Pat Healy retired after his 25th season as head coach of the women's track & field squad at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2015-16. He completed his 21st year as the Eagles' head women's cross country coach in 2011.
In his 25 seasons (1991-2016) as UW-La Crosse's head women's track & field coach, Healy led the Eagles to 22 team trophies (top-four finishes) at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Indoor and Outdoor Championships. The Eagles finished in the top-10 in 41 of a possible 50 national championships under Healy, who led UW-La Crosse to a sweep of the 2015 NCAA III indoor and outdoor titles.
For his efforts, Healy was selected the 2015 USTFCCCA National Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year. He became the third coach in USTFCCCA history to earn the indoor and outdoor coach of the year honors in the same season. It marked Healy's fourth indoor (1997, 2000, 2001, 2015) and second outdoor (1998, 2015) national coach of the year honors.
Along with the two national titles, Healy led UW-La Crosse to five (1993, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2014) second-place finishes at the indoor NCAA III championships and two (1993, 1997) second-place finishes at the outdoor championships during his tenure. The Eagles recorded 26 top-five finishes at the NCAA III Championships under Healy.
He was selected the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Indoor Coach of the Year three times (1997, 2000, 2001) and Outdoor Coach of the Year once (2014).
UW-La Crosse won 16 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) indoor titles under Healy, including 14 of the last 17. He was named the WIAC Indoor Coach of the Year 13 times. The Eagles won 18 outdoor conference titles under Healy, including 16 of the last 19. He was named the WIAC Outdoor Coach of the Year 11 times in his career, including the last five seasons.
A total of 463 NCAA Division III All-America honors (198 indoor; 265 outdoor) were earned under Healy. UW-La Crosse had 18 individual and nine relay national championships in Healy's tenure. The Eagles set 24 of 26 indoor school records under Healy and 18 of 27 outdoor records.
Healy will be inducted into the USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame December 14, 2016, at the USTFCCCA Convention in Orlando, Florida. He will be the fourth UW-La Crosse coach to be inducted into the USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame, joining Mark Guthire (2008), Phil Esten (2011) and Gary Wilson(2015).
Healy was inducted into the UWL Wall of Fame in 2016.
The success continued on the academic side under Healy as UW-La Crosse has earned the USTFCCCA All-Academic Award all 19 seasons it has been awarded. UW-La Crosse was named the 2014-15 Scholar Team of the Year in NCAA Division III for both the indoor and outdoor seasons by the USTFCCCA. The Eagles also won the indoor scholar team award in 2007. The women's track & field program has averaged over a 3.30 grade point average since 1992.
The 2015-16 season marked Healy's 40th year as a track & field coach. Prior to arriving at UW-La Crosse, he coached at Southern Oregon University, serving as an assistant coach from 1986-90 and as head coach in 1990-91. A native of Sweet Home, Oregon, Healy was an assistant coach at Western Oregon University from 1983-86 and began his coaching career at Dallas (Ore.) High School from 1976-83.
He served as UW-La Crosse's head cross country coach from 1991-2011, guiding the Eagles to 13 top-10 finishes at the NCAA III Championships. UW-La Crosse captured four WIAC cross country titles under Healy as he was named the WIAC Coach of the Year each season. During the 2001-02 campaign, UW-La Crosse earned top-four national trophies in the "triple crown" (cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field) for the first time since 1983-84. The Eagles placed fourth at the NCAA III cross country championships in 2001 while finishing third at the 2002 indoor track & field championships and fourth outdoors.
Healy is a 1977 graduate of Western Oregon State. He and his wife, Melanie, and children Caitlyn, Carson and Allison reside in La Crescent, Minnesota.
