STAFF

ROBERT GARY - Head Coach

GARY BY THE NUMBERS

• 8 USATF Champions
• 12 World Championship Track Team Members
• 11 World Championship Cross Country Team Members
• 17 U.S. Olympic Trials Finalists
• 19 Sub-4:00 Milers
• 63 All-Americans Cross Country/Track & Field
• 15 Team NCAA Championship Appearances
• 19 Freshmen Runners of the Year
• IAAF Olympic Standard in 1,500-10,000 (M/W)
• 1 of 3 American Coaches to Coach 3 Sub-8:20 Steeplechasers
• 3 Sub-3:35 Male 1,500m Runners
• 8 Sub-3:39 Male 1,500m Runners

Furman head coach Robert Gary, a native of Chicago, Ill., is a two-time Olympian in the Steeplechase (Atlanta, 1996 and Athens, 2004), two-time World Championships qualifier, 11-time World Cross Country USA Team member, and Track & Field News 2004 Cross Country Runner of the Year.

Following an illustrious running career, Gary, who was honored as the 2019 Furman Lyles Alley Coach of the Year, has established himself as a one of the nation’s elite coaches through his involvement with USA Track and Field, as head coach of the Ohio State men’s cross country and track and field program, and now in his eighth season as head coach of the Furman cross country and track and field program, as well as the Furman Elite Professional Running Team.

RITA GARY - Assistant Coach

GARY BY THE NUMBERS

• 40 NCAA Individual All-Americans
• 13 top-10 individual finishers at NCAAs
• 68 NCAA All-Region performers
• 32 Academic All-Americans
• 14 top-35 team finishes at NCAA Championships
• 5 team USATF Championship Qualifiers
• 5 Team USA Members
• 3 team region championships
• 16 team conference titles
• 9 USATFCCCA All-Academic Awards

Rita Gary is in her ninth season as an assistant coach with the Furman track and field/cross country programs. The 2018 USTFCCCA Southeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year, she served as the Team USA women's coach for the 2020 Pan Am Cross Country Championship, which was held in February. Gary has coached 14 teams to a top-35 finish at the NCAA Championships, highlighted by seven top-15 team finishes. She has coached teams to three region championships and 16 conference titles.

During her career, Gary has coached 40 NCAA All-Americans, including 13 top-10 finishers, 32 Academic All-Americans, five team USATF Championship Qualifiers, and five Team USA Members. Her athletes have claimed 68 NCAA all-region awards, while her teams have won ten USATFCCCA All-Academic Awards, the Heller Commitment to Community Award, and the Furman University Golden Paladin Award in 2017.

LOGAN ROBERTS

ROBERTS BY THE NUMBERS

• 34 SoCon Track Champions
• 16 NCAA East Preliminary Qualifiers
• 8 NCAA Track & Field All-Americans
• 4 Individual SoCon Cross Country Champions
• 8 SoCon Cross Country Team Titles
• 17 NCAA All-Southeast Region Honors
• 6 NCAA Cross Country All-Americans
• 14 School Records

Logan Roberts is in his fourth season as a Furman cross country/track and field program's assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. His duties also include a heavy influence in training and implementation of the middle distance events.

During Roberts’ time on the Paladin staff, Furman has secured eight Southern Conference Cross Country Championships, four individual SoCon cross country titles, 17 NCAA All-Southeast Region performances, and six NCAA All-Americans, including four top-20 finishes. The Furman track and field teams have broken 14 school records, seven of which have been in the middle distance events, and have secured 35 individual SoCon titles, 16 NCAA East Preliminary qualifiers, and eight NCAA All-Americans.

During the 2021-22 season, Furman’s Cameron Ponder was honored as the Southern Conference Male Athlete of the Year, becoming the first cross country/track in field athlete to earn the distinction in the history of the league. He claimed an All-America citation in the 3,000m for indoor track for the second-straight season after finishing 11th with a time of 8:03.99 at the NCAA Championships, where the top eight finishers were separated by less than a second. Ponder, who holds four career sub-4:00 mile marks, was named the 2021 SoCon Cross Country Men’s Runner of the Year, earned All-Southeast Region accolades, and went on to compete at the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

MATT LANGE - Assistant Coach

Former Paladin athlete Matt Lange was hired as the team's assistant coach in December of 2022. Lange helps supervise training for all athletes, organizes recruiting, and oversees alumni reunion plans to coincide with Furman's hosting of the 2024 Southern Conference Cross Country Championship.

"The experience and enthusiasm Coach Lange brings back to Furman will have an immediate impact on our team, our recruiting, and our ability to position our program for NCAA success at the highest level," said head coach Robert Gary at the time of Lange's hiring. "Coach Lange has worked with one of the best middle distance professional teams in the country during his time with the District Track Club Team, he's coached and recruited to an elite academic institution at George Washington University, and he's been on a staff that finished as high as second at the NCAA Championship at Iowa State. Those skills alone set him apart during the interview process, but his personal knowledge of our program as one of our first recruits who found passion and purpose in our profession made him a clear front candidate. We are thrilled to have Coach Lange back in Greenville."

A native of Schenectady, N.Y., Lange was a four-year letter winner for the Paladins from 2013-2017, when the Paladins won four-consecutive SoCon Championships and qualified for the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2014 and 2015. An All-SoCon selection for cross country in 2016, Lange was a member of the SoCon Academic Honor Roll.