Legendary former Carmel High School cross country and track coach Chuck Koeppen was named IUPUI’s third-ever men’s cross country coach in December 2008, replacing Scott Williams and was IUPUI's first-ever track and field head coach.
Entering his fifth year in 2013, Koeppen’s hire has paid major dividends for the program. IUPUI won the second meet of his college coaching career, capturing the five-team IPFW Invitational on Sept. 12. His Jaguars outran the field and edged Summit League rival Oakland University by just three points for the program’s first title in nearly five years.
In four years, Koeppen has coached five All-Summit Leaguers in cross country and three All-League honorees in track. The Jaguars have finished among the top half of the league in cross country in three of his four seasons and have significantly increased the depth and talent within the program through strong in-state recruiting.
Koeppen has seemingly cleaned house on the recruiting trails, inking multiple talented classes of in-state preps. The 2012 class was especially spectacular, boasting four of the top 10 finishes from the previous year's IHSAA State Cross Country meet.
Academically, Koeppen’s team also fared well, ranking among the department’s top teams in the classroom. Hoffman capped the individual accolades by earning the department’s Michael A. Carroll Scholarship in 2010. Additionally, IUPUI has earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors in each of Koeppen's four seasons.
Koeppen spent 37 years as head coach of the Greyhounds, earning 23 IHSAA state titles at Carmel. His boys are girls teams finished among the top two in the state 39 times in his 37 year career and accounted for 60 sectional, 52 regional and 29 semi-state titles.
Koeppen collected 11 boys and 11 girls state cross country crowns in addition to the boys state track & field title in 2000. The 2000 title was sealed, thanks to a 3,200 meter championship claimed by his son, Charlie.
His boys and girls cross country teams swept the IHSAA cross country titles five different times, including his final season at the helm. His 1987 girls team still holds an IHSAA state record, winning the title with just 19 points and his 23 titles are the most by any head coach in all sports in Indiana high school history.
Individually, Koeppen has coached five boys track & field champions and two girls state cross country champs. In addition, he’s coached numerous relay teams to state titles.
In June 2013, Koeppen was elected to the National High School Hall of Fame, adding to his already impressive list of accolades. Koeppen, a member of the IATCCC, Ball State Athletics and Valparaiso High School Halls of Fame, was named the 2000 National Track Coach of the Year after leading the Greyhounds to the state crown. Previously, he was named the National Cross Country Coach of the Year in 1982 when his Carmel squads swept their first-ever state titles.
He is the Director and Co-Founder of the All-Star Cross Country Camp, held annually at Anderson University and known as the premier distance running camp in the Midwest. The camp attracts the best and brightest runners from throughout the region and boasts numerous former Olympians among its counselors and staff. The camp recently completed its 25th year in existence. He’s also a past President of the IATCCC and former Director of the Carmel Classic Track & Field Championships. At the time, the meet was the largest independently run summer track meet in United States.
In 1978, he was Head Coach of the Indiana High School "All-Star" Track Team that went on to win the Midwest Meet of Champions for the first time ever.
Koeppen’s personal running credentials are nearly equal to his coaching standards. He was a three-year letterwinner in track and cross country (freshmen were ineligible for varsity competition) at Ball State, where he earned his B.S. in 1968 and M.A. in 1973. He set new school records in the four mile cross country course and two-mile on the track and finished his BSU career with six distance records.
He helped the Cardinals finish third in the Small College National Championships as a senior co-captain in 1968.
He later qualified and ran in the 1972 Olympic Trials marathon in Eugene, Ore. and ran a 2-hour, 28-minute Boston Marathon that same year, finishing 37th overall. He was an eight-time Indiana Long Distance Runner of the Year and later the 1985 10K Sub-Master National Champion in a time of 31:37. The next year, he was the 2 Mile Masters National Champion in a time of 9:32.28 and the runner-up in 1987 at 9:34.25.
Koeppen also raced for the Reebok Racing Club and adidas Racing Team.
He began his coaching career at Daleville (Ind.) in 1968, guiding the cross country and track teams for one year before a three-year stint at Wapahani High School. While at Wapahani, he assisted the boys track team to the Delaware County crown, snapping Yorktown’s 20-year string of titles.
Koeppen and his wife Cathie reside in Carmel. The couple has four adult children.
