By Sydney Gautier
Although his ego was large and wore on his sleeve the desire to be great, my dad was and will forever be the greatest track coach of my time.
I didn’t know my dad had such a big impact on so many people’s life until I asked one simple question: “How did Coach impact you?
Many people know him by a few different names: Bill, Goat, Wild Bill, Dad, “second dad,” some other words that are not appropriate— but most of all Coach (and that’s how I’m going to refer to him during this story).
My dad has spent his whole life running. And when someone has spent their whole life running, they know a thing or two about the sport and how one needs to be coached to be as successful as they can be.
Before Coach became head coach at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, he received his undergraduate degree in Physical Education from Western Kentucky, as well as his master’s in education. After graduation, Coach was the GA for Indiana University’s track and field team, then went to South East Missouri State University.
Moving to SEMO changed his life. He married the beautiful Jan James, who he came across when he saw James running down the street. “I was an average runner in high school and by God’s grace, coach needed runners,” Jan Gautier says, “That is how I walked on my junior year.”
Gautier remembers that “From day one, I knew that he wanted his team to be good, so I watched, listened and did what I was told.” From there, Coach trained her as well as the rest of the team by running two times a day, or on their off days swimming in the pool.
The one thing that produced the best runners was, the pool workouts. Coach knew that the body needed rest from all of the running, but the team still needed to train.
So he, compromised.
“Coach was ahead of his time with the workouts in the pool,” Jan Gautier says.
After every hard workout, or on the team’s “off day,” Coach would conduct workouts, consisting of running in the water, swimming laps, walking on your heels in the shallow water, and the dreaded “one breath down, one breath back”.
As Coach’s youngest daughter, I would also attend these pool workouts. And let me tell you, this was no “off day.” From an early age sitting in the bleachers of Maclellan Gym, watching these young athletes push their bodies was fascinating. As much as I loved to watch everyone swim, as I got older I would join in on the practices. Sometimes I would even get thrown into the water to show off that I could do the dreaded “one breath down, one breath back” if someone on the team could not do it.
After a few years of coaching at SEMO, it was time to move to a new program. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga offered Bill Gautier, the head coaching position for the men and women’s indoor and outdoor track & field, as well as men and women’s cross country—six head coaching positions with the help of only one assistant coach.
From there his legacy began.
Although UTC did not have a track or many facilities that all of the other sports teams had (and still have) at UTC, coach offered a unique experience that most other schools didn’t. He told you the honest truth and he expected only greatness from you.
“On my recruiting trip, one of coach's first comments was that he had seen me run once and he was not impressed,” former runner Chuck Margraves says. “He could be brutally honest. But He followed that up with, I think you have potential and proceeded to line up how things would go over the next few years.”
On numerous occasions, Coach would let his recruits know they were not good in high school, but he could make them better. Not just better in the sense they were going to become better runners, but better people.
“Wild Bill was, and still is, the most influential and my daughter aside, most important person in my life. He took me from a dangerous path where my life could have gone one way or the other,” former runner Kyle Mclean says. “When I started to stray he always cared enough to show he believed in me and I was worth it, even if it did end up in some heated conversations or two way hurt feelings. We always got over it in time for me to beat him in cards the next time we played.”
Coach has two sayings that many people remember—well minus “one breath down, one breath back”— “What if?” and “Be great.”
“What If” is a speech I have heard for many years. Coach would sit his team down and talk to them after practice. He would start out by saying, “who wants to be better? And who wants to Win?” Heads would shake, and hands would be raised, and then he would ask what they were willing to sacrifice to win or be better? That is where Coach got his “What if?”. “What if I … ran one more mile? Ate one less piece of pizza? Pushed myself in the race a little bit harder? What would happen?” This would allow the runners to think for themselves on how they could get better.
“He could always motivate you.” former runner Jennifer (Eckard) Croft says. “Either he made you hate him, so you ram fast or he pumped you up so much you ran fast. Depended on the day”
Damian Walsh best describes his take on Coach’s “be great” moto. “I learned through my time with coach Gautier being really, really fast was a low bar” Walsh says. “What coach wanted to be was GREAT…Not just at running but at absolutely everything.”
Coach had a way of inspiring his team to think that just being nice and a good runner was not everything. Coach showed that grades and the team being close mattered.
“Bill was not just our coach, but he was a father figure for us away from home.” Nic Crider says. “He showed us how to get along as brothers and sisters and push to get the best out of each one of us whether it was on the cross-country course, on the track, in the classroom, or as we left to pursue our careers.”
One thing Coach said at his retirement party in 2016 stands out: “I got to choose my family.” He picked runners that would be there for him and his family. When I say family, I do not mean just me, my mom, and my biological sister. Family to the Gautier’s meant every one of the team was part of our family as well as the late Doc Jones.
On any given moment, I had a handful of siblings that I was not related to—baby sitters, another grandpa, or running partners. Coach made it a point to take me and my sister with him to practice and races. He wanted to show the team it was important to be present in your family’s life. Coach wanted to show he acted and talked the same way he did around his team as he did to me and Taylor, my older sister.
Many people did not life Coach’s style. Tough love is not something everyone can take. But Coach never strayed away from who he was —when he first recruited a student-athlete, he promised to be honest. College is a difficult time for many people, especially student athletes. Coach offered consistency to his team, what you got then, is what you got now. He made it a point to be someone you wanted to help you and could rely on—remember, he had just one assistant to help him keep track of six teams and all those student-athletes— but he also did not give credit where it was not deserved.
“I always admired that he never gave out praise unless it was deserved,” Shannon Wommack says, “and that when you received praise, you knew you had accomplished something great.”
After some years at UTC, Coach’s success all but forced him to move on to a bigger program with more money and facilities. Coach had just accepted an offer to become head coach at Florida State a few weeks before. We were all ready to make the move to the Sunshine State, until Coach’s dad, Woody, passed away. UTC had not found a new coach yet, and Coach needed to be close to his family and his mom in Kentucky.
Although he never became a coach at a power conference school, he was still able to make his mark at UTC.
“I think the final show might reflect that it doesn’t take someone with a PhD or to spit fancy words and articles and Philosophy related to their career to be an impactful person.” Damian Walsh says. “I could see from Woody, his father, that no matter what trials and tribulations and distance you put between a father and son that you will always be close. And that ability to be great to less important than the efforts and connections and impact you make on others”
After 24 years at UTC, on August 24th, 2016— a day I will never forget— a legend stepped aside. After giving everything he had to UTC, it was time for him to make a mark on another team.
During his time as a college coach he was voted coach of the year six times for the men and the women. Coach also won “An obnoxious amount of conference champions all-conference and All-America performances. And several NCAA 11 national champions. Including your mother (former Jan James)” Bill Gautier says.
His time at UTC was not forgotten. Seeking input from his former student-athletes for this assignment, my inbox and phone keep vibrating and filling up, a constant reminder how much of an impact my dad, my coach, my hero, has made on so many other people. And that is something that I can only hope to achieve.
Thank you, Coach.
Fast forward three years later.
Coach is now head track & field coach at The Baylor School, a private high school in Chattanooga. Retirement was not in his plan anymore. Coach wanted to help develop the skills of the boys and girls at the Baylor School to help them maybe one day achieve greatness.
No one who knows him doubts that will happen.