Office FAX: (509) 527-5960
Home Telephone: (541) 558-0506
Email: brownet@whitman.edu
WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- As one of the more energetic and versatile members of the Whitman College coaching staff, Eli T. Brown is a man for all seasons. Beginning in the fall, when he serves primarily as assistant cross country running coach, Brown maintains a somewhat frenetic pace. As the academic year unfolds, he juggles the head coaching duties for cross country skiing in the winter and track & field in the spring.
Regardless of the sport or season, however, Brown greets his student-athletes with great enthusiasm and a coaching philosophy that encourages individual growth and prizes the benefits of teamwork.
College athletic teams are "healthy and vibrant groups," Brown notes, that give students opportunities to develop such qualities as self-motivation and commitment -- values they can apply to other life pursuits.
"As a coach, I am very interested in each athlete as a person," Brown says. "I want to help them become self-sufficient athletes and people. I want them involved in the decision- making process that goes along with being an athlete. I'm not interested in developing non-thinking racehorses."
Brown, a cross country skier and runner during his own college days, tries to involve each of his teams in workouts that are "fun, creative and meaningful." He also likes to practice what he preaches in the way of training regimens. "The best coaches I ever had were the ones who did the workouts right along with me," he says. "That way the coach knows exactly what the athletes are going through. It also creates a bond based on sweat and hard work."
Even though runners, skiers and track athletes essentially compete as individuals, Brown stresses the importance of teamwork, a lesson he first learned from his high school cross country running coaches in South Minneapolis, Minnesota. "They taught us to think of running as a team sport, to push ourselves hard for the team score, sometimes sacrificing personal accomplishments to help a struggling teammate. In practice, we never ran alone, always with a teammate as a partner. And because of the strong team values and bonds we developed, we won the state title four years in a row."
"As a coach, I'm interested in building community," he add. "I enjoy working with people toward common goals and sharing in their successes, failures and learning experiences."
Brown completed his bachelor's degree (environmental studies) at the University of Utah, where he also served as the assistant men's and women's nordic ski coach for one season. Utah's alpine and nordic teams joined forces to make that one season a memorable one, placing third in the combined scoring at the NCAA Div. I national championships. He also served as the assistant nordic coach at Northern Michigan University, where he began his collegiate studies.
Brown was the Northern Michigan's top cross country runner for two seasons, although he pursued cross country skiing as his primary sport in college. He competed in three NCAA national ski championships, and he twice qualified for the World University Games, competing once in Jaca, Spain, and once in Muju, South Korea. In 1998, as a member of the U.S. Olympic Development Team, he lived and trained at the U.S. Olympic training facility in Marquette, Michigan. He placed fifth that year in the 30-kilometer skate race at the U.S. National Championships.
Brown began his Whitman coaching career in the fall of 1999. He also serves as a lecturer in Whitman's Department of Sports Studies, Recreation and Athletics.