After an illustrious career at Rhody, Trent Baltzell is now tasked at continuing the legacy that his predecessor John Copeland started. Photo Credit gorhody.com
Former University of Rhode Island distance runner and-five time Atlantic 10 champion Trent Baltzell has his eyes set on big goals for the Rams.
Baltzell assumed the head coaching position for the Men’s Track and Field and Cross Country teams in July after legendary coach John Copeland retired this summer.
The new coach was a star athlete as a member of the Rhode Island Men’s Track and Field team, winning five individual A-10 titles in the decathlon and heptathlon and breaking the school decathlon record, which still stands. He also took home seven A-10 team titles and two New England team titles.
Similar to his running career, Baltzell found great success after graduation as a coach, taking the assistant job at Division II school Assumption University, and getting promoted to Head Coach in 2017. In 2019, Baltzell won Division II Northeast Cross Country Coach of the Year after he led the women’s team to a Northeast Region Women’s Cross Country Championship.
After that season, Baltzell was offered a position as an assistant under his former coach and 25-time A-10 champion John Copeland. It was an easy decision for him to return to the school he competed at.
”I always knew I wanted to come back to Rhode Island,” Baltzell said. “I loved Assumption and would’ve stayed forever if not for the offer from the school I ran for.”
In his relationship with one of the best coaches in Rhode Island sports history, Baltzell felt it was one of trust and seriousness.
“[Copeland] and I always had a very professional relationship both when I was a player and assistant,” Baltzell said. “Cope always had a set of guys that he really put his trust in, and I always felt like I was one of them. When someone with his experience puts their trust in you, it really helps your performance.”
When Copeland finally decided to hang up the coach’s whistle, Baltzell was in a position to assume the role and was given the job. Being the successor to such a successful coach, Baltzell knows he has big shoes to fill already.
“It is obviously a huge honor to be the one to come after [Copeland], and it will be a massive challenge for me,” Baltzell said. “I know how important it is for me to do this job well and invest as much into it as Cope did.”
While he is aware of the task ahead of him, Baltzell has aspirations of winning even more than his predecessor did.
“We have won a lot of titles in the Atlantic 10 and in the New Englands, but I have always felt that this program can go even further and win NCAA titles,” he said.
His first step toward that large goal was hiring Brian Doyle, a coach at fellow A-10 school Davidson College with a background in distance running. Baltzell feels this move will make the team more well-rounded and in the hunt for more team-wide titles in big meets.
Senior Captain Eric Zulkofske is excited about the new era in URI track and field and feels there are qualities that Baltzell offers that not even the legendary Copeland could.
“He has that experience. We know he’s been there and we know he knows the challenges of being a student-athlete,” Zulkofske said. “When you can relate to your players, it creates a special bond that I don’t think we had with Copeland as great as he was.”
Zulkofske also pointed out that the bonds Baltzell has formed have created a great vibe among the team. That positive energy led to a third place finish at the Nassaney Invitational, finishing only behind Brown and Northeastern.
Baltzell and his squad will look to continue to build on good results and positive energy and make Rhode Island a top program nationally.