The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast14 Apr 2025

#306: Shawn Jakubowski-Fort Lewis College

🎙️ From Starting Blocks to the Boardroom: Shawn Jakubowski’s Journey from Coach to College Administrator 🦅📈

What happens when a passionate track coach trades in the stopwatch for spreadsheets? 🏃‍♂️➡️📊 Meet Shawn Jakubowski, former head track & field and cross country coach and now Associate Athletic Director for External Relations at Fort Lewis College. In this powerful conversation, Shawn walks us through his deeply personal and professional journey—from winning state titles in high school, launching a collegiate program from scratch, to leading a program through tragedy, and eventually stepping into athletic administration.

👟 Coaching roots

💼 Administrative calling

🧠 Mentorship and leadership

📉 Personal loss and professional pivots

🌄 Building culture at Fort Lewis College

Whether you're a coach curious about making a bigger impact off the track or just love inspiring stories about grit and growth, this episode delivers.

“I felt like I could make a difference—not just for 50 student-athletes, but for 400. And that changed everything.” – Shawn Jakubowski

🔗 Tap in and hear how Shawn is still coaching—just on a much larger scale.

🌟 Explore Our Library: Dive into 300+ episodes featuring insights from coaching legends such as Boo Schexnayder and Dan Pfaff, Diljeet Taylor (BYU) and Beth Alford-Sullivan, as well as superstar coaches Petros Kyprianou (Illinois), Althea Thomas (Vanderbilt) and many more! Find us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more for your listening pleasure.

📲 Stay Connected: Want to get in touch with our host, Mike Cunningham? Follow on Twitter (@MikeCunningham), email at mcunningham@gillathletics.com, or text to 217-898-3038. We love hearing from you! 🎧👍

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(869)

#122: Gill1918 presents Erik Jenkins "Coaching the Relays Part 2" from Tampa Bay/USF Clinic

The crew at the University of South Florida put on an excellent clinic in Tampa, Fla this past fall of 2025. Speakers included Sammy Dabbs, Erik Jenkins, Vince Anderson, Chris Korfist, and Dwight Phil...

5 Mar 21min

#121: Gill1918 presents Erik Jenkins "Coaching the Relays Part 1" from Tampa Bay/USF Clinic

4 Mar 19min

#120: Gill1918 Presents Coach Kamara Sitton “The Importance of Female-Only Competition Opportunities” Powered by Coach O

Kamara Sitton is instrumental in bringing The Pink Spike Festival Girls/Women Only T&F Meet and scholarship to life each spring. Kamara is a coach for the Titans Track Club (AAU) in Upstate SC. She ea...

3 Mar 8min

#352: Rick and Brett Witt-UW-Stevens Point | A 50-Year Coaching Legacy, A Father–Son Transition

What happens when a program built over five decades gets handed—quite literally—from father to son?In this special father–son edition of the Gill Connections Podcast, longtime UW–Stevens Point legend ...

2 Mar 1h 47min

#119: Gill1918 presents Sammy Dabbs "High Hurdles Part 2" from Tampa Bay/USF Clinic

26 Feb 21min

#118: Gill1918 presents Sammy Dabbs "High Hurdles Part 1" from Tampa Bay/USF Clinic

25 Feb 26min

#117: Gill1918 Presents Coach/Author David Emeott “Coaching Your Own Children” Powered by Coach O

Dave has coached hundreds, maybe thousands of athletes over his career at East Kentwood HS in MI. Coaching his own 3 kids came with many joys and also lessons learned for him and every member of the f...

24 Feb 12min

#351: Fireside chat with HoF Coach Randy Huntington Part 2 | Big Rocks, Coaching the Coach & the Long View of Track & Field

Part 2 of our fireside chat with Randy Huntington goes deeper than technique and medals. This is a conversation about legacy, empathy, curiosity, and what it really means to coach—especially when the ...

23 Feb 3h 25min