Robert "Bob" Cole (2024) - Louisiana Athletics Hall of Fame

Robert "Bob" Cole

Induction:
2024

Served as USL track and field and cross country coach for 21 years (1963-84), also served as assistant football coach for most of those years), and built a dormant track program into a conference powerhouse. His first team finished last in the Gulf States Conference, but two years later a Cajun team of limited scholarships and numerous walk-ons went on to the GSC title. Before he retired in 1984, Cole had won more conference titles than any USL coach in any sport at the time – 13, including six outdoor track (there was no conference indoor track at the time) and seven cross country. Worth noting, USL was not in a conference in the last four years of his career. He coached four individual national champions and 26 All-Americans (22 track, four cross country), among them John McDonnell, a six-time All-American who went on to build the top track program in NCAA history as head coach at Arkansas (42 NCAA team championships) and who often credited Cole for lessons he learned. Cole was named as NAIA national Coach of the Year in his fifth season in 1967. He retired in 1984 and lived his final years in Toledo Bend before dying in January of 2007.