SPORTS

Humble beginnings drive Purdue's Greene

Mike Carmin
Journal & Courier
  • Lonnie Greene was named Purdue's track and field and cross country coach on July 3, 2012
  • Greene has increased the talent pool in four years with the Boilermakers
  • The native of the Bahamas spent 16 seasons at Arkansas before coming to Purdue
  • Greene has been named Purdue Coach of the Year twice in the last three years

The Lonnie Greene you see motoring through the hallways inside the Purdue athletic department and around Rankin Track and Field wasn’t the same Lonnie Greene during his first two months on the job.

It was July 2012 when Greene was named the Boilermakers’ track and field and cross-country coach. He spent 16 seasons as an assistant and later the associate head coach in the Arkansas women’s program, a powerhouse in the Southeastern Conference and nationally. Purdue was Greene’s first head coaching job, but he had the qualifications, background and knowledge to run his own program. The Boilermakers, though, were not the Razorbacks.

It wasn’t easy, that first month and even into the second month of Greene’s tenure. Greene spent countless hours trying to find the right combination of assistants – and the right people – who had the recruiting connections to bring the program into the upper half of the Big Ten Conference.

“There were times in my own personal time, quiet time, and right here in this office I would sit and get emotional,” Greene said. “What did I do? Did I kill my career? Did I hurt my family? I never let anyone into that closet. Of course, God told me to be strong. I stood on that. Just be strong.”

Strength and faith have defined Greene's life and career, but never more so than those first two months. His vision for the program finally became clear and is now in full bloom.

While the Boilermakers haven’t won a team Big Ten championship – they’re competing at the conference meet this weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska — the men’s and women’s programs have shown steady growth. Purdue has enjoyed its share of individual highlights in track and field and cross-country over the years; the women’s team has been the more consistent of the two.

Since Greene's arrival, 19 Boilermakers have collected 35 All-America honors. In 2014-15, the women's team claimed nine first-team All-America honors at the NCAA outdoor championships, the most in program history since the NCAA started sponsoring a women's national championship in 1983. Last fall, Matt McClintock broke the conference record in the 8,000 meters and became Purdue’s first Big Ten cross-country champion in 72 years. On Friday, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi won the men's hammer throw, becoming the first Big Ten athlete to win the event three times.

That is a small sample of what’s transpired over the past four years. Greene is making the programs relevant.

“The obvious thing is talent,” said associate athletic director Calvin Williams, who oversees Purdue’s track and cross-country programs and helped hire Greene. “You’ve got talent here that can compete at the conference and the national level.”

Women's track second at Big Ten meet

Greene’s boss at Arkansas – veteran coach Lance Harter – said Greene’s personality combined with a quality coaching staff and improved recruiting has created a winning formula.

“There are a lot of great coaches and big budgets in the Big Ten,” said Harter, who has been named SEC Coach of the Year 24 times. “It was going to be no easy task to be at the bottom of the Big Ten and rise up. What is he doing next? It’s just a matter of time before something else happens."

Purdue’s women’s program finished second at the Big Ten indoor championships in February, trailing Michigan by seven points. The men’s program placed fourth in the indoor and outdoor league championships in 2014.

Just how popular is Greene among his peers in West Lafayette?

He’s won the Purdue Coach of the Year honor twice in the past three years at the annual department-wide Golden Pete Awards.

“He’s a unique character,” said junior Carmiesha Cox, who holds school records in the 200 and is a member of the program’s 4x400 and 4x100 relay teams.

Humble beginnings

So, who is Lonnie Greene? How did Greene, who grew up in a poor Nassau, Bahamas neighborhood in a household with seven other siblings and whose mother earned a living as a waitress, develop into a top coach?

He participated in track but also played basketball, soccer and cricket. Track, though, became his path to a college education. He was a triple jumper and hurdler.

“Weird combination,” Greene said.

It worked because Greene earned a scholarship at Murray State. Obtaining a college degree was the No. 1 priority and the scholarship allowed Greene to reach his personal goals. Otherwise, Greene likely would’ve joined the Nassau Police Department.

He wanted the college education, not only for himself but to show his future children what is possible.

“When the Lord opened the opportunity, I took advantage of it,” he said.

Values were instilled growing up in a crowded household. Greene walked a quarter of a mile to get water for drinking and to wash the family’s clothes. He also sold peanuts and newspapers.

"Man, we made $3,” Greene recalled, “we thought we were rich. I learned in life to be a good steward with what you have in your hands at the time. Things will come. I don’t complain too much.”

Purdue women’s track earns 3 All-America honors

Cox and Devynee Charlton understand Greene’s upbringing probably better than other teammates. Charlton and Cox are both from Nassau. Although the pair didn’t grow up in the same environment, they appreciate the obstacles Greene overcame to reach this point.

Both came to Purdue because of Greene. The Bahamas tie helped, but Greene’s infectious personality, positive attitude, commitment to excellence – both in the classroom and on the track – was genuine.

“I just feel he comes from an honest point of view,” Cox said. “That’s the one thing I looked for in my recruiting visit that I didn’t see in other schools. I heard these people speaking to me but I didn’t hear the honesty; I didn’t believe what they were selling to me. I feel like everything he says it comes from his heart. He doesn’t sugarcoat anything; he gives it to you point blank. It’s all real and I can appreciate that.”

His vision for the program sold Charlton, who is redshirting during the outdoor season because of an injury. Cox and Charlton considered the same schools – Florida State, Texas Tech and the Boilermakers.

The school located in the coldest climate played favorably with two athletes from the Bahamas.

“He told us the team wasn’t where he wanted it to be and he saw it going somewhere,” said Charlton, who became the first Purdue woman to run faster tjam 8 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles during the Big Ten indoor championships in February. “He saw Purdue being a player on the national stage. We really trusted him. We felt an instant connection, almost like a father figure.”

Greene and his staff focused on speed and power. When he arrived in 2012, most of the Big Ten schools were spending their scholarship money in the distance races. Greene did the math. Points were available in the sprints, hurdles, jumps and throws.

Convince the speed to come to West Lafayette and the points will follow.

“We’ve got to go opposite if we were going to play,” Greene said. “We shifted in that direction and the program lifted. It was low-hanging fruit, but it’s not that way anymore.”

Purdue in first after day 1 of Big Tens

More work is ahead. Improved recruiting and training methods are needed to consistently make sure the programs can challenge in the upper half of the Big Ten each season. Facility upgrades are needed in the near future. Greene believes he’s assembled the right coaching staff and has the support mechanisms in place to keep the Boilermakers in a favorable position in the near future and the long term.

The administration also believes in Greene. His starting salary in 2012 was $100,000, and Greene received a raise in 2014 to $102,485. Last year, Greene’s base salary increased to $150,000, according to a records request from the school obtained by the Journal and Courier. He works under a one-year contract – similar to the department’s other Olympic sports coaches.

Greene’s success at Purdue and his experience in the Southeastern Conference – the gold standard of collegiate track and field – likely makes him an attractive candidate for other programs.

“We’ll do what’s necessary to keep him,” Williams said. “Anything can happen at any time. It’s always a possibility, particularly when you have the contract structured the way we do it with our Olympic sports. It’s always a concern but not one we can’t overcome if someone was in serious talks with him.

“For now, we’re in a good place and Lonnie is happy and I think he wants to do it here. It hasn’t been done consistently at Purdue and he wants to make a mark in that way.”

Selfishly, Harter likes where Greene is at right now.

“As long as he stays out of the SEC, we’ll be friends,” he said. “If he decides to invade my territory, then we’re going to have to have a conversation.”

Recruiting the best

It’s clear to see Greene has shifted the culture of the program and developed a confidence within the roster where winning championships is now expected. Recruiting has improved to where Greene and his staff now host some of the nation’s best athletes.

“I was asked one day, ‘What are you saying to the kids to get them here? We normally don’t get those kids’ ” Greene said. “Coming from Arkansas where we went after the best kids in the country, I brought that mentally here. If I did bring the best sprinter or hurdler in the country on campus with some other kids that we wanted … it had to be something about this place that they were interested in. That started to play out.”

It’s played out in the number of school records set under Greene. The current roster holds 12 outdoor school records in events that are scored at the Big Ten and NCAA championships. Four records were set this season.

Harter witnessed firsthand how Greene interacted with recruits. It was part of the reason Harter hired Greene, who spent one season as an assistant at Minnesota before moving to Arkansas. Harter also watched Greene as a graduate assistant at Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State) when the Bears frequently visited Fayetteville.

“When you meet him, it doesn’t take but a couple of minutes to realize that this is an individual who really cares,” Harter said. “He really wants to know you, not just as an athlete but as a person. His strong Christian foundation is genuine. He’s a true family man and he’s such a caring individual. People pick up on that ever so quickly. He’s been a blessing to anybody who’s had him in his life.”

Lonnie Greene

Hometown: Nassau, Bahamas

College: Murray State

Before Purdue: Assistant coach and associate head coach at Arkansas. ... assistant coach at Minnesota and Missouri State. 

Purdue track and field/cross country coach Lonnie Greene at the team's senior day May 7, 2016
Purdue track and field coach Lonnie Greene speaks to the Boilermakers at the Rankin Track and Field
Devynne Charlton
Carmiesha Cox