown is a Form 990 for the fiscal year ending December 2024, filed on 31 October 2025.^[13] The link between the two names rests on that single secondary directory, and the 1995 date is the exemption’s, not a founding date.

The board handbook describes a board of 15 voting members — three officers elected by the membership, ten division representatives from NCAA Divisions I, II and III and the NAIA, and the past president — with an NJCAA representative and the CEO as non-voting members; officers serve three-year terms, at most two.^[4]

Its relation to the NCAA, the NAIA and the NJCAA is that of an association of the coaches who work in their programmes. Program memberships are priced by NCAA division and for the NAIA, while NJCAA coaches are covered through the NJCAA Coaches Association,^[3] and the honours are organised by the same divisions.^[5] The honours are the association’s own: they are published as USTFCCCA awards, and in Division I All-America status depends on the team’s USTFCCCA membership.^[6] No NCAA document retrieved designates a USTFCCCA team, poll or award as its own.

Within the sport’s governing structure the association has no delegated role. World Athletics and, nationally, USATF hold the governing functions; the USTFCCCA is neither a member federation nor a recognised organisation of either in any document retrieved. It holds no IOC, ARISF or GAISF status, and no record retrieved lists it as a signatory of the World Anti-Doping Code.

What does the USTFCCCA organise?

All-America. In Division I indoor and outdoor track & field the current standard is “Top eight First Team; 9-16 Second Team (team must have USTFCCCA membership)”, in force since 2011; in cross country it is “Top 40 without regard to citizenship (team must have USTFCCCA membership)”, since 2008. Earlier standards were narrower — the top three per event in the first track years, the top 15 in cross country from 1938 to 1967.^[6] All-America honours are also named for NCAA Divisions II and III, the NJCAA and the NAIA.^[5]

All-Academic. The association names All-Academic individuals and teams in NCAA Divisions I, II and III; “In general, cumulative GPA and competition standards must be met for student-athletes and/or teams-in-the-whole to be honored,” with criteria set division by division.^[7]

Coaches of the Year. National coaches of the year are named in cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field across NCAA Divisions I–III, the NJCAA and the NAIA, with assistant and regional awards beside them.^[5][11]

Polls and rankings. Coach-voted national polls and national and regional rankings are published for cross country and track & field.^[8]

The Bowerman. The association’s page calls it “The Nation’s Top Award for Collegiate Track & Field Athletes”; its list of recipients begins in 2009.^[9]

Convention. The 2026 USTFCCCA Convention is scheduled for 14–17 December 2026 at the Gaylord Texan, which the convention site lists as “Dallas, TX”, with “over 60 educational sessions”.^[10]

Who are its members?

The association’s current pages give no member count. Its association page speaks of “thousands of coaching members” across NCAA Divisions I, II and III, the NAIA, the NJCAA and “a number of state high school coaches associations”.^[1] The older about page, last updated in January 2010, gave “over 8,000 coaching members, including 94% of NCAA coaches”; that is a 2010 figure, and no later count could be retrieved from a primary source.^[12]

The board handbook lists five categories: Program, Individual, Group/Association, Retired and Honorary.^[4] The membership page prices program memberships by level — $650 for a men’s or a women’s programme in NCAA Division I ($1,300 for both), $375 in Division II, $325 in Division III and $275 in the NAIA — with cheaper cross-country-only memberships, an individual membership at $60 a year and a retired membership at $30. “Membership shall be annual from January 1 to December 31 of each year.”^[3]

Because Division I All-America status depends on a team’s membership,^[6] program membership is what brings a college’s athletes within the association’s honours.