Geoff Masanet has been named men's and women's cross country coach and assistant track and field coach at Eastern Illinois University,  Dr. Richard McDuffie, Director of Athletics, announced Friday (August 6).

Masanet replaces John McInerney, who resigned to return to fulltime teaching within the EIU physical education department.

"Geoff has a passion for coaching distance runners and a great love for Eastern Illinois University," said Coach Tom Akers.  "That combination made it a natural fit to bring him back as our cross country coach and also work with the distance events on the track team," said Akers, director of track and cross country.

"We knew of Geoff's character when competing here as a student-athlete in the early 1990s.  He has great integrity, a strong work ethic and really cares about the well being of our students. He'll continue the successful cross country tradition that was established by Tom Woodall and John McInerney."

For the past two years Masanet has been the assistant coach in cross country and track at Long Beach State University.

Prior to that he earned five Mid-Continent Conference 'Coach of the Year' honors at Missouri-Kansas City where he was men's/women's head cross country coach for five years (1997-2001).  He also served as head track coach for men and women for three seasons at UMKC.

His 2000 men's track and field team won both indoor and outdoor Mid-Continent Conference championships, and the women's team was outdoor champion that year.

The 1999 women's cross country team was runner-up in the Mid-Continent.  As an assistant the 1997 and 1999 women's indoor track team was league champ, and the 1999 men and women won the Mid-Continent's outdoor titles.

From 1995-96 he was head cross country and track coach for men and women at Northeastern Illinois University and at the time of his hire was the youngest NCAA Division I coach in the country (24 years old).

John McInerney, five-time Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year, 11 years as the Eastern Illinois men's cross country coach and nine as the womens.

During the 2001 season, McInerney coached Eastern to its second consecutive men's championship and first-ever women's title. The men were led by Jason Bialka who won his second straight OVC 'Runner of the Year' award and became the first Panther to qualify for the NCAA national championship in consecutive years since joining the Division I ranks.

In 2000, McInerney led the Panthers to their fifth straight upper-division finish as the men's team dominated the field while the women finished a close third. All eight of the men's runners finished in the 'Top 9' at the conference meet.

'Coach Mac' also led the men's team to a conference championship in 1998 and 1996 while the women have finished no worse than fourth every year.

Before the start of the 1994 season, McInerney took over as head coach of the women's team, combining the men and women's squads for the first time. He served as an assistant coach for two years before taking over the head coaching reins.

On 60 occasions an athlete has earned cross country all-conference honors under McInerney's leadership, including the first freshman to accomplish the feat (John Eggenberger, 1990).

A distance runner at EIU, McInerney was a three-time NCAA Division II All-American. He was a member of the 1977 national championship cross country team and the 1976 national runner-up track squad. He was a two-time cross country All-American, placing 14th as a junior and 17th his sophomore season.

A 1975 graduate of McHenry High School, McInerney received his bachelor's degree in junior high education from EIU in 1979 and his master's degree from Northern Illinois.