A run marked by a wealth of national championships and All-Americans has hit the finish line for Mark Wetmore.
The University of Colorado and athletic director Rick George announced on Tuesday that Wetmore, the owner of eight team national championships as CU track and cross country coach, will not have his contract renewed for the 2024-25 season. The decision ends a remarkably successful era that began when Wetmore was named the sixth head cross country coach in team history on Nov. 6, 1995, getting promoted after serving as the distance coach since 1992.
A CU spokesperson confirmed the entire distance staff, including assistants Heather Burroughs and Shaun Wicen, also have been let go, and a national search will begin for Wetmore’s replacement. The remainder of the staff remains employed pending the hiring of a new head coach.
“In over 30 years, Mark Wetmore has built one of the country’s premier cross country programs and is an institution within the cross country and track & field communities,” George said in a statement. “At this point, however, I felt it was time for a new era of leadership for our programs. I wish Mark the best and thank him for his longtime service to CU Athletics.”
The CU women won their first national cross country title under Wetmore in 2000, adding championships in 2004 and 2018. The CU men’s cross country teams won national championships in 2001, 2004, 2006, 2013 and 2014. Colorado runners have won five individual NCAA cross country championships under Wetmore — Adam Goucher (1998), Jorge Torres (2002) and Dathan Ritzenhein (2003) from the men’s team, and Kara Grgas-Wheeler (2000) and Dani Jones (2018) from the women’s team.
The CU men’s and women’s teams have won a combined 36 conference cross country team championships under Wetmore. In track, CU collected 110 individual conference titles and two team titles under Wetmore.
A number of Wetmore’s former CU athletes have starred for USA Track and Field, most notably with former Buffs Jenny Simpson (1,500) and Emma Coburn (steeplechase) winning bronze medals at the 2016 Olympics, becoming the first American women to earn medals in their respective events. Simpson has spent the past few years as a volunteer assistant on Wetmore’s staff.
That glittering track record was derailed somewhat in 2022 when a former walk-on runner, Kate Intile, went on the record — first with Runner’s World in May of 2022, then with the Washington Post on the eve of the NCAA championships that November — with allegations of demeaning body composition tests and other mental health stressors within the CU program. Dozens of prominent former CU athletes rose to Wetmore’s defense during the ensuing internal investigation, which resulted in procedural and accountability adjustments but no staff changes.
While CU’s distance programs have remained highly competitive, the individual cross country title won by Jones in 2018 represents the only CU cross country title-winner since 2003. Jones’ 2018 women’s team is CU’s only cross country team champion since 2014. Colorado endured one of its most frustrating NCAA cross country finals under Wetmore last fall, with the women finishing 19th and the men finishing 25th.
Bailey Hertenstein salvaged a strong finish for CU’s distance runners in what proved to be Wetmore’s last hurrah at the end of the outdoor track season, sweeping the final Pac-12 titles in the 5K and 10K before finishing third in the 5K at the NCAA final. CU’s Ella Baran finished seventh at the NCAA final.
Wetmore could not be reached for comment, but at the final Pac-12 championships hosted by CU at the renovated Potts Field last month, CU’s longtime coach expressed optimism about the pending return to the Big 12.
“The change of conference doesn’t affect recruiting much, but all the other changes in the NCAA are going to change recruiting,” Wetmore told BuffZone during the Pac-12 finals. “NIL (name, image and likeness) and transfer portals, it’s the wild west right now and I can’t forecast what’s coming. Just wait it out and see what’s left at the end.”
