NEWS: Illinois Hires Former Virginia Tech Distance Coach Eric Johannigmeier as Next Head XC Coach

Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
Jul 17, 2024
3 min read

Disclosure: The author of this article is a Virginia Tech alum.

Earlier this week, Illinois announced that Eric Johannigmeier, the former head distance coach at Virginia Tech, was being hired as the team's next head distance coach. Johannigmeier is an Illinois alum, graduating from the university back in 2011.

The Stride Report has also confirmed that Helen Lehman-Winters, the former Oregon coach who was hired as Illinois' distance coach last summer following the departure of Coach Sarah Smith (née Haveman) to Texas, is no longer with the program.

Johannigmeier's rise among the NCAA coaching ranks has stemmed from a series of significant coaches changes over the last six years. In the summer of 2018, Coach Ben Thomas left Virginia Tech to join the Oregon men as their lead distance coach.

In turn, Johannigmeier was tabbed as the Hokies' next distance coach.

Since then, Coach Jerry Schumacher has taken over the Ducks' as the team's newest Director, leaving Coach Ben Thomas without a distance team to coach. But with long-time Virginia Tech Director Dave Cianelli recently retiring, Thomas has returned to Blacksburg, this time as the Hokies' newest Director.

Naturally, Thomas' reintroduction to VT sparked questions as to what would happen with Johannigmeier given the theoretical overlap in their coaching roles. Those questions, of course, have now been answered now that the latter coach is venturing to Champaign, Illinois.

Despite the incredibly high bar set by Thomas during his tenure with the Hokies, Johannigmeier was still able to effectively recruit top names and develop national-caliber standouts, specifically in the middle distance events.

Lindsey Butler, for instance, was an NCAA indoor 800-meter champion and earned numerous All-American honors. Nick Plant, who was one of the most coveted high school middle distance recruits from the Class of 2022, has now evolved into a 1:46 (800) runner who has earned multiple All-American honors. At one point, the Virginia Tech men had five runners (one racing unattached) crack the four-minute mile barrier in one race.

Admittedly, neither side of Virginia Tech's roster has had much success on the cross country course since Ben Thomas left the team (although Peter Seufer was brilliant in the fall of 2019 and Sarah Freix cracked the top-100 of the national meet that same year). The Hokies have also not had a contingent or set of individuals who have come all that close to the juggernaut 2018 men's group that lifted Ben Thomas to national prominence.

Even so, most NCAA fans recognize this Blacksburg-based program as a middle distance stalwart. And under the guidance of Johannigmeier, the Hokies were still able to produce nationally competitive DMR lineups while their overall 800/mile depth seemingly stood the test of time.

Johannigmeier will now be tasked with reviving an Illinois women's distance program that has faltered from the once-great heights established by Coach Sarah Haveman back in 2019 and 2021. The men's team, however, has not finished higher than 5th place at the BIG 10 XC Championships since 2017 (where they placed 4th). They have only cracked the top-three of their conference meet once in the new millennium (2015). They last qualified for the national meet in 2016.

As the BIG 10 Conference becomes even more competitive with the introduction of Oregon, Washington, UCLA and USC, Johannigmeier will have his toughest coaching challenge yet. Even so, few coaches seemed to be a better fit for Illinois than a returning alum who kept Virginia Tech as a middle distance power despite the initial departure of a superstar coach.