Odessa College announced Friday the hiring of a new Men’s and Women’s Cross Country/Track and Field Coach.
The new coach, Chris Beene, is excited for the opportunity to rebuild this program. Upon accepting the position, Coach Beene said, “I am very excited to get back into college coaching, especially at Odessa College which had such a great history with Coach Segrest. I’m a West Texas guy from Lubbock, Texas who loves the area and the people. I also love the challenge of building a program that is starting up again and doing it with an athletic director and president who want to win. I feel blessed they hired me to do this job! Go Wranglers!”
OC Athletic Director Wayne Baker said, “Odessa College is very fortunate to be in the position to hire a coach with the history of success that Coach Beene has experienced. He comes to us from a great track and field program, that had proven success on and off the track. I am excited for the future of OC cross country and track and field with Coach Beene guiding our program. We have the unique opportunity to pair a Hall of Fame coach with a brand, new facility.”
Beene served as assistant coach at Abilene Christian University and Texas Tech University and head coach at Wayland Baptist University and South Plains College. While coaching at South Plains, his teams won a record 32 National Team Championships.
Coach Beene stepped out of his coaching role to pursue other business opportunities for a brief period from 2017 to 2018, but he returned to coaching in 2019 as head cross country coach at Coronado High School where he coached two State Champions. From 2021 to the present, he served as head cross country coach and girl’s track coach at Anna High School.
During his coaching career, he has been named National Coach of the Year 14 times and National Coach of the meet 25 times. He also has had over 20 athletes run in the Olympics and/or World Championships, over 50 athletes win National Championships, and over 150 athletes receive All-American status.
In May of 2021, Coach Beene was honored when he was inducted into the NJCAA Coach’s Hall of Fame and again in January of 2024 when he was inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame.
Coach Beene and his wife, Corye, have a daughter, Faith, and a son, Sage.