Kuyper College welcomes Rod Wortley as the new coach for cross-country. Wortley comes to Kuyper from an amazing 24 year career as a cross country coach. In nearly a quarter century coaching collegiate cross-country and track & field, Rod Wortley brings a record of accomplishment to Kuyper.
Over the 24 seasons between Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa, Wortley’s teams earned 42 consecutive NAIA Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field National Championship appearances, and 17 consecutive NAIA Cross Country National Championship appearances. During that span, 101 of his student athletes earned 273 All-American honors, 217 conference event titles, 9 NAIA individual National Championships, and his 2014 women's team finished fourth at the NAIA Women's Indoor National Championships. His teams also won six conference championships in track & field and two titles in cross-country.
Wortley has been honored as NAIA Regional Coach of the Year 4 times and Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Coach of the Year 8 times.
At the national level, he served on the NAIA Cross Country Coaches Association Executive Board from 2006-2015 and was president in 2014-15. From 2010-2012 he worked as a member of the NAIA Track & Field Outdoor National Championship Games Committee and spent over a decade serving on various NAIA committees.
Wortley’s coaching philosophy centers on hard work and high expectations while modeling servant leadership and exceptional care. Along with a Bachelor’s degree in English from Cornerstone University, Wortley earned his Masters from Western Michigan University in English-Professional Writing. He also holds three USA Track & Field Level II Coaching certifications for Sprints/Hurdles/Relays, Jumps, Throwing Events.
He and his wife, Anita have been married 34 years and have two children and a Catahoula Leopard dog. “We are so excited to get a coach with a resume like Rod’s. As I have had the pleasure of getting to know him, I know he is the right person to lead our student athletes. He has high hopes for our cross country program and we are as excited to have him here as he is to be here,” said AD Gary Bailey
