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Jim Bevan Position: Head Coach Alma Mater: Adams State, 1984; M.S., 1986

Jim Bevan is in his 22nd year with the Rice women's track and field program, and is in his third season as head coach after taking over the reins following the retirement of long-time head coach Victor Lopez.

Bevan, 46, was recently awarded his first South Central Regional Coach of the Year Award in cross-country after the Owls made history in the fall of 2007 by winning the program's first ever regional championship and earning an automatic bid to the national meet. Earlier in the season, Bevan earned the C-USA Coach for the Year Award following Rice's conference victory. No newcomer to such accolades, Bevan had previously been a four-time conference coach of the year for cross country, winning the honors in the Southwest Conference after the Owls' 1994 championship, and in the Western Athletic Conference following Rice's titles in 1999 and 2002. He won the first Conference USA Coach of the Year Award for a Rice coach after leading the Owls to the 2005 cross country championship.

Also during the 2007 season, Bevan earned the C-USA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Coaches Choice Award for cross country. This award recognizes the coach most committed to fostering student-athlete development and welfare through a positive athletic and academic atmosphere. Bevan's insistence on the importance of academics is epitomized by his perfect graduation rate amongst Rice student-athletes with whom he has worked in the past. Just last year, two of Bevan's athletes, Marissa Daniels for cross country and Callie Wells for track and field, earned 2006-07 C-USA Scholar Athlete of the Year Awards as the top student athletes in their sports.

However, Bevan's honors are not limited to cross country. During the 2006-07 track and field season, Bevan took home his first C-USA Coach of the Year Award for track and field after the Rice Women earned not only the indoor C-USA title, but also the outdoor title.

Before taking over as head coach, Bevan was an assistant coach in charge of cross country, and served as the program's recruiting coordinator, worked with the Owls' jumpers, and coordinated the team's travel.

Throughout his tenure, Bevan has nurtured the careers of numerous all-America athletes. Most recently, Funmi Jimoh and Marissa Daniels entered the ranks of the all-America elite during the 2007 track and field season. Jimoh fought hard and overcame injury to take fifth in the long jump, and Daniels ran a lifetime best to finish 11th in the 10 K at the NCAA meet.

Of his all-American jumpers, Claudia Haywood was perhaps the most successful. She went on to win five SWC championships, earn four all-America honors and capture both the NCAA and USA outdoor triple jump titles in 1993. Jumpers Sonya Henry, Diane Somerville, Yvette Haynes and Alice Falaiye have all earned all-America honors under his direction. Falaiye later competed in the 2001 world championships and went on to win the long jump gold medal in the 2003 Pan American Games.

The distance runners have also prospered under his guidance. Stacy Swank garnered all-America honors in the 3,000 in 1995, while Roberson earned all-America honors in 2000 following her fourth-place finishes at the NCAA outdoor championships in the 800- and 1,500-meters, the only runner in the nation to double as an all-American.

In all, Bevan has coached 18 runners and jumpers to 31 all-America honors.

He has also seen five cross country teams ranked among the top 25 in the nation. Before joining C-USA, Rice claimed the 1994 WAC title, and in 1993, the team finished second in the SWC to qualify for the NCAA championships. A few years later, Bevan's 1999 and 2002 teams earned WAC titles. The Owls took home their first C-USA cross country title in 2005 followed by a third place finish at regionals. In 2006, the Owls fell to UAB to finish as runner-up, just short of winning the C-USA title. Last fall, the Owls not only reclaimed the C-USA gold but for the first time ever, took home the NCAA South Central Regional Championship. In their first national bid since 1993, the team finished an impressive 16th.

Bevan's runners have succeeded not only on the cross country course, but on the track as well. During the 2007 season, two runners earned national berths: Marissa Daniels in the 10,000 m and Indoor Newcomer of the Year, Shakeera Reece in both the 100 and 200. Previously, Julie Jiskra placed fourth in the 10,000 meters at the 1991 NCAA outdoor meet, Nicole Aleskowitch finished fourth in the 3,000 meters at the 1994 NCAA outdoor meet, and Canadian Candace Lessmeister was an eight-time SWC middle-distance champion and the runner-up in the mile at the national indoor meet in 1994.

Under Bevan, Rice has also achieved some level of notoriety in the distance medley relay. In 1999, the distance medley relay team, comprised of Kari Vigerstol, Margaret Fox, Aimee Teteris and Erin Brand, won the USA Track and Field Championships and finished sixth at the NCAA championships. The 2000 DMR crew of Vigerstol, Teteris, Allison Beckford, and Shaquandra Roberson, perhaps one of the best relay teams to run under Bevan, set the Rice record of 11:15.70 with a sixth-place finish at the NCAA indoor championships.

Bevan also has worked with some post-collegians in their efforts to represent their country in Olympic and other world competitions. In 1995, he coached Diana Orrange, who set a U.S. Olympic Festival record with a mark of 46-2 in the triple jump, and went on to represent the United States at the 1995 World Championships and 1996 Olympics. Bevan has also coached two-time Olympian and 1998 CAC champion Flora Hyacinth in both the long jump and triple jump. He also guided former Rice standout Alice Falaiye, representing Canada, to the gold in the long jump at the 2003 Pan American Games held in the Dominican Republic.

Bevan came to the Owls with excellent credentials. Before joining the Rice staff in 1986, he was an assistant men's track and cross country coach for two years at his alma mater, Adams State College in Alamosa, Colo. Bevan was an assistant to Dr. Joe I. Vigil, the U.S. distance coach for the 1988 Olympics and 1991 U.S. Pan American team head coach. He also spent one season as the Indians' assistant coach when the men's and women's programs were combined.

While Bevan was at Adams State, the Indians won three consecutive NAIA cross country titles. During his last year at Adams State, the squad set an NAIA scoring record at the national cross country meet. The school has won more cross country national championships than any other school in the country (30).

Bevan graduated from Adams State in 1984 with a degree in history and physical education, and in the summer of 1986 received his masters in health, physical education and recreation. He is a USATF certified Level I and Level II coach.