University of Oklahoma Athletics

Maycumber Resigns As Sooner Cross Country/Track Coach :: Six-year coach wants to spend more time with his family.

Maycumber Resigns As Sooner Cross Country/Track Coach :: Six-year coach wants to spend more time with his family. Maycumber Resigns As Sooner Cross Country/Track Coach

Six-year coach wants to spend more time with his family.




Todd Maycumber (right) has resigned after six years on the Sooner coaching staff.

June 5, 2002

NORMAN, Okla. - University of Oklahoma head cross country/assistant track coach Todd Maycumber has resigned that position effective June 30. The six-year veteran of the Sooner coaching staff cited his desire to spend more time with his family as his reason for resigning.

"I want to be able to spend time with my wife, Stefanie, and our son, DeShon," Maycumber said. "Coaching takes you away from home so much and it was easier before DeShon was born. I want to watch him compete, teach him how to throw and to be a father and husband. I couldn't be the best coach I could be and the best father and husband I could be at the same time. I appreciate the opportunities that OU gave me but this is the best decision for those who are most important in my life."

Maycumber was promoted to head cross country coach prior to the 1999-2000 academic year. A former Sooner letterman, he transferred to OU from New Mexico in 1990 after earning all-conference honors twice. He lettered three years at OU and was an all-conference honoree for the Sooners as a junior and senior. He graduated from OU in 1994 with a degree in health and sports science. He joined the Sooner coaching staff in 1996 as an assistant track and cross country coach.

His Sooner men finished 14th in the NCAA Regionals last November, the best overall team finish for the OU men in Maycumber's tenure. He recently coached Sooner school record holder Jennifer Ledford to a fifth-place finish in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships.

"We appreciate Todd's contributions to our staff and teams. We know this was a difficult decision for him," said co-head coach Jill Lancaster. "With his coaching duties, he traveled in the fall with cross country and in the winter and spring with track and field. Then he was on the road in the summer recruiting. It's difficult to have a family life when you travel as much as his job required him to do.

"Coach (Rodney) Price and I know that Todd is not satisfied with anything less than 100 percent. We respect his decision and wish him the best in his future endeavors," Lancaster added.