Track & field missing familiar face at start of outdoor season
After enjoying success in the indoor season, the track and field and cross country teams are set to welcome the outdoor season. But one name remains conspicuously missing from the roster — one of the winningest head coaches in program history, Gregg Gensel.
Utah State University has been tight-lipped concerning details surrounding the departure of Gensel. The former coach spent 34 years with the team — 28 as the men’s head coach and 23 at the helm of the women’s team, the last 23 being concurrent with the men’s team.
utahstateaggies.com Former USU track and field head coach Gregg Gensel
During his tenure as head coach, the Aggies men’s and women’s teams won 36 combined conference championships.
According to records obtained by the Statesman, the 58-year-old Gensel had his employment terminated Nov. 8. However, the university did not send out a formal public announcement until a press release on Dec. 22.
The press release announced that Utah State was promoting assistant track and field coach Matt Ingebritsen and assistant cross country coach Artie Gulden as interim head coaches of the respective teams.
The release had just one sentence regarding Gensel, stating that he was “no longer employed by the university.” USU has yet to make either of the interim coaches a permanent hire.
After learning of the Dec. 22 news release, The Utah Statesman inquired about Gensel’s employment and why he was no longer with the team. In response, a Utah State representative said in an email that Gensel “no longer works for the university.”
The track and field and cross country teams has not itself yet been given an official explanation as to what happened. Interim track and field head coach Matt Ingebristen said he was “never even given a clear answer” as to what happened to Gensel.
“I believe they were deliberately leaving us in the dark like that just so we wouldn’t have to answer questions we weren’t capable of answering,” Ingebritsen said.
Dillon Maggard, arguably the best runner the program has ever seen, said Gensel “stepped down.” Maggard owns multiple USU records and has been selected to the All-Mountain West team and Second Team All-American in his four years with the Aggies.
Track and field and cross country graduate assistant Sean O’Sullivan said in an interview on Feb. 25 the last he’d heard was that Gensel was on “administrative leave for personal reasons.”
The Statesman reached out to Gensel, but he did not respond to requests for comment on his departure from the university.
A government records requests has been submitted by the Statesman for emails and other correspondence between Gensel and fellow members of USU athletic department staff including athletic director John Hartwell.
Since 2005, Gensel had coached the women’s cross country and track and field team to four titles and 13 for the men’s teams in that same span. He was named Conference Coach of the Year 38 times and coached 262 conference individual champions and 39 All-Americans during his time with Utah State.
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