Tucked between Wood Hall and the Dail Softball Complex sits an athletics building where a man, who has won more than many other N.C. State coaches, works.
In the Weisiger-Brown Athletics Building you’ll find Rollie Geiger, men’s cross country and track and field coach, who is in his 30th year at N.C. State and is a true testament to what hard work and passion for a sport can bring to a university.
Since his arrival in 1979, N.C. State Athletics has won 71 Atlantic Coast Conference team championships, 56 percent of which have been won by Geiger’s teams. Geiger has coached runners who have been named All-Americans a staggering 67 times and have won 40 ACC team championships combined, which is the most by a coach in the history of the ACC.
Despite the success, Geiger, in all his modesty, refused to take sole credit.
“I think coaches are only as good as the athletes they have in the program,” Geiger said. “I have been very fortunate over the years. We have had quality athletes in the program. I give the directions, I plan the Xs and Os, but the ones performing are the athletes in the program. So I think the credit over the years for the success of the program has to go to back to the individuals running the me.”
Despite achieving almost everything he could as a coach, Geiger accepted that he experienced numerous challenges of his own on the way.
“The women when I came in were really at a high level, but sustaining that was a challenge. There are those who think that, if you have success then it doesn’t remain a challenge anymore, but it is a challenge; it’s so difficult,” Geiger said. “First there were eight and then 10 and now there are 12 teams in the conference, so winning becomes more difficult with the higher numbers.”
As passionate as Geiger is about sports, his number one concern remains ensuring the athletes get good education while at N.C. State, something evident from the numerous academic All-Americans the program has produced.
“I tell athletes, ‘it’s not about four years, it’s about forty,'” Geiger said. “‘You are here to get an education. We are not paying these kids to play. We are offsetting their costs for their deserves.”
Colley claimed Geiger’s greatest skill was in getting to know each student-athlete individually.
“He knows personally with each person what they can do and how they can do it and guides you in a such way that you will be successful,” Colley said. “It’s different for everyone, and he’s very good at figuring out what it takes for that certain person to be
