Track and Field
Ralph Lindeman
- Title:
- Head Coach | Combined Events
- Phone:
- 719-333-2173
Ralph Lindeman, the recipient of numerous conference and regional coaching awards, is in his 33rd season at the helm of the Air Force track and field team. From the very first day he stepped onto the track at the Academy in 1989, the Falcons have benefited from Lindeman's leadership and love of coaching to become one of the most recognized intercollegiate programs in the Air Force Academy athletic department. His tenure with the Falcons’ track and field program qualifies him as the “dean” of head coaches at the Air Force Academy, as well as of the head track and field coaches in the Mountain West Conference.
Under his direction, the Air Force men’s track and field team has become the most decorated intercollegiate program in Academy history. Air Force has claimed eight Mountain West titles (2012 indoor, 2012 outdoor, 2013 outdoor, 2016 indoor, 2016 outdoor, 2017 outdoor, 2018 indoor, 2018 outdoor) – five more conference team titles than all other Academy intercollegiate sport programs combined – and finished within the top-three of the conference standings 35 times in 42 championship meets. In addition, he has watched the women become a significant presence in the league, highlighted by program-best sixth-place finishes during both the indoor (2013, 2020) and outdoor (2003, 2012) seasons.
Since his arrival at the Air Force Academy, the track and field team has combined for 31 Western Athletic Conference titles (27 individual events, four relays) and 170 Mountain West titles (154 individual events, 16 relays). Lindeman-coached teams have produced three NCAA champions, including Callie Calhoun – who earned five Division II titles during her career, Dana Pounds – who collected back-to-back titles in the javelin, and Mahala Norris – who became the Academy’s first female DI champion in a running event with a 2021 title in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Backed by 12 additional top-three finishes and 15 more placements within the top five, Lindeman has seen his athletes account for 88 All-America awards at the NCAA Track and Field Championships.
Under his watch, William Kent captured the NCAA’s Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Award (2013) and Patrick Corona was named the Mountain West Athlete of the Year (2015-16) – the first such awards for an Academy athlete in any sport, while Norris became the first Air Force female to claim the Mountain West Athlete of the Year in 2020-21. He has also seen four Falcons claim the MW Track and Field Athlete of the Year awards, while six have been named the Outstanding Performer of a Championship Meet on nine different occasions.
His men’s teams have rewritten Academy records in 15 of the 17 NCAA Indoor Championship events and 20 of the 21 NCAA Outdoor events, while the women have improved program records in 16 of the 17 indoor events and 18 of the 21 outdoor events. The names of Lindeman-coached athletes also dot the Mountain West’s all-time standings, with the Falcons holding seven conference records and 11 Championship Meet Records.
Lindeman also oversaw the Air Force men’s cross country team during the first three years of his tenure (1989-91) and guided the Falcons to their first-ever conference title at the 1991 Western Athletic Conference Championships. The 1991 squad went on to place second at the regional meet and 14th at the NCAA Championships. The team's second-place finish at the regional championships remains the best finish ever by an Air Force cross country team at that meet, while their placing at the national meet was the program's second-highest finish since 1967. During that span, he also coached Chris Nelson to back-to-back WAC championships and All-America honors at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
In addition to their success on the track, Lindeman’s Air Force athletes have also shined in the classroom, capturing 18 CoSIDA Academic All-America awards, 29 Academic All-District honors, 91 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team selections and 693 academic all-conference accolades from the Mountain West. In addition, 121 cadet-athletes have collected 263 MW Scholar-Athlete medallions for maintaining a GPA of 3.50 or higher. Lindeman has also seen two athletes selected as Rhodes Scholars and numerous others receive prestigious post-graduate scholarships.
Lindeman has received many coaching distinctions and honors during his tenure. He is a 17-time conference Coach of the Year, a four-time USTFCCCA Mountain Region Men's Outdoor Coach of the Year and a two-time USTFCCCA Mountain Region Men’s Indoor Coach of the Year. He was most recently voted as the Mountain West Conference Men’s Coach of the Year during the 2018 outdoor season, marking the 14th time he has claimed a MW award (indoor: 2001, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2018; outdoor: 2001, 2003, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018). In addition to earning the 1995 WAC Indoor Coach of the Year and the 1991 WAC Cross Country Coach of the Year at Air Force, Lindeman was also named the 1989 Big West Coach of the Year while at Long Beach State.
His work is not limited to the boundaries of the Academy, as Lindeman has represented the program on the national and international stage throughout his tenure. Lindeman most recently worked with Team USA in 2018, when he served as the head coach of the men’s track and field team that competed at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, England. He also served as an assistant coach for the U.S. men’s team that participated at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan, and coached Team USA’s male jumpers, vaulters and decathletes at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Backed by two Gold and five Silver medals from Lindeman-coached athletes, the 2004 Olympic track and field team totaled 19 medals – Team USA’s highest medal count since the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
Lindeman served as an advisor to the South Korean team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and was the Scheduling Manager for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. In addition to his work at the Olympic Games, Lindeman has also served as the head coach for the men of Team USA at the 2001 World University Games in Beijing, China, and at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada. Lindeman, who served as the head coach of the "North Team" at the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival in Texas, also served on the men’s national team coaching staff at the 1992 World Junior Championships in Seoul, Korea, and coached the “West Team” at the 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival in North Carolina.
Lindeman graduated from Arizona State University in 1973, with a bachelor's degree in physical education. He went on to complete a master's degree in exercise science from ASU in 1976.
His coaching career began in 1973, when he was an assistant coach at Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix, Ariz., working with the football and track teams. From there, he became an assistant track coach at Glendale High School in Glendale, Ariz., working under Ken France, a legend in the Arizona coaching ranks. He later took over as the head coach for Glendale’s cross country and track teams and served in that capacity for five years.
Following a stint as the boys' track and cross country coach at Westwood High School in Mesa, Ariz., Lindeman moved up to the collegiate ranks and became an assistant coach at Arizona State University in 1980, where he oversaw the field events for the men's team. With Lindeman on staff, the 1981 Sun Devil team won Arizona State's first – and only – PAC-10 title in track and field.
Lindeman moved to the University of Arizona in 1982 and served as an assistant coach with the Wildcats for two years, overseeing the men’s and women’s sprints, hurdles and jumps. With Lindeman on staff, the Wildcats’ men and women both finished in the top 10 at the 1984 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
He left Arizona following the 1984 season, when he was named the head coach at Long Beach State University. During his five years with the 49ers, Lindeman took both the men's and women's track and field teams, as well as the cross country program, to new heights in the Big West Conference. The conference coach of the year in 1989, Lindeman remained at Long Beach State until his appointment at Air Force.
Lindeman credits Len Miller at Arizona State University and Dave Murray at the University of Arizona for giving him his first opportunities at the university level and teaching him about coaching collegiate athletes. For his 11 years of coaching within the state of Arizona, Lindeman was inducted into the Arizona Track Coaches Association's Hall of Fame in 2009.
In addition to his coaching duties, Lindeman has been a featured speaker at coaching clinics in 25 states and four countries, while writing articles that have been published and reprinted in several professional journals and chapters of the textbooks "Hurdles: Theory and Technique" and the "USA Track and Field Coaching Manual" (1999 edition).
He has also been active in leadership roles on various committees of track and field’s professional organizations throughout his career. He sat on the USATF Men’s Development Committee for four Olympic quadrenniums, chairing the Hurdles sub-committee from 1993-2000. As the committee chair, Lindeman tracked the USA’s hurdles in the developmental system and coordinated video analysis of all hurdle races at the USA Championships and Olympic Trials for the competitors and their coaches. He also managed a series of annual mini-camps for the elite U.S. male hurdles at San Diego’s Olympic Training Center. He was later elected Chair of USA Track and Field’s Coaches Advisory Committee, and served in that capacity from 2009-12.
He served on the NCAA Track and Field Rules Committee from 1996-2000, acting as chairman for the 2000 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Following that stint, he was elected as President of the Division I Coaches of the U.S. Track and Field Coaches Association, a position he held from 2000-03. Among the highlights of his leadership tenure with the Coaches Association were starting up the association’s “Assistant Coach of the Year” awards, initiating the “All-Academic” individual and team recognition program for student-athletes, restructuring the Executive Committee with representatives from each and every NCAA Division I conference (a plan that is still used today), spearheading the effort to get the men’s heptathlon and women’s pentathlon added to the NCAA Indoor Championships, and overseeing the transition of the NCAA holding Regional meets to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championship finals.
He later served as the first chairman of the Coaches Association’s Ethics Committee, leading a committee of peers to write the Association’s Code of Ethics. Lindeman served on the NCAA’s Olympic Sport Committee from 2005-07 – becoming the first-ever coach to serve on that committee. Working alongside collegiate athletic administrators and CEO’s of Olympic sport NGBs, the committee served as a liaison between the NCAA and the U.S. Olympic Committee (now, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee).
Lindeman sees his involvement with these organizations as a way to not only make a significant improvement to the sport of collegiate track and field, but to extend those benefits to the development of the Air Force program.
He has been married to his wife, Cindy, for the past 50 years, and they have two children and six grandchildren. Their daughter, Jennifer, an art teacher in Monument, Colo., and her husband, Brian Rowedder, both graduates of Arizona State, have three children: Maddison, Brock and Landon; while their son, Brian, a firefighter in Parker, Colo., and former Colorado high school state champion in the pole vault, is married to Heather Dunavint, and together they have twin girls, Elsie and Mira, and a son, Brogan.
GET TO KNOW COACH LINDEMAN
Hobbies: Fly-fishing and playing golf, but I’m not very good at either of them! I also love working in my yard, and DIY projects with wood.
Favorite Pastime: I sometimes claim coaching is my vocation, my avocation and my pastime. However, what I enjoy most is family time ... particularly family dinners, and especially Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners. Of course, I have loved watching our grandkids play sports as well. I’m an inveterate reader of books, newspapers, and magazines, from which I’m constantly clipping articles to reread and save. My wife, Cindy, and I also love to travel domestically – whether it be to the many small Colorado towns all summer long, or cities around the USA. Recent trips have included Chicago, Boston, and New York ... we always enjoy San Diego, where we have family, but it seems those trips are usually in conjunction with some track or cross country meet.
Last Book Read: “Row the Boat”, by Jon Gordon and P.J. Fleck. I’ve read every book Jon Gordon has written and I also subscribe to his newsletters. I love his thoughts on character, faith and leadership.
Book on His Nightstand Now: Besides my Bible, which is always on my nightstand and which I try to dive in daily, I’m reading Eric Metaxas’ “Bonhoffer” for the second time.
Favorite Vacation Spot: Grand Lake, Colo., and any Colorado town with “Springs” in the name – Steamboat Springs, Glenwood Springs, Pagosa Springs, and yes, even our own Colorado Springs for a “stay-cation”!
What Music is Currently on Your iPhone: My most listened-to playlist is my “Current CCM Faves”, which includes music from Jeremy Camp, Lauren Daigle, Danny Gokey, Mercy Me, Sidewalk Prophets, Micah Tyler, Tauren Wells and Matthew West. I also like the “Colorado” playlist I created this summer, which includes any and every song that’s ever mentioned Colorado, Denver, Boulder, Telluride, the Rocky Mountains, etc. Oh, and I REALLY like listening to the classic country rock of the Eagles!
Favorite Movie: My wife, Cindy and I really like faith- and character-based movies ... recent ones we’ve enjoyed include “I Can Only Imagine”, “I Still Believe”, “Overcomer”, and “Unplanned.” My favorite movie of all-time is “Unbroken” and its sequel, “Unbroken: the Path to Redemption.” I had the opportunity to meet Louis Zamperini in the late 80’s when I coached at Long Beach State, but at that time, I was only aware of a very small part of his amazing life story, and regret I didn’t make the effort to get to know him better.
Favorite TV Shows: ESPN’s “Gameday” – I record it every Saturday morning in the fall on the DVR and watch it later in the weekend, working it in around Falcon cross country meets or football games. I love the segments that feature coaches (too bad the show is just seasonal!). My wife and I used to watch every episode of “Friday Night Lights”, and I miss that show for the coaching scenes.
Favorite Foods: I love any food with Hatch Green Chile, and any authentic beef brisket from the legendary one-off BBQ’ers in Central Texas – Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, as well as Black’s, Franklins, Stiles Switch and Salt Lick in and around Austin, among others!
Favorite Restaurant: That would be Arlene’s Beans in Monument. Cindy and I eat out most often at Colorado Mountain Brewery or Ted’s Montana Grill. Our coaching staff enjoys Arlene’s, as well as Dog Haus, and if there was a Shake Shack closer, I’d get even fatter eating their green chile cheeseburgers at every chance ... good thing it’s an hour drive away in Centennial!
Person You’d Most Like to Meet: Tony Dungy, long-time NFL coach, or Clemson head football coach, Dabo Swinney. There’s a number of Christian preachers and writers I’d love to meet in person, instead of just reading them or watching them on YouTube – Jimmy Evans, Franklin Graham, Jack Hibbs, David Limbaugh, Lee Strobel and Amir Tsarfati, among others.
How Did You Get Interested in Track and Field: My seventh grade P.E. teacher and coach at Phoenix Christian Elementary School took a group of us boys to a college track dual meet between Arizona State and New Mexico, and I got to see stars like Henry Carr and Ulis Williams from ASU and Adolph Plummer from New Mexico. The next week was my birthday, and my parents asked me what special thing I wanted to do ... I told them I wanted to go back to an ASU track meet. That time, I got to see BYU and USC, and I was hooked on the sport. I had some moderate success as a junior high and high school athlete, and the influence that my junior high and high school coaches had on me, led me to decide I wanted to coach as a career.
If You Weren’t Coaching, You’d Be: When I was pre-teen and junior higher, I wanted to be a Pastor, but I got enamored with coaching during high school. My dream retirement job would laughingly be to serve as a fly-fishing guide or a professional golf instructor – that would never happen because my skillset isn’t good enough in either, so maybe I’ll pick up my old fascination of serving as a pastor.
Coaching Hero: Without question, it would be the venerable Fisher DeBerry, long-time Falcon football coach – I loved his Southern accent and his sense of humor, but I admired him most for his character and values as a coach, husband and parent. For Track coaches, it would have to be the late Payton Jordan, long-time coach at Stanford. I was also a big fan of Colorado’s Bill McCartney, Baylor’s Grant Teaff, and Nebraska’s Tom Osborne ... I’ve read everything either they wrote, or was written about them. I now like following Clemson football coach, Dabo Swinney, and Texas A&M basketball coach, Buzz Williams. And this one’s not a hero, because he’s a contemporary colleague, but Vin Lananna, now coaching track at Virginia after stints at Stanford and Oregon ... he has positively impacted our sport more than any single individual I know, and I hold him in the highest esteem for that, as well as calling him a friend.
Who have your coaching mentors been: The head coaches at Arizona State (Len Miller) and Arizona (Dave Murray) were definitely mentors in grooming me to be a head coach at the collegiate level. Other legendary American coaches like Brooks Johnson, George Williams, Tom Tellez, Stan Huntsman and Steve Miller, as well as the late Sam Bell and Jimmy Carnes, were always willing to share tips and give advice to me personally. Those aside, however, I’d have to identify some of my closest coaching friends as my most reliable mentors. Individuals like Ron Mann, long-time coach at Northern Arizona and later at Louisville, the late John McNichols of Indiana State, and Greg Hull, master pole vault coach, have always been individuals I could pick up the phone and call to discuss anything, from technical coaching to coaching methods to the state of our sport. I’d also absolutely add longtime coaching peers Mark Stanforth and Scott Irving from our own Air Force Academy staffs to that group for the same reasons. These colleagues were my most influential mentors. I only half-kiddingly still claim that my wife, Cindy, has been my long-time mentor as well – she can always pick me up emotionally, give input on ethical dilemmas, and give meaningful counsel about how to deal with certain individuals or issues. She continues to be my sounding board and confidante at this stage of my career.
Favorite Track Meet: It would be a close tie between the Drake Relays and the Mt SAC Relays. With both of these meets, it’s about the wonderful people associated with the huge spectacles for our sport in Iowa and California - the meet directors, administrators, officials, fans and coaches who frequent those respective meets.
Favorite Track Stadium: It was always Historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene, and although I miss its old look and features, I was really excited at this past June’s NCAA Championships to see the spectacular new Hayward Field, and am looking forward to being in the new Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, this coming season as well. On a different scale, I really enjoy the collegiate facilities indoors at Texas Tech’s Sports Performance Center and outdoors at Baylor’s Clyde Hart Stadium.
What is Your Coaching Philosophy: I believe inspiring our team – particularly the team captains and leaders – to develop their team culture is tantamount to teaching them techniques or training them. A team’s culture is its inner core, and ultimately determines that team’s success. I trust that our team’s culture will always be based on the USAF Core Values – “Integrity First, Service Before Self, Excellence in All We Do.” Our job as coaches is to provide a framework in which our cadet-athletes can achieve that excellence, not only athletically, but also academically and militarily. We place a strong emphasis on a program of individual goal-setting, and encourage our team members to not limit their goals to their athletic performance, but also to have academic and military goals as well. We make a point of talking with our cadet-athletes about being “Champions at Everything.” As a coaching staff, our ultimate objective is to “develop leaders of character through a transformational experience in athletics,” so we’re always trying to weave character and leadership lessons into our teaching and training.
Describe Your Coaching Style: I consider myself a teacher, first-and-foremost ... maybe because I served as a high school teacher and coach for my first seven years in the profession. If you were to watch me coach, you’d see me constantly teaching, using all the methodology I learned as a young teacher. Even though I’m coaching future engineers and scientists, I’ve prided myself on keeping my coaching cues and instructions simple. As part of my teaching, I’m always trying to be a good listener, and then adapting, supporting, mentoring and inspiring.
Best Part of Being at the Academy: Being able to teach leadership and character to the amazing young men and women on our track and field teams, and then, when they return to the Academy years later to visit, hear their life stories about their families, friends and careers in the “big Air Force” and beyond in civilian life.
Most Memorable Coaching Experience: Many might guess I would say serving on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team coaching staff, or serving as the Head Coach of Team USA at the 2018 World Indoor Championships, or maybe being named recipient of some coach-of-the-year award, but in fact, it seems that I have a number of “most memorable coaching experiences” with every team I’ve ever had at the Air Force Academy over the past 32 years. That’s not limited to the teams that were conference champions or high NCAA finishers, or individuals that were conference champions, NCAA scorers or school record-holders. I have scores, if not hundreds, of stories of the really special young men and young women I’ve had the privilege to coach. I refer to so many of them as “success stories”—some of them are athletic, some are academic, and some are military success stories. They all gave me memories I’ll treasure long after my coaching career is complete.
Under his direction, the Air Force men’s track and field team has become the most decorated intercollegiate program in Academy history. Air Force has claimed eight Mountain West titles (2012 indoor, 2012 outdoor, 2013 outdoor, 2016 indoor, 2016 outdoor, 2017 outdoor, 2018 indoor, 2018 outdoor) – five more conference team titles than all other Academy intercollegiate sport programs combined – and finished within the top-three of the conference standings 35 times in 42 championship meets. In addition, he has watched the women become a significant presence in the league, highlighted by program-best sixth-place finishes during both the indoor (2013, 2020) and outdoor (2003, 2012) seasons.
Since his arrival at the Air Force Academy, the track and field team has combined for 31 Western Athletic Conference titles (27 individual events, four relays) and 170 Mountain West titles (154 individual events, 16 relays). Lindeman-coached teams have produced three NCAA champions, including Callie Calhoun – who earned five Division II titles during her career, Dana Pounds – who collected back-to-back titles in the javelin, and Mahala Norris – who became the Academy’s first female DI champion in a running event with a 2021 title in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Backed by 12 additional top-three finishes and 15 more placements within the top five, Lindeman has seen his athletes account for 88 All-America awards at the NCAA Track and Field Championships.
Under his watch, William Kent captured the NCAA’s Student-Athlete Sportsmanship Award (2013) and Patrick Corona was named the Mountain West Athlete of the Year (2015-16) – the first such awards for an Academy athlete in any sport, while Norris became the first Air Force female to claim the Mountain West Athlete of the Year in 2020-21. He has also seen four Falcons claim the MW Track and Field Athlete of the Year awards, while six have been named the Outstanding Performer of a Championship Meet on nine different occasions.
His men’s teams have rewritten Academy records in 15 of the 17 NCAA Indoor Championship events and 20 of the 21 NCAA Outdoor events, while the women have improved program records in 16 of the 17 indoor events and 18 of the 21 outdoor events. The names of Lindeman-coached athletes also dot the Mountain West’s all-time standings, with the Falcons holding seven conference records and 11 Championship Meet Records.
Lindeman also oversaw the Air Force men’s cross country team during the first three years of his tenure (1989-91) and guided the Falcons to their first-ever conference title at the 1991 Western Athletic Conference Championships. The 1991 squad went on to place second at the regional meet and 14th at the NCAA Championships. The team's second-place finish at the regional championships remains the best finish ever by an Air Force cross country team at that meet, while their placing at the national meet was the program's second-highest finish since 1967. During that span, he also coached Chris Nelson to back-to-back WAC championships and All-America honors at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
In addition to their success on the track, Lindeman’s Air Force athletes have also shined in the classroom, capturing 18 CoSIDA Academic All-America awards, 29 Academic All-District honors, 91 USTFCCCA All-Academic Team selections and 693 academic all-conference accolades from the Mountain West. In addition, 121 cadet-athletes have collected 263 MW Scholar-Athlete medallions for maintaining a GPA of 3.50 or higher. Lindeman has also seen two athletes selected as Rhodes Scholars and numerous others receive prestigious post-graduate scholarships.
Lindeman has received many coaching distinctions and honors during his tenure. He is a 17-time conference Coach of the Year, a four-time USTFCCCA Mountain Region Men's Outdoor Coach of the Year and a two-time USTFCCCA Mountain Region Men’s Indoor Coach of the Year. He was most recently voted as the Mountain West Conference Men’s Coach of the Year during the 2018 outdoor season, marking the 14th time he has claimed a MW award (indoor: 2001, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2018; outdoor: 2001, 2003, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018). In addition to earning the 1995 WAC Indoor Coach of the Year and the 1991 WAC Cross Country Coach of the Year at Air Force, Lindeman was also named the 1989 Big West Coach of the Year while at Long Beach State.
His work is not limited to the boundaries of the Academy, as Lindeman has represented the program on the national and international stage throughout his tenure. Lindeman most recently worked with Team USA in 2018, when he served as the head coach of the men’s track and field team that competed at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, England. He also served as an assistant coach for the U.S. men’s team that participated at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan, and coached Team USA’s male jumpers, vaulters and decathletes at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Backed by two Gold and five Silver medals from Lindeman-coached athletes, the 2004 Olympic track and field team totaled 19 medals – Team USA’s highest medal count since the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
Lindeman served as an advisor to the South Korean team at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul and was the Scheduling Manager for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. In addition to his work at the Olympic Games, Lindeman has also served as the head coach for the men of Team USA at the 2001 World University Games in Beijing, China, and at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada. Lindeman, who served as the head coach of the "North Team" at the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival in Texas, also served on the men’s national team coaching staff at the 1992 World Junior Championships in Seoul, Korea, and coached the “West Team” at the 1987 U.S. Olympic Festival in North Carolina.
Lindeman graduated from Arizona State University in 1973, with a bachelor's degree in physical education. He went on to complete a master's degree in exercise science from ASU in 1976.
His coaching career began in 1973, when he was an assistant coach at Carl Hayden High School in Phoenix, Ariz., working with the football and track teams. From there, he became an assistant track coach at Glendale High School in Glendale, Ariz., working under Ken France, a legend in the Arizona coaching ranks. He later took over as the head coach for Glendale’s cross country and track teams and served in that capacity for five years.
Following a stint as the boys' track and cross country coach at Westwood High School in Mesa, Ariz., Lindeman moved up to the collegiate ranks and became an assistant coach at Arizona State University in 1980, where he oversaw the field events for the men's team. With Lindeman on staff, the 1981 Sun Devil team won Arizona State's first – and only – PAC-10 title in track and field.
Lindeman moved to the University of Arizona in 1982 and served as an assistant coach with the Wildcats for two years, overseeing the men’s and women’s sprints, hurdles and jumps. With Lindeman on staff, the Wildcats’ men and women both finished in the top 10 at the 1984 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
He left Arizona following the 1984 season, when he was named the head coach at Long Beach State University. During his five years with the 49ers, Lindeman took both the men's and women's track and field teams, as well as the cross country program, to new heights in the Big West Conference. The conference coach of the year in 1989, Lindeman remained at Long Beach State until his appointment at Air Force.
Lindeman credits Len Miller at Arizona State University and Dave Murray at the University of Arizona for giving him his first opportunities at the university level and teaching him about coaching collegiate athletes. For his 11 years of coaching within the state of Arizona, Lindeman was inducted into the Arizona Track Coaches Association's Hall of Fame in 2009.
In addition to his coaching duties, Lindeman has been a featured speaker at coaching clinics in 25 states and four countries, while writing articles that have been published and reprinted in several professional journals and chapters of the textbooks "Hurdles: Theory and Technique" and the "USA Track and Field Coaching Manual" (1999 edition).
He has also been active in leadership roles on various committees of track and field’s professional organizations throughout his career. He sat on the USATF Men’s Development Committee for four Olympic quadrenniums, chairing the Hurdles sub-committee from 1993-2000. As the committee chair, Lindeman tracked the USA’s hurdles in the developmental system and coordinated video analysis of all hurdle races at the USA Championships and Olympic Trials for the competitors and their coaches. He also managed a series of annual mini-camps for the elite U.S. male hurdles at San Diego’s Olympic Training Center. He was later elected Chair of USA Track and Field’s Coaches Advisory Committee, and served in that capacity from 2009-12.
He served on the NCAA Track and Field Rules Committee from 1996-2000, acting as chairman for the 2000 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Following that stint, he was elected as President of the Division I Coaches of the U.S. Track and Field Coaches Association, a position he held from 2000-03. Among the highlights of his leadership tenure with the Coaches Association were starting up the association’s “Assistant Coach of the Year” awards, initiating the “All-Academic” individual and team recognition program for student-athletes, restructuring the Executive Committee with representatives from each and every NCAA Division I conference (a plan that is still used today), spearheading the effort to get the men’s heptathlon and women’s pentathlon added to the NCAA Indoor Championships, and overseeing the transition of the NCAA holding Regional meets to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championship finals.
He later served as the first chairman of the Coaches Association’s Ethics Committee, leading a committee of peers to write the Association’s Code of Ethics. Lindeman served on the NCAA’s Olympic Sport Committee from 2005-07 – becoming the first-ever coach to serve on that committee. Working alongside collegiate athletic administrators and CEO’s of Olympic sport NGBs, the committee served as a liaison between the NCAA and the U.S. Olympic Committee (now, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee).
Lindeman sees his involvement with these organizations as a way to not only make a significant improvement to the sport of collegiate track and field, but to extend those benefits to the development of the Air Force program.
He has been married to his wife, Cindy, for the past 50 years, and they have two children and six grandchildren. Their daughter, Jennifer, an art teacher in Monument, Colo., and her husband, Brian Rowedder, both graduates of Arizona State, have three children: Maddison, Brock and Landon; while their son, Brian, a firefighter in Parker, Colo., and former Colorado high school state champion in the pole vault, is married to Heather Dunavint, and together they have twin girls, Elsie and Mira, and a son, Brogan.
GET TO KNOW COACH LINDEMAN
Hobbies: Fly-fishing and playing golf, but I’m not very good at either of them! I also love working in my yard, and DIY projects with wood.
Favorite Pastime: I sometimes claim coaching is my vocation, my avocation and my pastime. However, what I enjoy most is family time ... particularly family dinners, and especially Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners. Of course, I have loved watching our grandkids play sports as well. I’m an inveterate reader of books, newspapers, and magazines, from which I’m constantly clipping articles to reread and save. My wife, Cindy, and I also love to travel domestically – whether it be to the many small Colorado towns all summer long, or cities around the USA. Recent trips have included Chicago, Boston, and New York ... we always enjoy San Diego, where we have family, but it seems those trips are usually in conjunction with some track or cross country meet.
Last Book Read: “Row the Boat”, by Jon Gordon and P.J. Fleck. I’ve read every book Jon Gordon has written and I also subscribe to his newsletters. I love his thoughts on character, faith and leadership.
Book on His Nightstand Now: Besides my Bible, which is always on my nightstand and which I try to dive in daily, I’m reading Eric Metaxas’ “Bonhoffer” for the second time.
Favorite Vacation Spot: Grand Lake, Colo., and any Colorado town with “Springs” in the name – Steamboat Springs, Glenwood Springs, Pagosa Springs, and yes, even our own Colorado Springs for a “stay-cation”!
What Music is Currently on Your iPhone: My most listened-to playlist is my “Current CCM Faves”, which includes music from Jeremy Camp, Lauren Daigle, Danny Gokey, Mercy Me, Sidewalk Prophets, Micah Tyler, Tauren Wells and Matthew West. I also like the “Colorado” playlist I created this summer, which includes any and every song that’s ever mentioned Colorado, Denver, Boulder, Telluride, the Rocky Mountains, etc. Oh, and I REALLY like listening to the classic country rock of the Eagles!
Favorite Movie: My wife, Cindy and I really like faith- and character-based movies ... recent ones we’ve enjoyed include “I Can Only Imagine”, “I Still Believe”, “Overcomer”, and “Unplanned.” My favorite movie of all-time is “Unbroken” and its sequel, “Unbroken: the Path to Redemption.” I had the opportunity to meet Louis Zamperini in the late 80’s when I coached at Long Beach State, but at that time, I was only aware of a very small part of his amazing life story, and regret I didn’t make the effort to get to know him better.
Favorite TV Shows: ESPN’s “Gameday” – I record it every Saturday morning in the fall on the DVR and watch it later in the weekend, working it in around Falcon cross country meets or football games. I love the segments that feature coaches (too bad the show is just seasonal!). My wife and I used to watch every episode of “Friday Night Lights”, and I miss that show for the coaching scenes.
Favorite Foods: I love any food with Hatch Green Chile, and any authentic beef brisket from the legendary one-off BBQ’ers in Central Texas – Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, as well as Black’s, Franklins, Stiles Switch and Salt Lick in and around Austin, among others!
Favorite Restaurant: That would be Arlene’s Beans in Monument. Cindy and I eat out most often at Colorado Mountain Brewery or Ted’s Montana Grill. Our coaching staff enjoys Arlene’s, as well as Dog Haus, and if there was a Shake Shack closer, I’d get even fatter eating their green chile cheeseburgers at every chance ... good thing it’s an hour drive away in Centennial!
Person You’d Most Like to Meet: Tony Dungy, long-time NFL coach, or Clemson head football coach, Dabo Swinney. There’s a number of Christian preachers and writers I’d love to meet in person, instead of just reading them or watching them on YouTube – Jimmy Evans, Franklin Graham, Jack Hibbs, David Limbaugh, Lee Strobel and Amir Tsarfati, among others.
How Did You Get Interested in Track and Field: My seventh grade P.E. teacher and coach at Phoenix Christian Elementary School took a group of us boys to a college track dual meet between Arizona State and New Mexico, and I got to see stars like Henry Carr and Ulis Williams from ASU and Adolph Plummer from New Mexico. The next week was my birthday, and my parents asked me what special thing I wanted to do ... I told them I wanted to go back to an ASU track meet. That time, I got to see BYU and USC, and I was hooked on the sport. I had some moderate success as a junior high and high school athlete, and the influence that my junior high and high school coaches had on me, led me to decide I wanted to coach as a career.
If You Weren’t Coaching, You’d Be: When I was pre-teen and junior higher, I wanted to be a Pastor, but I got enamored with coaching during high school. My dream retirement job would laughingly be to serve as a fly-fishing guide or a professional golf instructor – that would never happen because my skillset isn’t good enough in either, so maybe I’ll pick up my old fascination of serving as a pastor.
Coaching Hero: Without question, it would be the venerable Fisher DeBerry, long-time Falcon football coach – I loved his Southern accent and his sense of humor, but I admired him most for his character and values as a coach, husband and parent. For Track coaches, it would have to be the late Payton Jordan, long-time coach at Stanford. I was also a big fan of Colorado’s Bill McCartney, Baylor’s Grant Teaff, and Nebraska’s Tom Osborne ... I’ve read everything either they wrote, or was written about them. I now like following Clemson football coach, Dabo Swinney, and Texas A&M basketball coach, Buzz Williams. And this one’s not a hero, because he’s a contemporary colleague, but Vin Lananna, now coaching track at Virginia after stints at Stanford and Oregon ... he has positively impacted our sport more than any single individual I know, and I hold him in the highest esteem for that, as well as calling him a friend.
Who have your coaching mentors been: The head coaches at Arizona State (Len Miller) and Arizona (Dave Murray) were definitely mentors in grooming me to be a head coach at the collegiate level. Other legendary American coaches like Brooks Johnson, George Williams, Tom Tellez, Stan Huntsman and Steve Miller, as well as the late Sam Bell and Jimmy Carnes, were always willing to share tips and give advice to me personally. Those aside, however, I’d have to identify some of my closest coaching friends as my most reliable mentors. Individuals like Ron Mann, long-time coach at Northern Arizona and later at Louisville, the late John McNichols of Indiana State, and Greg Hull, master pole vault coach, have always been individuals I could pick up the phone and call to discuss anything, from technical coaching to coaching methods to the state of our sport. I’d also absolutely add longtime coaching peers Mark Stanforth and Scott Irving from our own Air Force Academy staffs to that group for the same reasons. These colleagues were my most influential mentors. I only half-kiddingly still claim that my wife, Cindy, has been my long-time mentor as well – she can always pick me up emotionally, give input on ethical dilemmas, and give meaningful counsel about how to deal with certain individuals or issues. She continues to be my sounding board and confidante at this stage of my career.
Favorite Track Meet: It would be a close tie between the Drake Relays and the Mt SAC Relays. With both of these meets, it’s about the wonderful people associated with the huge spectacles for our sport in Iowa and California - the meet directors, administrators, officials, fans and coaches who frequent those respective meets.
Favorite Track Stadium: It was always Historic Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene, and although I miss its old look and features, I was really excited at this past June’s NCAA Championships to see the spectacular new Hayward Field, and am looking forward to being in the new Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, this coming season as well. On a different scale, I really enjoy the collegiate facilities indoors at Texas Tech’s Sports Performance Center and outdoors at Baylor’s Clyde Hart Stadium.
What is Your Coaching Philosophy: I believe inspiring our team – particularly the team captains and leaders – to develop their team culture is tantamount to teaching them techniques or training them. A team’s culture is its inner core, and ultimately determines that team’s success. I trust that our team’s culture will always be based on the USAF Core Values – “Integrity First, Service Before Self, Excellence in All We Do.” Our job as coaches is to provide a framework in which our cadet-athletes can achieve that excellence, not only athletically, but also academically and militarily. We place a strong emphasis on a program of individual goal-setting, and encourage our team members to not limit their goals to their athletic performance, but also to have academic and military goals as well. We make a point of talking with our cadet-athletes about being “Champions at Everything.” As a coaching staff, our ultimate objective is to “develop leaders of character through a transformational experience in athletics,” so we’re always trying to weave character and leadership lessons into our teaching and training.
Describe Your Coaching Style: I consider myself a teacher, first-and-foremost ... maybe because I served as a high school teacher and coach for my first seven years in the profession. If you were to watch me coach, you’d see me constantly teaching, using all the methodology I learned as a young teacher. Even though I’m coaching future engineers and scientists, I’ve prided myself on keeping my coaching cues and instructions simple. As part of my teaching, I’m always trying to be a good listener, and then adapting, supporting, mentoring and inspiring.
Best Part of Being at the Academy: Being able to teach leadership and character to the amazing young men and women on our track and field teams, and then, when they return to the Academy years later to visit, hear their life stories about their families, friends and careers in the “big Air Force” and beyond in civilian life.
Most Memorable Coaching Experience: Many might guess I would say serving on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team coaching staff, or serving as the Head Coach of Team USA at the 2018 World Indoor Championships, or maybe being named recipient of some coach-of-the-year award, but in fact, it seems that I have a number of “most memorable coaching experiences” with every team I’ve ever had at the Air Force Academy over the past 32 years. That’s not limited to the teams that were conference champions or high NCAA finishers, or individuals that were conference champions, NCAA scorers or school record-holders. I have scores, if not hundreds, of stories of the really special young men and young women I’ve had the privilege to coach. I refer to so many of them as “success stories”—some of them are athletic, some are academic, and some are military success stories. They all gave me memories I’ll treasure long after my coaching career is complete.
Ryan Cole Interview - August 26th, 2025
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Ryan Cole Interview - August 26, 2025
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Ryan Cole Interview March 11, 2025
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Ryan Cole Interview - March 11, 2025
Tuesday, March 11
