Coach returns after leading winning athletes

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Coach Tom Dibbern, once an ASU athlete, has also coached at Texas A&M-Commerce, Oklahoma Baptist University, Hastings College in Nebraska.

ASU has many alumni, but not many return with an impressive number of coaching awards like assistant track and field coach Tom Dibbern.

Dibbern grew up around athletics, as his father was a high school coach. He also said his father and Coach James Reid, ASU interim athletic director and head coach of track and field, inspired him to become a coach. In 2001, he graduated from ASU with a major in kinesiology and a minor in history, along with a third place in triple jump in the Lone Star Conference outdoor championship.

“Coach Dibbern was a guy that had been with me for several years prior to him taking the head coaching position in Commerce,” Reid said. “He was an athlete of mine here at ASU and was an assistant coach with me for 10 years prior to him leaving in the fall of 2013.”

After a fruitful career at Texas A&M-Commerce, Dibbern returned to his alma mater in July 2014. For the past two years, he worked as a head coach for track and field at TAMC with big accomplishments to add to his extensive resume.

“I had never really had a strong desire to be a head coach, but when A&M Commerce called, I decided to give it a go,” Dibbern said. “I came back to San Angelo because I accomplished what I set out to do at Texas A&M-Commerce. I also have many family and friends in this area.”

During his two years at TAMC, Dibbern’s track and field teams were highly successful with 30 AllAmerican athletes and the first ever LSC Men’s team to win both the indoor and outdoor conference titles in the same season. He also won LSC Men’s Coach of the Year, U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association’s South Central Regional Men’s Coach of the Year and the Texas Track & Field Coaches Association Collegiate Coach of the Year.

“I have had good athletes and I have managed not to screw them up,” Dibbern said.

His favorite event in track and field is the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon because the whole sport is represented in one single event. His favorite part of coaching is seeing the results of student athletes improving at ASU.

“He was a true ‘Angelo State’ guy, he loves the school and program and is a great coach,” Reid said. “I knew that he would be able to come into our program and it would be a seamless transition and we would be able to continue our track and cross country programs heading in the right direction.”

Both Dibbern and Reid hope to keep the track and field program running well for this upcoming season. Reid believes that the track and field staff has the background and experience to help make both the men’s and women’s teams better.

“We first want to concentrate on winning a conference championship with both the men’s and women’s track teams, and find ourselves as a top 5 team at the national meet,” Reid said. “The women are trying to win their tenth overall outdoor conference championship and eighth in a row, while the men are going to try and get back on top like we did in 2013, after finishing second and third the last two years.”

While the women’s track and field team graduated some big scorers, they remain hopeful and believe in the talent of their recruits.

“We had a really good recruiting class and feel confident that we can compete well again this year,” Reid said. “The men are a mixture of veteran ASU guys, plus some talented new freshman and transfer student athletes that will have to mesh well to put together a championship team.”