Judge AD Dan Quinn takes on Westminster track job

For the last four years, Dan Quinn has been out of coaching in order to serve as Judge Memorial's athletic director.

He's taking up the whistle again, this time as track coach at Westminster College. But he's not giving up his AD role either. And although he's seeing the hours pile up on his work schedule, Quinn says he's happy to be back.

"It was just something personal I missed, being on that side of it," Quinn says. "What I've seen so far is very positive. I think the athletes are excited to have a coach who has a new direction."

Quinn is no stranger to track success. He first joined the Bulldogs program in 1991, and went on to win four state titles in cross country and eight in track and field. Judge was one of the perennially successful programs, winning a combined 40 region championships.

He says that the coaching opportunity stemmed out of Judge's natural partnership with Westminster. The schools often use each other's facilities and fields for various events and camps. When the job came open, Quinn figured he'd give it a shot.

However, that doesn't mean quitting his day job, he says. Judge athletics will still be his primary concern, and although he'll get help in that role, he still works as much as 60 hours a week at Judge alone.

What's made his job especially hectic is his college athletes had pre-set schedules for the semester, so he has to work around them. But it hasn't been as problematic as it sounds, he says.

"It's given me a little spice in my life, a whole new sense of energy," he says. "It's forced me to be very organized. I'm lucky to have a great administrative team here helping me. The hours are insane, but not that much different from when I coached."

Westminster's first meet for cross country is on Sept. 8. Quinn has only been in charge of the team for a week and a half, but he expects to start seeing improvement soon.

"I think we'll start seeing a change in the next few months," he said. "We'd like to start really competiting in the Frontier Conference. It'll be fun to see."

— Kyle Goonkgoon@sltrib.comTwitter: @kylegoon