The architect of one of the most enduringly successful programs in collegiate athletics, Al Carius enters his 47th year as the Cardinals' head men's cross country coach. After 44 years in charge of the Cardinals' track and field program, he enters his third season as North Central's associate head coach, guiding North Central's distance runners.
A native of Morton, Ill., Carius came to North Central in 1966 after two years as a graduate assistant at the University of Illinois. As an undergraduate at Illinois, he was a two-time Big Ten Conference champion in cross country, and he added three Big Ten two-mile titles in track. He continued to run competitively until 1968, and at the end of the 1966 season, had the fifth-best time in the United States in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (8:48-plus, run at the Kentucky Relays).
Carius has established a dynasty in cross country and track and field at North Central. His cross country teams have won 14 national titles, including three championships in a row (1997, ’98, ’99), and finished runner-up 14 times in 38 years of NCAA Division III competition. They have finished out of the top four just four times. Cardinal teams have won 38 consecutive College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Cross Country Championships and 45 of 52 overall.
Carius' teams have established two still-standing records at the national cross country championships, posting the meet's lowest point total (32) in 1993 and winning by the largest margin ever (131) in 2009. The Cardinals became the first team in Division III history to have all seven competing runners finish in the top 35 and earn All-America honors at the 2009 championships.
North Central has six NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field titles and four NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field titles. The Cardinals have won 34 CCIW Outdoor Track & Field Championships (out of 66 that have been contested) and all 12 CCIW Indoor Track & Field Championships.
In 2010, North Central placed first at both the indoor and outdoor Division III Track and Field Championships, sweeping the two titles for the second time and becoming just the second program in Division III history to win the national cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field championships in the same academic year. The Cardinals followed by winning the Division III Indoor and Outdoor Championships for a second straight season in 2011, then won the Division III Indoor title once again in 2012.
Carius and his coaching staff have produced 103 All-Americans and seven individual national champions in cross country and more than 300 All-Americans and 43 national champions in track and field. In addition, Cardinal athletes still hold six national records.
Carius has a system. He develops winners. And yet his answer to the question "How?" is deceptively simple – finding people who like to run. His philosophy is "Run for Fun and Personal Bests," running first for self-satisfaction and personal development, then for victory and prestige.
"We try to have running be a part of their lifestyle," Carius says in talking about his runners, "not be their life, but a part of it. They're not doing it for me but for themselves. The thing we value most is personal improvement, doing something you haven't done before. You're not a better person if you're an All-American and not a worse person if you’re not. Athletics should be fun. It does mean you always give your best. And when you do that, you can live with the results. You don't get down.”
Carius was honored as cross country “Coach of the Century,” as well as being named NCAA Division III Cross Country Coach of the Year in 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2009 and 2011. He is also a member of the Illinois Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Drake Relays Hall of Fame. In October 2006, he became an honorary alumnus of North Central.
The USTFCCCA honored Carius with the creation of the Al Carius Program of the Year Award during the 2008-2009 academic year, which is to be given annually to the NCAA Division III men's cross country/track and field program with the highest average finish at the three national championships. The Cardinals have brought the award home to its namesake in each of the past three seasons.
He, his wife, Pam, and their children, live in Naperville.
