Coaches Spotlight- Travis Gower
1- Congrats on having a great regular season. When did you first become interested in Track and Field?
My father (Lee Gower) was a track & field coach and I was always around the sport. I started running road races in the 5th grade, XC in middle school, and track as a high school freshman.
2- Did you compete in HS or College as an athlete? or another Sport?
I ran for my father at McEachern High School. I attempted to be a baseball player in high school, but became a full time runner after my freshman year. I was a walk-on at UGA for the Cross Country and Track programs.
3- Describe your journey from novice Coach to your Head Coaching position now
My 1st job out of college was at McEachern and I served one year as my dad’s assistant coach in cross country. I was an assistant coach in track & field at McEachern, in charge of the distance program, for 5 years. I became the head cross country coach at McEachern in 2003 and head track & field coach at McEachern in 2008. I then moved over to Walton, where I was an assistant under Tom Williams during his last year and took over as head coach for both programs in the 2009-2010 school year.
4- How important is it to have the full support of the AD and resources available to succeed?
It’s very important, but not as important is support of the parents and athletes that buy into the program.
5- What are some of the challenges in building a successful program?
Getting people to see track & field as a high level sport. Many see it as the sport to do during the “off” season or as the sport to go out for when they can’t make another team.
6- Do you have a supportive Track Booster Club?
Very supportive and helpful.
7- Has Middle Track the past few years in your feeder schools helped contribute to the HS program's success?
We have a feeder program, but it isn’t exclusively for Walton. Cobb County will not allow 8th graders to compete on JV or for middle school programs directly connected to the school. So while we have some help from the program, it isn’t a direct pipeline that we would like.
8- What are your program's Goals every season? County/Region title, State Championship?
We always want to be in the running for county and region trophies and if we do that, we should have a crew that can get some points at the state meet.
9- Assess your team's Region meet and the opporunities faced at Sectionals to advance.
Region went very well, as we scored more points than we were scheduled to going in. If we stay healthy this week, we have a good shot in many events to get more athletes to state.
10- What advancements should the GHSA make to bring our Sport on par with the 'other' 47 states ?
Start the season later and finish the season later (state in late May).
Combine girls and boys state meets.
Eliminate some of the classifications (a state our size only needs 3 classifications max)
1 relay per team for region and beyond.
Add the 4 x 800m as a scoring event at region and beyond
Use qualifying standards (NCAA style) and region winners as the basis for qualifying for the sectional meets.
Bonus- What has been among your favorite accomplishments for the school you now coach at?
Brining the first ever state championship in track and field home to Walton when the girls won in 2012