UW cross country: 'Field of Dreams' prepares for its first marquee moment
Adam Mertz | 608-252-6474 | [email protected] | Posted: Thursday, October 28, 2010 11:00 am
Mick Byrne hails from Dublin, but for all practical purposes he’s a New Yorker. In his nearly quarter-century coaching cross country at Iona College, just north of the city, he made a habit of heading to the Bronx to pore over Irish newspapers and immerse himself in urban life.
To borrow a line from legendary Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire, another kid from the Big Apple, Byrne’s world was a cracked sidewalk.
“I don’t even want a backyard lawn at my house,” Byrne said. “Concrete it. I don’t cut grass.”
You can imagine, then, the culture shock he experienced when he walked into his first meeting at the University of Wisconsin in 2008, shortly after being hired to lead one of the best men’s running programs in the natio