The 2010 season marks Matt Bingle’s fourth season as the head coach of the Golden Gopher women’s track & field program and his seventh overall at Minnesota. This program, the largest in the country numbering annually around 100 student- athletes, has risen to the level where its tangible successes are counted not only by trophies on display, but impressively with achievements in the classroom and service to the community.

   In Bingle’s tenure at Minnesota, first as an assistant, then as the associate head coach, on to the interim head coach and now as the head coach, the Golden Gophers have continued to add to their successful resume on both the Big Ten Conference and national level.

    With a senior-laden squad, Minnesota expected to well in 2009. The Gophers won their third consecutive Big Ten indoor title, extending the streak to four straight years in which Minnesota won at least one Conference crown. Pole vaulter Alicia Rue placed second and Heather Dorniden third in the 800 meters as the Gophers finished tied for 12th at the NCAA indoor meet, matching the highest finish in school history. Minnesota, behind national heptathlon runner-up Liz Roehrig added an 18th-place showing at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

    As the Gophers built on their successes, accolades followed. Bingle was honored as the NCAA Midwest Region Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year and the Big Ten Indoor Coach of the Year for the third straight season. The Gophers also earned another Department Community Service Award.

    The Golden Gophers enjoyed a banner season in 2008. Minnesota hosted the Big Ten Indoor Championships and defended its title. On the national stage, the Gophers celebrated two national runners-up in Dorniden (indoor 800 meters) and Roehrig (heptathlon) as well as a pair of top- 20 NCAA team finishes. As a team, Minnesota posted a cumulative grade-point-average of 3.372 to top the Big Ten and rank 20th in the nation and saw one of its own in Ashley Nord become a Rhodes Scholar. The team earned the Athletic Department’s Community Service Award, recognized their many hours and efforts giving back to the community. Even internationally the Gophers found success in 2008 as three former athletes (Shani Marks, Barbora Spotakova and Rasa Troup) competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and several current Gophers displayed their talents at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

    Bingle led Minnesota to the 2007 Big Ten Indoor title, the school’s first indoor crown, and was honored as the Big Ten Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year. Additionally, the Gophers continued to perform in the classroom as well, as nearly a third of the squad that numbers near triple digits was honored as members of the Academic All-Big Ten Team.
Bingle has made quite an impact in his six seasons at Minnesota. His influence as the program’s recruiting coordinator has strengthened the sprints, hurdles, jumps and multi-event elements of the Golden Gopher women’s track & field program helped provide Minnesota the necessary well-rounded talent to capture the first Big Ten Conference championship in school history and move upward in the national leaderboard.

    Bingle was recognized for his immediate contribution to the Minnesota women’s track & field team by being promoted to the position of associate head coach after just one season as an assistant on the coaching staff.  Bingle, along with a veteran staff with assistants Lynne Anderson and Gary Wilson, have the Golden Gopher program flourishing with outstanding talent.

    “Matt is one of the finest young coaches in the country,” long-time head coach and now assistant coach Wilson said of his successor. “His work ethic and enthusiasm are remarkable.”

    Bingle’s coaching contributions have paid dividends for the Golden Gophers during past seasons as evidenced by Big Ten titles at the 2006 outdoor, 2007 indoor and 2008 indoor Championships and four top-20 NCAA Championships finishes. In the past three years, multiple Golden Gophers were crowned All-Americans and Big Ten champions and the Minnesota program celebrated its first national champion, Dorniden in the 2006 indoor 800 meters.

    The Minnesota program, over 90 members strong, combined for an impressive 3.406 grade point average during the 2006-07 academic year to rank ninth nationally and earn All-Academic Team honors as awarded by the U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

    The 2006 campaign contained several memorable performances among Bingle’s charges, in addition to Dorniden’s prolific rookie season. Roehrig collected All-America accord and Big Ten titles in both the pentathlon indoor and heptathlon outdoor. Christin Kingsley earned her first trip to the national meet in the long jump.

    The 2005 season built momentum as Roehrig burst onto the collegiate scene winning the Big Ten pentathlon title, earning Big Ten Indoor Freshman of the Year honors and competing in the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Roehrig was voted as the team MVP following the season. Bingle also coached junior Mollie Hupp to the indoor 600-meter dash Big Ten crown and senior Melissa Steele to the Big Ten outdoor title in the 400-meter hurdles.

    In 2004, Bingle coached then-freshman Jacenta Spandl to runner-up finishes in the Big Ten pentathlon and heptathlon. Spandl scored 5,000 heptathlon points, qualifying her for the NCAA Championships and placing her third among the school’s all-time best heptathletes.

    Bingle also helped guide Shani Marks to All-America and NCAA runner-up honors in the indoor and outdoor triple jump in 2003. Marks later took fourth at the 2004 Olympic Trials, just missing a spot on the national team, before winning the USATF national title last summer. Under Bingle’s tutelage the Gopher 4x400-meter relay captured the 2003 Big Ten indoor title. The relay title was the first conference relay crown in Minnesota track history.

    Before arriving at Minnesota, Bingle spent five years (1997-2002) at Eastern Michigan as an assistant coach of both the Eagles’ women’s cross country and track & field teams. He was the head recruiting coordinator for both programs and oversaw meet management. During his tenure at Eastern Michigan, the Eagles captured the 2000 Mid-American Conference Indoor Track & Field title, while also finishing as the conference runner-up four times. He coached 16 athletes to conference crowns and had 83 athletes earned all-conference acclaim.

    Prior to accepting the position at Eastern Michigan, Bingle spent one season (1997) as an assistant men’s and women’s coach for cross country and track & field at California-Irvine.

    Bingle entered the coaching ranks at Northern Arizona, where from 1995-97, he served as a graduate assistant coach for Lumberjacks’ men’s and women’s cross country and track teams. During Bingle’s first year at NAU, the men’s cross country team finished as the runner-up at the 1995 NCAA Men’s Cross Country Championships. He helped coach 13 Northern Arizona athletes to All-America honors and helped the NAU track programs capture three Big Sky Conference titles. Bingle earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from Northern Arizona in 1997.

    Bingle began his collegiate track career as a walk-on decathlete at Ball State. He eventually earned a scholarship and was a two-time All-Mid-American Conference hurdler titles during his career. Bingle was named team captain and also selected as the team’s most valuable runner. He graduated from Ball State in 1995.

    Bingle owns a USATF Level II Certification and served as the assistant technical manager of the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships from 1995-97. He is also a veteran of several cross country and track & field camps and clinics.

    Bingle and his wife Jennifer live in Blaine. They have three daughters, Taylor (11), Allie (4) and Grace (2).