North Central College’s recent emergence as a perennial producer of national champions and All-Americans in the pole vault can be traced back to a simple recruiting letter. Tim Winder traveled a longer path than even he initially realized on his way to a coaching career with the Cardinals’ men’s and women’s track and field programs which now spans more than 22 years.
Winder’s coaching career at North Central, which has seen him mentor vaulters to 14 individual national championships, 73 NCAA Division III All-America awards and 53 individual conference championships, began in 1993, but the seeds of his journey to Naperville were initially sown much earlier.
“I went back and looked through a box that had all this recruiting stuff in it from when I was in high school,” he recalled. “I found a recruiting letter from (North Central coach and Athletic Hall of Famer) Al Carius that was sent to me when I was 17 years old. I feel like God was trying to get me to come here even before I was ready to listen.”
While coaching at Naperville Central High School, Winder trained at North Central and worked with the Cardinals’ vaulters on an informal basis for three years before a job offer materialized with an incentive too enticing for Winder to pass up.
“The motivating factor coming to North Central was the fact that everyone said I could bring my kids along with me,” he said. “That was a huge thing, because coaching takes you away from your kids most of the time. I’ve been taking my sons to track meets and workouts with me since they were little, not necessarily to have them around pole vaulting but to have them around their dad. It’s really been a blessing.”
Though his athletes began compiling conference titles and All-America awards soon after Winder’s arrival on staff, the Cardinals’ first national title in the event did not come until Megan Rossi ’07 topped the podium at the 2005 indoor championships. Winder, whose focus always centered on proper execution rather than results, was as surprised as anyone.
“I don’t think of things in terms of winning and losing,” he said. “I think in terms of performing. I didn’t even know Megan had won when it happened because we always focused on what it took to be good technically. Her winning that was quite a blessing.
“For us, getting the job done is about staying in the process and executing and performing the way we know how, because we can only control what we do. It doesn’t really matter how the championships shake out, although I’ll take the victories. They’re fun.”
His career has come full circle with the involvement of his three sons, each of whom has claimed national titles in the pole vault under their father’s tutelage. Jake ’10 claimed three championships and owns the Cardinals’ current all-time indoor and outdoor records in the event, while Josh ’13 won two national titles and Luke ’18 swept the Division III indoor and outdoor crowns as a freshman in 2015.
“It’s just been an unbelievable opportunity,” Winder said. “At a time when most kids might be moving farther away from their parents, my sons are moving closer on a mental, emotional and spiritual level. To have them all experience the kind of success they have has been really great. I’d say they’ve taught me more than I’ve taught them.”
In a career and a family so flush with success in a single event in a single sport, Winder is quick to point out the vital role of his wife Margo, the only one in the family never to have picked up a pole, in providing the foundation from which he has been able to reach for excellence.
“People don’t understand what it’s like to be a woman in a house with four pole vaulters,” Winder said. “It takes a very strong woman. She is confident in me that I’m going to do what I need to do to help the athletes be the best they can be, and she believes in what I do and what the program’s about. Without her support, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything I’ve done.”
