#324: Alan King – Umpqua Community College | From Montana to a New Gill Track Facility

🎙️ **From Montana Miles to Oregon Impact: Alan King’s Unexpected Coaching Calling**

In this episode of the *Gill Connections Podcast*, we sit down with Alan King, head coach at Umpqua Community College, whose journey from Billings, Montana, to building a brand-new Gill-equipped track in Roseburg, Oregon, is nothing short of inspiring.

Alan opens up about his early love for distance running, the surprising fork in the road that led him from a history degree to coaching, and how he's leveraging social media to recruit athletes from across the country to a growing program in the Pacific Northwest.

🏃‍♂️ From athlete to coach — a journey that wasn’t in the original plan

🏗️ Behind the scenes of Umpqua’s new Gill Athletics track & field facility

📱 Social media recruiting strategies that actually work

🏔️ Lessons learned from growing up in Montana

👟 Why community college is a powerful launchpad for athletes and coaches alike

"I never planned to be a coach… but here I am, loving every second of it." — Alan King

🎧 Listen in as Coach King shares how passion, persistence, and platforms like Instagram are fueling his program’s momentum — and how Gill Athletics is helping pave the way, literally and figuratively, for the next generation of track and field athletes.

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