Jul 7, 2021 3 min read

When it came time for Jim Lear to retire after serving for 23 years in the track & field program and with the cross country teams at Duquesne University, finding a successor was a snap.

Lear’s assistant, Jeff Gibson, has been waiting for this chance all his life it seemed.

Looking for someone with college experience, Gibson has it not only at Duquesne but at Robert Morris, too.

Gibson spent about 10 years coaching under Mark Galley, then the Canon-McMillan head track & field coach. He learned important lessons as a coach at Canon-McMillan about handling athletes and finding out what makes them tick.

Gibson’s hire quickly paid dividends for the Dukes as he landed two major recruits – both local – Amy Allen, a state champion from South Fayette, and Maura Whaley, one of the top 400-meters runners in the state, from Fort Cherry.

“Honestly, I didn’t have aspirations of becoming a head coach,” said Gibson. “I sort of wanted to be the head cross country coach. Being a head track coach and cross country coach wasn’t one of my long-term goals.”

Gibson is a graduate of Neshannock High School, just on the outskirts of New Castle. He was the WPIAL champion in the 800 run in 1977 and helped Neshannock win back-to-back state cross country championships.

Gibson and his wife, Diane, who is the pole vault coach at Canon-McMillan, have five children and each one has cut a wide swath in their preferred professions. Taryn is the head women’s track coach at Yale University; Kyle is the head coach of the track team and cross country teams at Drury University in Springfield, Ill., and Nick is assistant track and cross county coach at Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, Mo.

Justin works for a computer company in Philadelphia, and Jonathan is associate director of admissions at St. Francis.

Gibson said he wants to continue the success Lear had at Duquesne. The Dukes women’s cross country team won the Atlantic 10 championship and the men’s team finished in the top five.

“The first goal is to try to defend that title,” said Gibson. “I want to keep the ball rolling and keeping up with what (Coach Lear) did. We have a lot of young runners, especially for the men’s cross country team. We have to keep away from any COVID problems.”

Galley believes Duquesne made a good move promoting Gibson.

“He was a good runner himself,” said Galley. “He was assistant coach to Rick Bell on the basketball team.

“He was a very good coach, very motivated and got the most out of the team. He was knowledgeable about the sport and knew what he wanted to get done and communicated that to the kids.”

Gibson joined the Duquesne staff after 4½ years at Robert Morris, where he served as interim cross country head coach in 2015 as well as coached the distance events.