ADRIAN, Michigan — Tim Bauer capped off an ultra-successful collegiate coaching career with a hall of fame induction this spring.
The longtime Siena Heights University track and field coach joined the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2021. The induction ceremony was held prior to the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships on May 24 in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
“You always want to make a difference. But we were pretty tough on our kids,” Bauer, a 1976 Colonel Crawford High School graduate, said. “We wanted them to be ready for their next step in life. That was a lot of tough love.”
Regarding the induction, Bauer said:
“It was very humbling, and I’m blessed. As a younger man I was pretty loud and all that. But I got on the committees and associations. You thank the people that got you there. It’s very humbling. It wasn’t because of me. It was because of them, our student-athletes and the mentors we had.”
Local roots
He grew up near Crestline and ran cross country and track for the Eagles.
“I had a pretty good career there. My brother Brad and me kind of went back and forth with the records. I had freshman, junior and he had sophomore, senior. I finished third in the state meet in cross country,” Bauer said.
He ran the two-mile in high school and the mile in college. But a football injury nearly derailed his career.
“I always liked playing barnyard football and I got hurt. One Sunday I went out before our regional cross country meet, and I got hurt pretty bad and couldn’t run any more that year.”
A blood clot prevented him from competing for a while. He worked for his brother and father at Pittsburgh Plate Glass for a year and a half before enrolling at Findlay College (now The University of Findlay).
Journey begins
“I started doing pretty well again. My coach was leaving, and I was going to go to Bowling Green, but I would have had to sit out. He ended up taking a job at Siena Heights University. I wanted to come up and the rest is history.”
Bauer has been a member of the Siena Heights community for more than 40 years, going back to when he was a student-athlete. He finished his running career earning an All-America honorable mention award in 1980.
“I trusted the coach that got me out of the factory. I came up here and when I graduated, I taught high school for a lady that was pregnant for a semester. Then I decided I wanted to come back, and they offered me the grad assistant job here.”
He graduated from Siena Heights in 1982 and returned a year later as a graduate assistant before taking over as the full-time head coach in 1984.
The school honored Bauer with the Alumni of the Year award during the 1999-2000 academic year.
“This honor could not have been awarded to a better coach and person,” said Siena Heights Director of Athletics Sue Syljebeck. “Tim has been invaluable to Siena Heights University. His impact on NAIA cross country as well as track and field have been incredible over the years, but his greatest impact has been on his student-athletes.”
Building a program
During his tenure, he has coached over 300 All-Americans, 100 All-American honorable mentions, more than 100 NAIA Scholar-Athletes, over 25 national champions, three Olympic Trials qualifiers, and one American Champion (who was ranked as high as third in the world).
Bauer led the Saints to 45 championships, including 30 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference titles. In addition, he has had two teams finish in the top four, numerous teams finish in the top five, and multiple teams finish in the top 10 at various NAIA Championships.
“What got us really going was we ended up having quite a few national champs in a row. That kind of got us rolling a little bit,” he said.
His accomplishments received praise at the university.
“Coach Bauer has been a tremendous coach and outstanding leader on our campus at Siena Heights over the past 40 years,” said former SHU Director of Athletics and fellow NAIA Hall of Fame Coach Fred Smith. “He is not only a great coach, but a wonderful human being who is loved by the many that he has served as a coach and those he has mentored. It was a great privilege to have had the opportunity to have worked with Tim.”
Bauer has served as the President of both the NAIA Track and Field Association and the NAIA Cross Country Association.
“Many congratulations to Tim Bauer on this outstanding honor,” said SHU Vice President of Student Affairs, Michael Orlando. “Tim has humbly poured decades of love and talent into so many students and his peers over many decades of distinguished service. I admire Tim for how he truly leads as a Champion of Character. The heart of how he cares for each and every member of our community like family and the methods to bring out the best in so many should be a master class for us all.”
Permanent home
Once Bauer got to Siena Heights, he found good reasons to stay.
“Our boss at the time, Fred Smith, and everybody there let us do our thing. It’s a very good school and he told us to go build the program.”
He looked at possible coaching jobs at the University of Toledo and at Lindenwood in Missouri.
“But every time it came back to, I just felt comfortable with all the kids, and we wanted to build something,” Bauer said.
“I think loyalty is a big thing. Lindenwood was a big NAIA program. But it was January and I had just recruited these kids and talked with their parents about coming here, and I didn’t take it. About 10 years ago, I just decided I’m going to stay here.”
NAIA flavor
Bauer said longevity at the NAIA level is not uncommon.
“You’ll see guys at places 40 or 50 years. The NAIA was the first national championships for women. We’d be pretty much equivalent to Division II. It’s more about the student-athlete and the relationships.”
Bauer, who coached both the men’s and women’s teams for a total of 28 years, noted that many track Olympians started at NAIA schools.
“Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan were in the old NAIA. We held in there and we’re still around. We can run against anybody we want to put on our schedule, like Michigan, Michigan State. We’ve gotten to run against a lot of big schools. That makes it fun and helps recruiting.”
He admits that coaching remains a challenge with the presence of social media and the emergence of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) for collegians.
“It’s different now. A lot of social media stuff. We never had that stuff in my day. But some kids still want that discipline. They want to be pushed and be tough. We just had our homecoming last week and it’s evident that so many kids come back to visit.”
Bauer, who plans to continue coaching for a few more years, also thanked the administration for investing in the program.
“They built us a beautiful new track about 11 years ago. It’s really nice. The buildings here are beautiful. I’m fortunate that I’ve gotten to hang around as long as I have.”
About Siena Heights
Siena Heights University is a private Roman Catholic university in Adrian, Michigan. It was founded by the Adrian Dominican Sisters in 1919. Its enrollment is 1,200 undergraduate students. Its student-faculty ratio is about 15:1.