Wakefield track & field
Roberts resigns to pursue degree
Sterling Roberts, who Wakefield athletic director Dexter Cooley credited for making the Wolverines' track and field program "blossom" in recent years, announced his resignation this week.
Monday evening Roberts explained the decision came after he landed an assistant track position at Defiance College in northwest Ohio. The move will allow the former social studies teacher to pursue a Master's Degree — which he has sought for sometime.
"It's tough leaving the kids, but this is something I felt like I needed to do," Roberts said. "I've been here five years, and it's about time I get my graduate degree."
During his tenure at Wakefield, Roberts helped develop the track and field program — both boys and girls — into a consistent winner, highlighted by the Wolverines' 2007 Cap-7 Conference Championship and T.J. Graham's 100- and 200-meter state championships in 2008.
According to Cooley, the Wolverines will be hard pressed to find someone with Roberts' skills, teaching ability and passion.
"He made our program blossom ...," Cooley said. "He got kids out there that needed to be out there. And the amount of knowledge he brought to the program was absolutely unbelievable. He really did a great job."
A former collegiate athlete, Roberts' knowledge might have only been overshadowed by his enthusiasm.
He actively sought out students to join the program, and convinced fellow staff members to get more involved, Cooley said. It wasn't uncommon to find Roberts at the track until 6 or 7 p.m. — well after most staff had gone home.
"He just loves — loves — track," the athletic director said. "It seems like there are not a lot of people that have a tremendous amount of passion for track these days — at least not at the high school level. But he is different. He really loved doing it."
Wakefield junior Mitch Mallory — one of the Cap-7 Conference's best long-distance runners — explained it was Roberts who suggested he give track a try, and later gave him the tips to succeed.
"Coming in as a freshman, I didn't know anything about running track, and he basically taught me strategies and how to race," Mallory said. "He was the first person I would go to when I had a question about running or anything about the race."
Roberts' drive to win carried over to his athletes, the junior added.
"He loved to win. He always wanted to win. And that's what we're going to miss about him — the intensity that he brought." Mallory said. "Roberts was the man."
Roberts' decision surprised members of the track and field squad, and even Roberts didn't expect to be moving on so soon.
"I had applied for similar positions elsewhere, but nothing had exactly what I was looking for," he said. "I really expected to be at Wakefield until I found the perfect position. And then about a month ago, this popped up. And everything fell into place very quickly."
In fact, Roberts unexpectedly ran into Defiance's track coach at a clinic in Colorado, further cementing the move.
"I'll be able to coach for them, and get a free grad degree and free housing," Roberts explained. "It was too good to pass up."
What Roberts leaves behind is a program now considered among the best in the state — a far cry from years ago.
"What I'm most proud is that these kids have built something," Roberts said. "We used to go to track meets way back when — first of all, we rarely, if ever, went to any big track meets — and when we did we were huge underdogs. But we were just there to have fun. We were an afterthought.
"And now we go into these meets expecting to finish first or in the top two or three. We expect to qualify 15, 20, 30 people to regionals. We expect to qualify people on to states. We expect to finish in the Top 10 in the state. And its great leaving here knowing these kids have those expectations now."
Cooley expects finding someone to coach track like Roberts will be difficult.
"It's going to be hard to replace him," the athletic director said. "Hopefully, we can get someone that has his same enthusiasm. Even three-quarters the enthusiasm he had would be good."
