Common backgrounds and career paths for Wheeling's Burns, McRaven

Marc Burns knew who to run to when he was giving serious thought to changing his professional course in 1996.

Burns was looking to get out of the corporate world and into coaching track and field and cross country at the collegiate level at Loyola. So, Burns went to former Wheeling High School and Holmes Junior High teammate Wendel McRaven for some advice.

McRaven had just taken over as the men's and women's head coach at Kent State after stints as an assistant at Nebraska and Alabama. Naturally, McRaven and Burns talked about coaching during a run along Ohio's Cuyahoga River in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

"I told him, 'Make sure you understand this is a job,'" McRaven said.

And one where the benefits for Burns would definitely be more of a fringe variety.

"I took a 50 percent pay cut, but I said, 'What the heck, I'm single and I have no bills,'" Burns laughed. "Eighteen years later I'm still doing it and I've never looked back."

Now McRaven and Burns are still at it and looking forward to running into each other on a more frequent basis in the Southeastern Conference. McRaven is in his fourth year at national power Texas A&M as a track and cross country assistant and Burns is in his first year at Missouri as the head cross country coach and track assistant.

McRaven also played a role in Burns' move to Missouri after a successful four-year stint at Bradley that included the reinstatement of the men's outdoor and indoor track teams. Burns' dad was a Mizzou alum, so he grew up with posters of former football star and NFL running back Tony Galbreath on his walls and with the school's football helmet in his bedroom.

"Wendel being in the SEC, he touched base with coach (Brett) Halter, and then Wendel called me and asked, 'Is this something you would be interested in?' " Burns said. "There aren't a lot of places I would have wanted to leave Bradley for, especially going from the head coach of everything to being a head cross country and assistant track coach here."

But it was somewhat similar to the leap McRaven took to Texas A&M after six years as an assistant at Illinois.

"It was definitely hard because it was so personally fulfilling to get back to the state of Illinois and be close to family and have the familiarity with the area," McRaven said. "I'm a Northwest suburban guy and it will always feel like home.

"But it was hard not to be excited about a place like Texas A&M, and coming in a year after a historic sweep where the men and women had won outdoor national championships three years in a row, which had never been done. When coach (Pat) Henry called it was hard to say no."

It was a long way from Holmes Junior High, where McRaven and Burns were coached in track and cross country by Keith Vernon.

"He was a second father figure for me," Burns said.

"He was a great mentor," McRaven said. "He made it fun but it was also serious."

From there it was on to Wheeling, where coaches such as Jim Nagel, Mark Saylor, Rick Scholl and Tim Falconer helped fuel the passion Burns and McRaven had for running.

They also led the boys cross country program to its first state meet appearance in 1984 and a third-place trophy in Class AA. Burns (26th place overall) and McRaven (72nd) were the Wildcats' No. 1 and No. 3 finishers.

"We were around a lot of great people, people who loved the sport and passed on that love for the sport," McRaven said. "They treated it like it was the most important thing you could possibly be doing at this time and it was a big deal. It was fun ... and we made history at Wheeling."

They went their separate ways after Wheeling. McRaven was on three NCAA Division III national championship teams and earned All-American honors for the legendary Al Carius at North Central College.

"He said, 'You should be a coach,'" McRaven said of a meeting his senior year with Carius. "It was like a light-bulb event. He said, 'You have all the qualities to be a coach.' "

Burns was a two-time All-American at Loyola and had the third-fastest time in the NCAA indoor 3,000 meters in 1990. He was having a lot of success in sales with the Russell Stover and Fannie May candy companies when he got a call from Gordon Thomson, his coach at Loyola.

"He said, 'I want you to coach the women's team, what do you think,'" Burns said. "My passion is in track and field and my passion is in coaching so I said, 'I am in.' "

It is fitting they are now running in the same SEC coaching circles, since they stood up in each other's weddings and frequently talk about what's happening personally and professionally. Two weeks ago both of their teams ran in a meet at the University of Minnesota.

"It's awesome," McRaven said. "The great thing about coaching is it is about relationships and I'm just fortunate to have that relationship with a guy like Marc Burns from an early age."

Said Burns: "I have a tremendous amount of respect for him and what he's accomplished in his career. Just because he got to Texas A&M, he didn't act like he was big-time. I always appreciated the way Wendel stayed who he was and that's what makes him great."

• Marty Maciaszek is a freelance sports writer for the Daily Herald. He can be reached at marty.maciaszek@gmail.com.