Longtime Liberty track & field and cross country coach Brant Tolsma will retire following the conclusion of the outdoor track & field season.
Tolsma announced his retirement on Saturday following Liberty sweeping both the men’s and women’s titles at the 2020 ASUN Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Liberty Indoor Track Complex on Saturday.
Tolsma has been at the helm of Liberty’s cross country and track & field programs for 34 seasons, guiding Liberty’s teams to 116 conference championships and coaching six NCAA Division I individual national champions.
Tolsma has won a total of 71 Big South Coach of the Year honors, six ASUN Coach of the Year recognitions and twice was named the NCAA District Coach of the Year. Meanwhile, Tolsma’s athletes have earned a combined 61 All-America honors since the program moved to the NCAA Division I level in 1989.
Tolsma was first hired at Liberty in 1986 by the Flames’ first track & field coach, Liberty Athletics Hall of Famer Jake Matthes, to serve as the head men’s track & field coach. By 1991, Tolsma had assumed each of the coaching positions he still holds today, overseeing the men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s indoor track & field and men’s and women’s outdoor track & field programs.
Liberty Athletics will honor Tolsma later this spring, welcoming back alumni and supporters of the program to celebrate Tolsma’s outstanding career. Plans for the celebration event will be announced at a later time.
“The last 34 years have been an amazing run. When I came to Liberty, we did not even have an outdoor track, much less the amazing outdoor and indoor facilities we have today. The Lord has blessed this program so much through the years. During those 34 years, I never applied for another job because I never saw Liberty as a stepping stone – I saw Liberty as an escalator and I’ve just been on those stairs, riding up through the years. The opportunity I’ve had to interact with student-athletes, pointing them in the direction of the truth and sharing my heart with them, has been a privilege. I’m not going to be leaving Liberty, but I will not be working here 60 hours a week. I’ll be the program’s No. 1 fan and I’m excited to see what the Lord has in store for this program in the future.”
Brant Tolsma, Liberty’s Director of Track & Field and Cross Country
“Our track and field program has long been one of the hallmarks of excellence within Liberty Athletics—not only competing at a high level within collegiate athletics, but through Coach Tolsma’s influence with so many coaches and student-athletes over the past 34 years,” said Director of Athletics Ian McCaw. “His astounding number of conference championships and coach of the year awards is unprecedented and will never be matched. We look forward to celebrating Coach Tolsma’s brilliant career with his team, former student-athletes and family during the spring.”
Ian McCaw, Liberty University Director of Athletics
