Ralph Spry Hometown: Aberdeen, MD Position: Head Coach Experience: 11th Year Education: University of Mississippi

With a national championship and nine top-five national finishes in 10 years at Auburn, head coach Ralph Spry is not resting on his laurels. The 2006 Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year has moved both the Auburn men's and women's programs into the upper echelon of the SEC and the nation, with no end to the Tigers' successes in sight.

In 2007, one year after leading the Auburn women to the 2006 NCAA outdoor title, Spry led Auburn's men to a third-place finish at the NCAA outdoor meet, and a fifth-place performance at the NCAA Indoor Championships, while the women also finished fifth at the indoor meet. Auburn produced national champions in six events last year and earned 15 All-American honors. The season was capped by Kerron Stewart earning the Honda Sports Award as the nation's top female collegiate track and field athlete.

While on the Plains, Spry has also coached and developed such Auburn greats as Marc Burns, Coby Miller and Avard Moncur and is currently training eight athletes that are ranked among the top 10 in the world by Track and Field News. He has also led 15 NCAA Outdoor Champions, 10 Indoor Champions, eight Olympic performers and five World Champion performers, including 2001 400m champion Avard Moncur and 2007 high jump champion Donald Thomas, during his stint with the Tigers.

Spry was hired to be the fourth track and field coach in Auburn history in late 1997. Prior to his appointment at Auburn, Spry had spent the previous two years at the University of South Carolina as an assistant coach. A native of Aberdeen, Md., Spry came to the Plains with five years of experience. He served as an assistant coach at three different Southeastern Conference schools before accepting the head coaching position at Auburn.

The 46-year-old was one of the top graduates in his class at the University of Mississippi where he earned a degree in Physical Education in 1984. He served as a graduate assistant at his alma mater under the tutelage of Joe Walker for one year. On September 13, 2003, Spry was honored by the University of Mississippi athletic department by being inducted into their Hall of Fame.

Spry, who had been active in the R.O.T.C at Mississippi, accepted a commission in the U.S. Army after his graduation. While Spry served his country, he also competed for the All-Army track and field team. As an officer in the U.S. Army, he was a member, and an assistant coach on the All-Army track team that won the Armed Forces Championship during his time with the team. He won five Inter-service long jump championships, and in 1986 was the World Military long jump champion.

He was eventually invited to participate in the Army's World Class Athletic Training Program. As a member of the program, he was allowed to choose with whom he would train. Spry chose to go to the University of Florida to train with his former coach, Joe Walker. While at Florida, Spry served as a volunteer coach for the Gator track team as he trained for the Olympic Trials in which he competed in 1988.

After attending the Army's Ranger school in 1989, Spry served as Company Commander in the 9th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. It was during this time that Spry realized that he would soon be ending his Army career.

"I realized that I had been so dedicated to my job that I was going to miss the best years of my life with my wife and kids," said Spry.

After leaving active duty, Spry was hired as an assistant at the University of Florida in 1992, and within the next two years he coached seven Florida athletes to 10 All-American honors and eight to All-SEC awards. Included in those were three freshmen, most notably Dominick Millner.

Millner finished fourth at the 1995 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the long jump and had the longest collegiate long jump by a freshman indoors that year. He was also the Junior National Champion in the long jump in 1995.

Another athlete at Florida to excel under the leadership of Spry was Dion Bentley. Bentley achieved a sixth-place ranking in the U.S. and a ninth-place ranking worldwide in 1993.

In 1995, Spry moved to the University of South Carolina as an assistant coach and continued to build championship caliber athletes as a Gamecock.

In his first season at USC, Gamecock athletes training under Spry broke 19 school records. Spry's athletes garnered eight more All-Americans honors and Marvin Watts won two SEC titles in the 800m. Watts was the first conference champion in track in South Carolina history.

Spry has had success taking the athletes he coaches to the next level of their ability. He understands that this is quite possibly his most important job as a coach.

Spry thinks that his background as an army officer has, and will continue to help him motivate the young people who choose to participate in the Auburn track program.

"Much of the team building and camaraderie I've experienced in the military translate directly into coaching," Spry said of his background. "In the military there is a level of commitment that a unit has to attain to be successful. You have to take pride in what you're doing and be willing to commit yourself totally to accomplish your mission. In athletics you have to be just as committed in order to be successful as an individual and as a team."

Another quality that has helped Spry build champions is the fact that he has been a champion himself.

After winning two state championships in the long jump and triple jump in Maryland, Spry attended Anne Arundel Community College. While in junior college, he was four-time NJCAA champion, winning three triple jump crowns and one long jump title. He was an eight-time JUCO All-American and is now a member of the NJCAA Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Spry transferred to the University of Mississippi, where he became the first Ole Miss track and field athlete to receive All-American and national champion status. He was a two-time NCAA All-American, a three-time All-SEC performer, 1983 NCAA Long Jump Champion and the 1983 SEC Long Jump Champion. In 1983, he was ranked fifth in the United States and seventh in the world in the long jump by Track and Field News.

Spry and his wife Sylvia have two children, Tiffany (20), a sopohomore on the Auburn track and field squad, and Ralph Jr. (18), a freshman football player at the University of Minnesota.