Mark Phillips inducted into NJCAA Cross Country and Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame

The NJCAA has announced two honorees to be inducted into the NJCAA Cross Country and Track & Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Mark Phillips of Cowley College and Ted Schmitz of Cloud County have been admitted in the respectable 2021 class.

Mark Phillips, distinguished head track and field coach at Cowley, kick started his career after success as a pole vaulter and sprinter at Cloud County (KS) and Northwest Missouri State. As a student-athlete with the Thunderbirds, Phillips was a NJCAA Region VI champion and a two-time national qualifier in the pole vault. At Northwest, he set school and Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) records while winning three conference championships in the pole vault. 

The long-time Cowley coach arrived in 2003 after spending the previous 12 years at Johnson County (KS), four of those as head coach. Prior to Johnson County, Phillips spent the fall of 1989 to the spring of 1991 at Kansas City Community College. There, he turned the program into a national contender in the sprints, coaching 34 All-Americans. At Johnson County, the Cavaliers program reached heights they never expected before with Phillips as coach. He captured 14 of the possible 16 indoor and outdoor conference championships available, and had eight of his 16 teams finish in the top 10 nationally. Phillips coached two national champions, one national record holder, 16 individual NJCAA All-Americans, 75 individual NJCAA Coaches All-America student-athletes, 16 individual Region VI Champions, and 121 individual East Jayhawk Conference Champions.

For the men, Phillips coached one national champion, 19 individual NJCAA All-Americans, 65 NJCAA Coaches All-Americans, eight All-Region Champions, and 96 individual East Jayhawk Conference champions. Phillips' time at Johnson County prepared him for further achievements at Cowley.

Phillips served as the NJCAA Division I Track and Field Coaches Association Vice President from 2006 to 2012.

In his 18th year with the Tigers program, the Hall of Famer will retire at the end of the 2021 outdoor track and field season. Among countless notable accomplishments, Phillips has guided the men's track and field squad to six of the past 14 indoor conference titles and five of the past 13 outdoor conference championships. For the women's team, he has led them to three of the past four conference titles and back-to-back outdoor conference titles. During the 2020 season, Phillips and the women's team finished 10th at the NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at Liberty University. 

Overall, Phillips has taken the Tigers to two national championships, 32 Jayhawk Conference titles, 14 Region VI titles, and 14 top-five finishes at NJCAA national championships. He's coached more than 275 All-Americans, 10 NJCAA national champions, three NJCAA record holders, and one Olympic Festival gold medalist.

The head coach has sculpted the Cowley program into the well-rounded team it is known for today after many years of dedication to his student-athletes. In his final season as head coach of the men's and women's teams, Phillips recently led the men to their first Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division Indoor Championship in eight years. As a result, the longtime coach was named the men's indoor coach of the year after last being named NJCAA Region VI Coach of the Year in 2018.

"I want to thank Mark for his service to Cowley Athletics over the past 18 years," Cowley athletic director Shane Larson said. "He built the track and field team into one of the top programs in the country and has impacted countless students' lives as the coach of our program. We are very grateful for his contribution to Tiger Athletics and will work diligently to continue his legacy of excellence with the track and field program."