Coach O:

Championing Athletes

By Adele San Miguel

Do You Know Coach O?

You have registered for meets using the software his company developed. You may be wearing a singlet or carrying a track bag designed by his team. The top-notch officials at your conference championship and NCAA regional meet? Hired by Coach O.

Charles Oliver is the CEO and founder of Coach O Enterprises, a company that serves track and field in three ways: Bags by Coach O, Coach O Registration, and Coach O Event Management. He is also the National Chairman of the Amateur Athletic Union and for the last eleven years, has served as the Meet Director for the AAU Junior Olympic Games.

You will be hard pressed to find an area of track and field that Coach O has not touched and improved.

Charles started in track and field as a senior at Jordan High School in Columbus, GA, where his record in the 400 meters still stands. He attended Troy University where he earned All-American status. An Olympic trials finalist in 1980, he returned to Troy to coach, and then moved to the University of Tennessee where he coached sprints, hurdles, long and triple jump from 1989 to 2009. At UT, one of his areas of responsibility in Spring Sports Event Management, was to negotiate contracts, reserve facilities, and work with partnering organizations like the SEC, NCAA, and AAU for the championship meets. When the position of AAU Junior Olympic Games Meet Director became available, the organization asked Coach O if he wanted the job.

Upon accepting, Charles stood back to view track and field from a wider vantage point. What is the experience of a meet for the 5 year-old athlete and that athlete’s parents? How will the hosting facility define a successful event? Meets can be long, hot, grueling days. How could it be an adventure and not an ordeal?`

Referring to the quote, “If you build it, they will come,” from the movie Field of Dreams, Coach O says they will not come if they do not know about it. He took a holistic approach. Instead of just filling spots on a roster, Coach aimed to deliver a product that serves. Sports teach. They instruct focus, task-orientation, how to stay motivated, deal with adversity, and get along. In youth athletics it is less about becoming the national champion, and more about learning to give your all.

The philosophy yielded results. With numbers growing exponentially every year, the AAU is having a positive influence on more children across the country. Of all the sports under the AAU umbrella, track and field is one of the largest. With Coach O’s guidance, attendance at the AAU Junior Olympic Games has swelled to 13,000 athletes. It is the largest youth meet in the world.

At the event, you will not find Coach O in the announcer’s box. He is on the field encouraging young athletes, interviewing them so they can practice public speaking, and growing them in confidence.

Charles Oliver

Registration 2.0

Registering thousands of athletes by hand for a meet was an enormous, expensive task requiring hours of tedious paperwork. Coach O contemplated an easier way.

He partnered with a friend to create a computer program for meet management. It was beta tested at the AAU Junior Olympic Games in 2000. Meet registration was carried out both manually and electronically. The results were within 100% accuracy. That effort birthed Coach O Registration, and the AAU became the first customer. This business vertical grew quickly, requiring its own set of employees.

Coach O Event Management emerged 8 years later. As a coach at UT, one of Charles’ area of responsibility was managing the meets. Tennessee hosted the majors, the SEC and NCAA Championships. Everyone assumed he was responsible for running all the events at Tennessee, even though at the time he was not. Informally, Charles advised other schools on successful meet management. He enjoyed it immensely, seeing many people he knew.

As he built his brand and trust with institutions, it was not without challenge. When the University of Louisville asked Coach O to manage the NCAA Regional Championships at their campus, they endeavored to be excellent hosts and wanted a first class event. They agreed to everything he asked for, but balked at his request for a stipend for the officials. In a group call with all the schools hosting the NCAA regional meets that year, Louisville asked the question about the stipend. The other schools confirmed that they paid their officials and ran their meets exactly as they had learned from Coach Oliver.

The overarching goal of Coach O Enterprises is to promote positivity in track and field. Coach Oliver’s wife, two sons and daughter-in-law are involved in various aspects of the business. A staff is in place to post affirming content on social media, communicating high ideals and showcasing athletes.

A Bend in the Road

When Covid 19 closed down track and field, Coach O Enterprises and the AAU regrouped. They considered how they could safely hold competitions while adhering to federal, state, and local guidelines. Athletes needed the chance to compete. They increased attendance at the AAU Junior Olympic Games so more juniors and seniors could post a needed mark to attract recruitment.

Coach O Event Management partnered with Mondo Worldwide and produced webinars on hosting healthy competitions. Working through the details of which products to use to sanitize equipment, they also discussed how to stay on schedule and still make the event an uplifting experience. Several countries participated, including university head coaches and directors of operations. On the subject of how to bring the sport back, Coach O educated and led.

For hopeful recruits at this point in time, Coach recommends getting comfortable being uncomfortable. Covid is a detour; take the detour. Listen to those in the industry. Stay focused. Learn to trust yourself in the midst of change. There will be new ways to do things. Let them unfold, but don’t quit.

A bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.

Ultimately, Coach O’s philosophy and marketing strategy can be honed down to one word: care. Care about making track and field more accessible to more families. Care about making the meet experience easier for the hosting facility. Help people go after their dreams and goals. Promote the sport and put the athletes and their families at the forefront of it. Make it easy and move the sport forward.

And if you can’t figure it out at first, keep trying. Do it wrong until you can do it right, but do something.

Coach O (right) with athlete Quentin Smith

Photo Credits: Eric Ward