St. Olaf Athletics announced on March 6 a restructuring of the Men’s Track and Field coaching staff, which promoted Antone Truss, currently an assistant coach, to head coach. Truss’ promotion comes four years into his tenure as Assistant Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Coach, after a brief assistant coaching position at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati.

Truss, a native of Yellow Springs, Ohio, was a standout track and field athlete at Wilmington College, where he qualified three times for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III National Championships. 

For Truss, track and field was more than just a sport; it was a way for him to build lifelong connections and create meaningful experiences. 

“[Track and field] kind of allowed me to do more exploring and traveling,” Truss said in an interview with The Olaf Messenger. “The first time I left the state of Ohio was because of track.”

Truss worked exceptionally hard at Wilmington College. As well as being a standout NCAA Division III athlete, he worked full-time throughout college. Helpful, understanding coaches worked with Truss to allow him to balance work, school, and athletics, which has partially shaped his coaching philosophy and approach to interacting with people more generally.

After graduating from Wilmington, Truss found himself returning to track and field in any way possible. Then, one day, his coach at Wilmington let him know about an open intern position. It was at Hanover College in Indiana, at the time coached by Brian Power, who is currently the head coach of St. Olaf Men’s Cross Country. 

Now in his fourth year on staff at St. Olaf, Truss has constantly been impressed with the College’s culture, especially the people.

“It always seems to be that we want to hire a good person first,” Truss said. “Obviously we want them to be a good coach and a good student … but the environment has really led me to believe that we value the person [at St. Olaf].”

In his current role, Truss works primarily with hurdlers, jumpers, and athletes participating in combined events, such as the decathlon. At this year’s Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Indoor Track and Field Championships, Truss coached multiple event winners. Ashlyn Jore ’26 won the Women’s Long Jump — the first Ole to do so since 1994 — while Max Albertson ’27 won the Men’s Long Jump.

When Truss found out about his promotion, he was shocked and nervous.

“St. Olaf is an amazing school, and the track program is an amazing program with a lot of deep history,” Truss said. “So, I think that there’s an immediate bit of nervousness and excitement about [this] new opportunity for me.”

But Truss feels immense support from the coaching staff that surrounds him. He also said that the entire St. Olaf Athletics coaching network has been excellent, with coaches from other sports offering their support in his transition.

Truss takes a holistic approach to coaching. While everybody wants to compete for National Championships, he understands that each athlete has different goals. With this, he approaches success as building people, first and foremost. 

“Everybody will have a different definition of what success is going to be,” Truss said. “And for me, I think the more successful part as a coach would be helping them achieve what they want to achieve, but also pushing them … but also trying to find that line of making sure we’re not pushing them too far. We don’t want to sacrifice everything else in our life just to achieve one thing.”

As head coach, Truss’ job will not drastically change. This relative continuity will allow him to continue doing the things he loves most: joking around with athletes at practice, getting to know them through day-to-day interactions, and having long conversations during car rides to meets. 

“Being able to help someone figure things out and kind of navigate through life is really important to me,” Truss said. 

Truss will step into his role next season as Men’s Track and Field Head Coach with an abundance of support from staff and athletes. When asked if he had anything else he wanted to add during his interview, Truss’ response was simple:

“I love this campus and community.”