IU Indy Athletics

A five-time league Cross Country Coach of the Year Chuck Koeppen, stepped down from his head coaching post on December 1, 2021 and will serve the Jaguars in an assistant capacity. Koeppen piloted the Jaguars to five league titles - winning two Summit League crowns (2014 & 2015) and three straight Horizon League titles (2019, 2020 & 2021) and three top-10 NCAA Great Lakes Regional finishes. 

The legendary former Carmel High School cross country and track coach took over the program in December 2008 and was IUPUI's first-ever track and field head coach. Since taking over, Koeppen has built IUPUI into a regional powerhouse, largely through in-state recruiting and athlete development. He's coached two Jaguars to league cross country titles (Tom Ohlman & Robert Murphy) and had another earn Horizon League Championship MVP honors during the 2020 indoor season (Eric Hoffman). He coached IUPUI's first-ever NCAA Nationals qualifier on the track as Murphy earned a spot in Eugene in the 3,000m steeplechase. His athletes have earned more than 40 all-league honors in cross country since 2009 and he's also coached an All-Great Lakes Region honoree (Murphy - 2016) and two USTFCCCA All-Academic Athletes (Nick Perkins & Alex Ratkovich - 2020). 

Collectively, his teams won 14 cross country meets and had 29 top-two finishers in his 13 seasons. Among those victories was a win at the 2015 Indiana Intercollegiates when his squad defeated No. 10 Indiana and host Indiana State for one of three meet triumphs that season. That squad just missed the program's first-ever NCAA berth, finishing eighth at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional for the program's highest-ever finish. 

Koeppen’s hire paid immediate dividends, both in performance and recruiting. IUPUI won the second meet of his college coaching career, capturing the five-team IPFW Invitational on Sept. 12, 2009 as 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.

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 finishers from the previous year's IHSAA State Cross Country meet. His 2019 haul was similarly impressive as he welcomed a strong crop of the state's top prep runners. 

Academically, his teams have also fared well as the Jaguars cross country program earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honors in 12 of his 13 seasons and his track and field programs have earned the honor in every year of its existence. 

Koeppen spent 37 years as head coach of the Greyhounds, earning 23 IHSAA state titles at Carmel. His boys and 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 30th 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. 

 

Koeppen's IUPUI Cross Country Career
Year	Meet Wins	Meet Runner-Ups	Conf. Finish	Regional Finish
2009	1	0	4th	22nd
2010	0	2	4th	24th
2011	0	2	7th	23rd
2012	1	1	3rd	17th
2013	2	1	3rd	11th
2014	1	3	1st	9th
2015	3	0	1st	8th
2016	1	1	2nd	11th
2017	0	2	2nd	17th
2018	1	1	3rd	19th
2019	2	1	1st	14th
2020	1	0	1st	n/a
2021	1	1	1st	10th
Totals	14	15