By Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org
Just as Blacksburg High School completes the spring track season, it has learned it will need a new coach for next year as Brandon Bear is leaving for a new job in New York.
Bear began his career at Blacksburg as a volunteer assistant coach for then-BHS coach James DeMarco in the 2010 cross-country season. He then became an assistant coach for the indoor track season. When DeMarco moved in the fall of 2015, Bear transitioned into the head coaching role for all six programs (boys and girls cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field).
During his tenure, he coached seven state championship teams and 43 individual and relay state champions. Two athletes have broken Virginia state records across all classifications in the 2000m Steeplechase (2017, Ben Fleming) and the 1-Mile Race Walk (2019, Oscar Coddington). For the school’s current classification of 4A, two athletes who hold state records: Kaitlynn Wolfe (3200m) and Cole Beck (indoor 55m).
The girls cross-country team qualified for the Nike Cross National Championships in Portland, Ore., every year Bear was head coach except for 2019, but Wolfe did qualify as an individual.
Three athletes earned All-American status at the national championships: Beck (outdoor 100m), Wolfe (indoor 5000m), and Oscar Coddington (indoor race walk).
Bear was named the Girls Cross-Country Coach of the Year for the State of Virginia in both 2016 and 2017 and named Girls Track & Field Coach of the Year for the State of Virginia by the Virginia High School League and the National Federation of State High School Coaches Association Coaches Association in 2019.
Bear’s wife took a job in Albany, N.Y., after earning her doctorate at Virginia Tech.
“She graciously agreed that I should finish out the year with my student-athletes, especially considering the already existent strain on the students from dealing with the abnormal situation of the COVID pandemic,” Bear said. “But now the time has come for me to join her in our first house, and I’ll be starting a job as an AP physics and math teacher at a charter high school in the Albany area this fall.”
Bear is leaving without having a coaching job lined up. Instead he wants to see what his new life will look like and get the chance to settle down. “But it’s a passion that I don’t want to lose and am eagerly looking forward to the opportunity to potentially build a new running program in that area,” he said.
While looking back at his time at Blacksburg, there are several big events he will remember because, as he said, is a unique experience to go to championship level meets at the state and national level.
“I enjoy thinking back about the little moments where I may have made a difference in a student’s life, to encourage them a little to give running a try, and to see them really take it on and recognize that they can become holistically better versions of themselves. That’s always fun to watch that development,” Bear said.
He said he is encouraged not only by the enthusiasm of the current coaching staff and the new distance coach, but by the shared vision of the athletes still in the program at Blacksburg.
“Ultimately the success of the program begins and ends with them,” Bear said. “If they keep the tradition in mind and the passion alive, then the program will continue to have success for years to come, and together the new coach and the athletes will do amazing things. I’m excited to watch their continued success from afar.”
Bear is definitely interested in continuing his coaching career in some aspect. “I love the ability to influence young adults in the unique environment of high school athletics. There are tangible benefits that it provides for them, and to be able to make a difference in a new population is an exciting challenge,” he said.
