This story, written by Jim Buice, is appearing in the 2018 Spring Issue of Black & Gold, which is published quarterly by IMG College in conjunction with the Appalachian State University Athletics Department.
When
John Weaver was hired as a biology teacher at Fayetteville's 71
st High School after graduating from Appalachian State in 1971, coaching track & field wasn't part of the long-term plan.
But as a young newlywed, he was looking for a few extra bucks.
"They found out I had some background here at Appalachian and asked me to help out the head track coach as an assistant," Weaver said. "Really, the reason I started there was because there was a stipend, and I had just gotten married. The money was intriguing, which the interesting part is I've never seen that money yet. Every time I see that principal, I ask him, 'Have you got the money yet?' He just laughs."
That turned out to be the first step in a career of ultimately coaching track & field, as well as cross country, nearly four decades at his alma mater – and being named conference coach of the year an amazing 43 times. He has claimed 78 league titles after becoming women's head coach in 1982 and then also assuming duties as men's head coach in 1995.
In addition to those impressive numbers, Weaver's athletes have won national championships, claimed All-America honors and even advanced to the Olympics.
But he never saw any of this coming. Weaver envisioned himself eventually transitioning to the administration side in high school instead of being in the classroom or roaming collegiate tracks as a coach.
"Honestly, I thought I would be already retired as a principal of a school in Fayetteville," he said of his hometown. "That was going to be my goal. That's where I saw myself."
Weaver's interest in science actually propelled his entrance into coaching. He never ran track in high school, but he said he ran "a little bit" when he came to Appalachian, where three of his five roommates were on the track team.
"I was a biology major and got involved in the scientific approach with Jerry Mayhew, who was in the exercise science program, on why he was doing this and why he was doing that in terms of training, and we had a lot of really great discussions," Weaver said. "I spent the last year or so kind of helping the track team, but more than anything I was learning how to train distance runners and track athletes – never really thinking about doing this as a career. It was more of a hobby. Back then, there were no scholarship athletes in track & field."
That opened the door to that first job as a high school assistant coach when he said, "I thought I would go out and plot some of this stuff and have some fun with it."
Weaver became a head coach when he took the job at Douglas Byrd High School in Fayetteville and enjoyed a successful run before returning to Boone in 1979 to get his master's in biology and work as a graduate assistant with the Appalachian men's track program.
That's when he got the chance, as it turned out, for a lifetime.
"Judy Clarke (assistant athletics director) came out one day and asked me if I'd be interested in being the first full-time women's head coach," Weaver said. "They had some graduate assistants doing some things with the ladies but nothing substantial. I really didn't have to think about it only because it was a great opportunity to stay at the one place that I love. Then from there, we started doing well and just kept doing it."
• • • • •
It was a different time when Weaver took over the Appalachian women's track & field program in 1982.
"When I started with the women, I got in at the ground level when the NCAA was adding women to their sports," he said, "so I just went crazy and started recruiting everyone who wanted to run track in college. We sort of got the head start on people – Carolina and State and all of them to some degree, so we had some awesome teams early on because there wasn't really any place for them to come except for Appalachian. That's how we got it started. That's how it perpetuated itself all the way up to now as I'm stepping off the track."
Melissa Morrison-Howard, who won a couple of Olympic bronze medals, and Mary Jayne Harrelson, the 1999 and 2001 NCAA 1,500-meter champion, are among the many top athletes Weaver has coached over the years.
"Those are the ones who get the heart racing, but there isn't a single athlete that hasn't been in this program who we haven't appreciated and hasn't lent something of themselves to the success of this program," he said.
Most of that success came in the Southern Conference, where the Mountaineers were a dominant program for both the men and the women, but Appalachian made an immediate impression when moving up to the Sun Belt Conference in 2014.
"It's a click up, a level up from where we were," Weaver said of the athletic program's move to Division I in all sports. "Our program has already won three championships – cross country men, cross country women and women's indoor. We kind of got ahead of what we thought we would do. We thought our recruiting process would be a three-year plan to get the type of athletes that would win in the Sun Belt."
One thing that stands out for Weaver in his 38 years at Appalachian State is something that didn't happen in the late 1990s that would have dramatically altered his future.
"I'm glad Clemson changed their mind and didn't hired me," he said of possibly going to the ACC school as women's head coach. "I would have been there and probably been fired a long time ago. I was pretty sure I had the job. When it didn't happen, that was my defining moment, and not very many people know this, and that's when I knew that Appalachian was my home."
Bob Pollock, who was Clemson's head men's track & field coach from 1988 to 2008 before passing away in 2010, was the men's coach at Appalachian when Weaver coached the women. Pollock thought his old friend was coming to join him at Clemson.
"I thought we'd be a pretty great team there," Weaver said. "I had already made some arrangements for one of my assistants to take over the program here. I had brought the family to Clemson to look at housing and everything. Then I didn't hear anything. They decided to go in a different direction.
"Oddly enough, they won the ACC that year for the women, and that coach then left. They called back and wanted to know if I'd be interested in the job. I said, 'Thank you so much, you missed your chance. I am not leaving."
Until now – 20 years after what turned out for the best for Weaver, he said that it's just time.
"There's really no real reason to retire, there are no health problems or nothing negative about retirement whatsoever other than my feeling of leaving the program and the athletes we have," he said. "It's just the old adage that you'll know when it's time. It's just time."
Weaver, who will soon turn 70, said that he looks forward to spending more time and travel with his wife, Cindy, visit his two sons and enjoy the arrival of his first grandchild in May.
"I've had 47 great years in coaching in high school and college," he said. "It's time for me to be more available for my family because they were there supporting me to allow me to do the things I needed to do to keep the program going with recruiting and everything else. Now, I'm looking forward to being there for them. I'll be at the mercy of my wife. It's her turn."
• • • • •
In addition to the track & field program, Weaver has been at Appalachian long enough to have witnessed some remarkable changes with the athletic program.
"I think Appalachian was a pond, and now it's a huge lake," he said. "Back then, we would never have had a Holmes Center. Now we have a Holmes Center. We would never have, when you look at the size of this stadium – I've got a picture right here that I see every day when I walk into my office with a gravel, cinder track and 3,000 to 4,000 seats, maybe 5,000 seats. Now look at what we've got. We're getting ready to put up a new building, we're getting ready to build a new track, and they're going to make this a football facility.
"We've moved into another conference that poses all kind of challenges for this department in terms of transportation and increased costs, but every step of the way, our administration and support of our university and town's people have let us take these next steps. We're now as big as we can get. We are Division I.
"It tells you a lot when you're sitting in our stadium at Kidd Brewer and watching Miami play us. Soon, we'll be playing North Carolina here. We have other Power 5 schools that are willing to come to Appalachian to play. It started with the old Carolinas Conference when I came here with wonderful competition and great athletics, and now we're having nationally ranked teams coming here to play football."
Weaver has seen it all, and while it's time for him to leave Appalachian, his stamp on the program remains – although he always prefers to deflect the praise to others.
"The athletes win coach of the year awards," he said. "It's simple. I'm just the one who represents them. None of this happens without the wonderful staff members we've had in this program over the years, current ones included. Some of them are now head coaches at other schools. It couldn't have been done without them. And it's just heart-warming and makes me tear up thinking about all the really wonderful student-athletes that have come through our program."
Director of Athletics
Doug Gillin offered his thanks and appreciation to Weaver for his many accomplishments and years of service.
"In the short time I've been at Appalachian, I've been extremely impressed by the success of our track & field and cross country program and the impact Coach Weaver has made on generations of Mountaineer student-athletes and supporters," he said.
Then there's this from head football coach
Scott Satterfield: "He may be the best coach to ever wear the Black and Gold."
And how would Weaver like to be remembered?
"I would just like to be remembered," he said. "That's all."
COACH JOHN WEAVER BY THE NUMBERS
Since starting the women's program in 1982, Weaver has overseen women's programs – including cross country, indoor and outdoor – that have achieved an NCAA Division I National Champion in the 1500 meters twice, nine NCAA Division I All-Americans with 23 All-American performances, 26 NCAA Division I qualifiers, two Sun Belt Conference team championships (women's indoor and women's cross country), 13 Sun Belt Conference individual titles, 63 Sun Belt all-conference performances (40 in track and 23 in cross country), one Sun Belt Conference Outstanding Track Performer, one Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year honor, 373 Southern Conference individual champion performances, 928 Southern Conference all-conference performances, 34 Southern Conference MVP athletes, 45 Southern Conference team championships, 27 Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors, 28 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year honors, 50 SoCon All-Freshman team honors, and two Southeast Region Coach of the Year honors.
After Weaver took over the men's program in 1995, the Mountaineers have produced 10 NCAA Division I All-Americans, nine NCAA All-American performances, 37 Division I qualifiers, 178 Southern Conference individual champion performances, six Sun Belt Conference individual champion performances, 654 Southern Conference all-conference performances, 40 Sun Belt Conference all-conference performances, 29 Southern Conference MVP athletes, 30 Southern Conference team championships, one Sun Belt Conference team championship, 15 Southern Conference Coach of the Year honors, 59 Southern Conference All-Freshman team honors and one Southeast Region Coach of the Year honor. In the SoCon, the men's program accomplished four triple crowns, and Mountaineer men currently hold five SoConindoor individual event records and 11 SoCon outdoor individual event records.
