Athletics Feature
1995: Coach Bauer with discus National Champion Carl Brown.
1986: Tim (right) with All-American Wade Perry and National Champion Martha Hans Palmer.
continued from page 14 . . .
As the results show, that strategy has paid large
dividends for his program. And pulling out potential in his athletes has been Bauer’s specialty.
Carl Brown was a 6-foot-5, 250-pound physical
specimen who had decent performances at Jackson Community College in shot put and discus.
However, Brown came from a very tough background and thought he was going to “do his own
thing” when he came to Siena Heights.
Brown’s first week at Siena Heights was almost
his last. “One day I said (to Brown), ‘Here is what
you’re doing today in practice,’” Bauer said. “He
said, ‘I don’t want to do that today,’ right in front
of the team. That was it. I was explosive. And I
wouldn’t back down, and the kids knew that. …
After that, he figured it out, and ever since it
was a great relationship.”
“There’s something about
Siena Heights . . . I’ve been
here more than I’ve been
at my home . . . something
that holds us here. It’s the
Siena Heights aura.”
Brown went on to receive not only NAIA AllAmerican honors, but after graduating became a
U.S. throwing national champion and Olympic
qualifier, just missing a berth on the U.S. team.
There are dozens of very similar success stories
in Bauer’s program. He said watching hurdler
Martha Hans Palmer win Siena’s first individual
national championship was one of his proudest
coaching moments. However, he said he still has
a hard time dealing with disappointing performances by his team.
“When we have a bad weekend of running or
throwing, my weekend sucks,” he said. “The kids
don’t understand that. It shouldn’t go that way,
but that’s just the way a coach is. You put stress
on yourself because you worry about your kids.”
Seeing his athletes achieve more than what they
thought they could is what motivates him as a
coach. “It’s just so much fun for the kid and their
family to think that they could do that,” Bauer
said. “Not everyone is going to be an All-American. If you’re not, you’re still going to have a great
experience. Be somebody. A hungry dog hunts
best. If you’re hungry, you’re going to go for it.”
More than a Coach
Surprising Bauer fact: