DePaul University Athletics
Track and Field Coach Dave Dopek Agrees to Three-Year Contract
9/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | TRACK AND FIELD
Sept. 28, 2010
CHICAGO - DePaul athletics director Jean Lenti Ponsetto announced today that men's and women's track and field head coach Dave Dopek has agreed to a three-year contract. Dopek enters his 16th season as a member of the track and field staff at his alma mater and will be the first track and field coach rewarded with a long-term agreement in the history of the program.
"It is very rewarding for me to have watched the growth and development of Dave Dopek from his freshman year at DePaul, to a National Champion, to an assistant coach, and now to promote him to head coach," Ponsetto said.
"He has done an exemplary job of working with all the constituent groups which has advanced the strategic plan of our track and field programs as evidenced by the growing numbers of BIG EAST Conference Champions and NCAA qualifiers we have had during his tenure as an assistant coach."
"I am very excited for the future of our program under his leadership. He brings an excellent set of technical and teaching skills to the position along with the ability to motivate our student-athletes to achieve and maximize their potential -- both in the classroom and in their respective events. We look forward to continuing to support him and his student-athletes as they write the next several chapters in DePaul's running programs history," Ponsetto added.
The 2010-11 season is the first leading the program he starred at in the mid-1990's. Dopek is the greatest sprinter in DePaul history as he became the school's first individual (or team) to win an NCAA championship when he captured the 200-meter title at the 1995 NCAA Indoor Championship at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. Dopek also finished second in the 200 meters at the 1995 outdoor championships.
The DePaul Hall of Fame member won a gold medal in the 200-meter dash and was a member of the title-winning 4x100-meter relay team at the 1995 United States Olympic Festival. He has also experienced success on the international level by earning gold and silver medals at the 1995 World University Games in Fukuoka, Japan. At the 1997 World University Games in Sicily, Italy, Dopek was on the gold-medal winning 4x100 and 4x400m teams. With the Blue Demons, he claimed seven individual and three relay titles in the Great Midwest Conference and was inducted into the DePaul Athletics Hall of Fame on Jan. 30, 2010.
