John Sauerhage, head coach of track and field and cross country, is set to retire at the end of the 2026 outdoor track season.
John Sauerhage is set to return to coaching in the fall, despite previous reports saying he was retiring at the end of the spring, according to a team spokesman.
Sauerhage, formerly the head coach of both UTA’s track and field and cross country programs, will now just head the cross country team. In addition, he will be an assistant coach for track and field, focusing on the team’s long-distance runners.
Hired as a head coach in 1996, Sauerhage will keep his title as the longest-serving coach at UTA. In 30 years of coaching the two programs, he won 33 conference titles in a tenure, starting this year, which spanned four conferences.
His student-athletes over the years include 45 All-Americans, 63 NCAA Championship qualifiers and five athletes who have competed in the world championships, according to previous Shorthorn reporting.
Sauerhage’s relationship with the university extends even farther than his time as a coach. After winning the mile run state championship at Arlington High School in 1979, he started his collegiate running career at Louisiana State University before transferring to UTA.
As a Maverick, he set a new 6,000-meter relay school record and won the 1985 Southland Conference indoor mile run championship. For thirty years after his graduation, he had top-5 times in school history in both the indoor and outdoor 1,500-meter run.
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