Mount St. Mary’s Track and Field: A sit-down with Coach Phillips

Nestled into the side of the beautiful Appalachian mountains lies a small Catholic university just 20 miles from Frederick, Maryland. Despite a small population of around 2,000 students, the community at Mount St. Mary’s is tight-knit and the Mountaineers track and field program is a force to be reckoned with in the NCAA Division I MAAC conference. Over last season, the men's team finished second at both the indoor and outdoor championships, with the women not far behind finishing fourth and third respectively.

At the helm of the program is a man who’s been a part of Mount St. Mary’s for the better part of two decades. A track and field alumnus, Jay Phillips is not only the Director (head coach) of Cross Country and Track & Field, but also the Assistant Director of Athletics for the entire athletics department at The Mount. Phillips consistently demands and produces the best from his athletes.

“I absolutely love this place, it’s my alma mater, it’s my wife’s alma mater, it’s an amazing university and an honor to be the director,” says Phillips. “We actually spend a lot of time cultivating who our athletes are…they are resilient, they can endure, they are selfless, they are men and women of integrity.”

Personality is a pillar of Coach Phillips’ coaching philosophy to help develop young, perhaps timid athletes into strong, confident competitors. “I love being able to have track and field as sort of the catalyst of that growth…striving for track and field excellence can help people become the 22-year-old they want to be,” he says. “Seeing those light bulb moments, seeing people put stuff together, seeing people put in a bunch of work and succeed…to help these young men and women grow into the people they want to be every single day, that’s what I’m doing.”

With the indoor season still a couple months away and a new recruitment class of sprinters and jumpers to coach, Phillips is preparing his athletes for a new level of competition. “So far, they’re a lot of fun…as a general rule, however, the best thing about freshmen is they become sophomores. There’s just so much that you have to learn from experience, I can always tell them ‘this class is important,’ but some won’t learn until they fail a class, right?” says Phillips. “Then it’s about how we are there to make different decisions, right? Right now, they are working hard, they’re engaged and they’re a lot of fun. For us, it’s very very important that we both work hard, and have fun.”

This concept of having fun while also working hard leads to a strong, victorious team culture. “I didn’t make this culture. This culture is 50 years old, probably, given from our former head coach. But we have a group that's responding well to that and that’s been fun over this first month of pre-season,” expands Phillips. “The first cycle of training is designed to get the maximum number of people to do more or less the same training…there aren’t a ton of opportunities for 400-meter hurdlers to train with pole vaulters or high jumpers, but in this cycle we do and training next to people bonds you.”

Extending beyond the track, the team’s culture and propensity to bond goes beyond the track with its student-athletes engaging in other off-track activities together. “We had a team barbecue that was a lot of fun, we let them play some games that were fun…we have our media day next week, so they’re all going to get a bunch of fun pictures from our sports information department. That’s always a lot of fun,” says Phillips.

The university maintains its Catholic roots fully throughout both its athletics and academics. Beyond track and field, the university as a whole does its best to support its students with a 13:1 student-to-faculty ratio. “It seems to be part of the charisma of this place - that it’s a place where the church and the world dialogues, where we can be an authentically Catholic and have real dialogue with the world….this place where you men and women can come and leave just being human beings. That’s just what I love about this place,” says Phillips.

The team will be opening their season this winter at the Navy Invitational on December 7th. For more information on the team and their successes, follow along here.  

Recruitment and scholarship opportunities at The Mount

As a private school, Mount St. Mary’s has an all-in (tuition, room, board) annual cost of over $60,000 (USD). However, student-athletes with strong athletic performances and/or GPAs over 3.0 coming out of high school may qualify for significant athletic and/or academic scholarships, which can bring the cost way down, making The Mount a realistic recruitment opportunity for track and field/cross country athletes seeking a spot on an NCAA Division I roster and, a degree from a reputable university, and a beautiful campus to call home.

Get recruited to Mount St. Mary’s for track and field/cross country

To contact or be contacted by Coach Phillips, make sure you have a free Streamline Athletes Essentials account and a complete profile.

To find out if you’re a fit for Mount St. Mary’s, get insight on the best college recruitment opportunities for you, and receive an actionable plan to get recruited, book your personalized advising session here or the banner below.