Written By David Berman
Villanova Media Relations

Photo Gallery: O'Sullivan Through the Years

DUBLIN, Ireland--Villanova men's track & field head coach Marcus O'Sullivan was inducted to the Athletics Ireland Hall of Fame on Wednesday morning at the Irish Life Health National Athletics Awards. He earned the top honor at the annual awards ceremony while surrounded by some of the most legendary figures that have been a part of the Wildcats storied track & field history. Also honored as part of the Hall of Fame festivities was fellow Villanovan and O'Sullivan's one-time coach, Donal Walsh. The inductions and other annual awards were presented by Athletics Ireland at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Northwood.

O'Sullivan's induction to the Hall of Fame was an opportune moment to consider the past, present and future of the Wildcats track & field program. Villanova legends Ron Delany and Eamonn Coghlan, each previous Hall of Fame inductees, were on hand to help honor O'Sullivan at the awards ceremony. Delany was the inaugural inductee to the Hall of Fame in 2007, while Coghlan earned induction a year later. Villanova University President Rev. Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A. and Director of Athletics Mark Jackson also attended Wednesday's event.

Athletics Ireland defines the annual Hall of Fame award as "being presented to an athlete who has achieved at the highest level and is considered world class. The recipients have transcended the sport and are sporting legends." Truer words could not be spoken about O'Sullivan, who is one of the worldwide greats the sport of track & field has ever seen. He was a three-time world indoor champion during his competitive career and is one of only three athletes in history to run a sub-four minute mile more than 100 times. In addition to his own racing career, O'Sullivan is now in his 19th year as the Frank J. Kelly Endowed Track & Field Coach at Villanova.

"Marcus is a true, authentic leader," former Villanova national champion and two-time Olympian Adrian Blincoe said. "He is someone who has deep respect, almost universally, in world athletics and the NCAA. It is quite remarkable, as I have not come across it in any other person, someone who is as universally liked and highly regarded as Marcus is. He has `Mana' - a Maori word that means a deep respect, prestige and honor."

As an athlete from Leevale AC in Cork, Ireland, O'Sullivan was the world indoor champion in the 1500 meters in 1987, 1989 and 1993. He set championship records with his first two victories after previously winning a silver medal at the 1985 European Athletics Indoor Championships. O'Sullivan competed in the 1500 meters at four different Olympic Games: 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996. He also competed in the 800 meters in his Olympics debut in 1984, and tallied his best finish in 1988 when he advanced to the final of the 1500 meters and registered an eighth place finish. O'Sullivan won the famed Wanamaker Mile at the NYRR Millrose Games six times during his career (1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1996).

"He was always trying to get better, always trying to learn new things," cross country national champion and eight-time All-American Patrick Tiernan said. "He would tell us stories about how he would go and meet with some for two hours, and just go over their routine with them, pick their brain and take little things away from it. He always had a strong drive to succeed, which is not only true to him as an athlete, but as a person in general."

Villanova has been known for its world-class middle distance runners for well over half a century, and particularly for its world champion milers. O'Sullivan is at the forefront of the Wildcats exclusive group of 39 sub-four minute milers, having achieved the feat an incredible 184 times between the mile and the metric equivalent in the 1500 meters. He ran 101 sub-four minute miles and 83 equivalent races in the 1500 meters, with personal bests of 3:50.94 in the mile (indoors, 1988) and 3:33.61 in the 1500 meters (outdoors, 1996). O'Sullivan was also part of an Irish time along with Ray Flynn, Coghlan and Frank O'Mara which set the still-existing world record of 15:49.08 in the 4xMile relay in Dublin on August 17, 1985.

During his collegiate career, O'Sullivan was a two-time NCAA champion, eight-time All-American and six-time Penn Relays champion. He helped the Wildcats win a national title indoors in the distance medley relay as a freshman in 1981 when he ran the third leg (880 yards) of the relay, and also ran the third leg of the two mile relay in 1983 when Villanova won an NCAA title in the event. He was a four-time All-American in the 1500 meters, including three straight years outdoors (1982-84) and once indoors in 1984. He was also an All-American in the Mile indoors in 1982.

O'Sullivan was the BIG EAST individual cross country champion in 1983 and was a 10-time conference champion during his career. He won three indoor titles in the 1500 meters (1981, 1983 and 1984) as well as being a part of four indoor relay champions. He also won the 5000 meters outdoors in 1984 and ran a leg of the champion 4x800 meter relay in 1983. In addition to his conference honors, O'Sullivan won the IC4A champion two mile relay in 1982. His six Championship of America titles in the Penn Relays include the 4x800 meter relay (1982, 1984), the distance medley relay (1981) and the 4x1500 meter relay (1981, 1982, 1984). Villanova's 1982 4x800 meter relay squad was inducted to the Penn Relays Wall of Fame in 1994 as part of the first induction class. That relay squad set a still-standing school record with a time of 7:12.29, while the 1984 team in the 4x1500 meter relay set a school record with a time of 14:52.81.

O'Sullivan has been the head coach of the Wildcats men's track & field and cross country teams for 19 years, and was also the head coach of the women's program in his first two years on staff (1998-99 and 1999-00). He was the USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year in 1998 after guiding the women's cross country team to a national championship. He is also a seven-time USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year and a 12-time BIG EAST Coach of the Year. His Villanova teams have won 11 BIG EAST team titles, and he has coached 16 national champions, 102 All-Americans and 204 BIG EAST champions. O'Sullivan has also coached seven Championship of America winners at the Penn Relays. His student-athletes have been named Capital One Academic All-Americans on four occasions, and have been named to the BIG EAST All-Academic Team nearly 500 times.

"Marcus is constantly looking to learn," Blincoe said. "Most people won't see the amount of time he spends engaging exceptional people in numerous disciplines to better his coaching and program leadership. He is a leader and a teacher who builds individual responsibility. He won't hold your hand, he won't lay everything out for you, but he consciously allows you to make mistakes and learn from them. He will intervene at the right times to set you straight. This is why the student-athletes he works with grow so much as both athletes and people in the few years they spend at Villanova."

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT Marcus O'Sullivan

Patrick Tiernan, NCAA CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPION AND 8-TIME ALL-AMERICAN

On Marcus as a competitor: "It was about two years ago and we're doing pull-ups before a run, and we weren't doing very many, just getting by. Marcus comes over, and he'll deny this but he definitely took his shirt off and starts doing these pull-ups, and he does at least double of what anybody else does. He was just so driven to beat everyone on the team, and that is a good reflection of his character. He is a really competitive guy and wants to get the most out of not only himself, but his athletes as well. He is always striving to be a better coach. He'll admit to you that he doesn't know everything about the industry, and he is always looking to improve on that. When we get bloodwork done, he checks our iron levels and how it correlates to our performances. He'll tell you that he's a student of the game. We all look up at him like he's a genius and knows exactly what he's doing, but he's really just sort of trying to get better at his job. That's a good reflection of who he was as an athlete as well."

On Marcus as a coach and an athlete: "A lot of guys on the team will try, or will say they can imagine it, but to be honest I just don't see him as the athlete he was at the peak of his career. My experience with him has been a very different one to what I think a lot of other people have had. He's always been a good friend, but he's been the more serious sort of authority figure when you first get here. I think I'm starting to see the other side of him a little bit. In the last couple of years, we've been having a lot more of a personal relationship now than coach-athlete. I don't think I'll ever quite see him as the young Irish recruit that came in all those years ago. I can only imagine how we would have been."

On Marcus' coaching style and wisdom: "He's the sort of guy who knows, who has a good equilibrium with getting you psyched up and what you're doing but also keeping you down to earth. Before races he will never come up to me and give me a big pump-up talk like you see in football games and what a lot of other cross country teams will do. He'll say, `Alright, you've done all the work and you know you can do it. Just go out there and enjoy yourself,' that sort of thing. The way he gets you prepared is he just tells you. If you follow what he's telling you to do, and trust him with what he's telling you, that's how he gets you prepared and gets you ready. He is always asking you to come in and question what you're doing, and ask why you're doing it. To me that's been something that's really benefited by performance over the last couple of years, is that when I go in and see Marcus I'll sit down for an hour to 90 minutes and really go into depth on what we're doing and why we're doing it. That's a tribute to him as a coach. A lot of coaches will just go out there and say run, do this, hit your times, and see you tomorrow. Marcus is really willing to go out there and explain to you what you're trying to do. He'll tell you to hit certain times, but if you're not feeling great to back off a bit and if you're feeling good to go a bit quicker. He is really analytical about it, and that's just a great trait to have."

On Villanova's international pipeline which he himself, and Marcus, are a part of: "It's great. Obviously it started in Ireland with the likes of Ron Delany and Eamonn Coghlan. Marcus was obviously a very success athlete himself when he was here. I think having him at the forefront of the program now has allowed us to continue that pipeline, as they say, and expand it down to the Southern Hemisphere, luckily for us, because it's a fantastic opportunity. I was thinking if I hadn't come over here, I definitely wouldn't have achieved the things that I have. The great thing about it is that when you're coming over, Marcus isn't telling you that once you sign this you have to be over here for four years. He's telling you to come over, try it for a year, if you like it, stay, and if you don't that's the best we can do for you. That's really important, and something he has taught me about his time over here is that he didn't get along with the coach when he was first here. I'm not sure whether he was thinking about ever leaving or whether he was set on staying, but he readjusted and realized that it was the right fit for him, and he made it work and was at the Olympics his last year. He adjusted and made things work. I haven't really had to make those adjustments, but there have been instances where you have to think things over and make them work. Having Marcus go through that experience is very beneficial to me, and a lot of other guys who have come over from other countries have benefited from that as well. It is great having him on board."

ADRIAN BLINCOE, 3-TIME NCAA CHAMPION AND 7-TIME ALL-AMERICAN

On Marcus as a leader: "It is difficult to truly capture how much Marcus means to the Villanova program and the athletes that have come through it. Marcus is a true, authentic leader, someone who has deep respect, almost universally, in world athletics and the NCAA. It is quite remarkable, as I have not come across it in any other person, someone who is as universally liked and highly regarded as Marcus is. He has `Mana' - a Maori word that means a deep respect, prestige and honor."

On Marcus wanting to learn more himself to help his athletes: "Marcus is constantly looking to learn. Most people won't see the amount of time he spends engaging exceptional people in numerous disciplines to better his coaching and program leadership. He is a leader and a teacher who builds individual responsibility. He won't hold your hand, he won't lay everything out for you, but he consciously allows you to make mistakes and learn from them. He will intervene at the right times to set you straight. This is why the student-athletes he works with grow so much as both athletes and people in the few years they spend at Villanova."

On Marcus' coaching style and wisdom: "I remember warming up for the 3000 meters at the 2002 NCAA Indoor Championships. I was a fairly heavy favorite and was feeling the pressure. I turned to him and said, `Are you going to tell me how I'm going to win this bloody thing, or what?' He replied, `Feel out the race, you'll know what to do.' Even on NCAA's biggest stage he recognized the important learning opportunity this presented."

On Marcus' respect for others: "Before one of the BIG EAST indoor championships, the two buses - one for the women, one for the men - were running late to pick us up from the Pavilion parking lot. The whole team was standing outside waiting as the snow came down. A bus arrived, and the driver said it was for the men's team, and the boys piled in. Marcus came out of the office to see the women's team waiting in the snow while the men's team was comfortable inside the bus. I have never seen him so mad and disappointed. He rightfully went off at our team. I am comfortable in speaking for our whole team that we came better people for Marcus yelling at us that day. We learned a lesson of respect, to think of others before ourselves. It is something that has stuck with me 15 years later."