Coach brings Olympic perspective to Lehman

Correction appended.

Joel Phillip has packed a lot of accomplishments into his 28 years.

In college, the native of Grenada won the 2007 National Championship in the Decathlon while also earning the national title in the 4x400 meter relay while at Central Arizona College. A year later at Arizona State, where he would eventually become a three-time All-American, Phillip and his Sun Devils team finished first in the 2008 NCAA Indoor Track National Championships.

And all this came before he represented Grenada in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

So bolstered with that impressive resume, what was one of the first things that happened to Lehman College’s new track and field coach upon his arrival at the Bronx school?

“I got locked in the stairway,” Phillip said laughing. “I thought there was a stairway to get to the track from my office but I didn’t know which one exactly and I got locked in there for a while. But I know my way now.”

Being the head track coach for both the men’s and women’s teams at Lehman College might be a long way from his glory days at Arizona and in China, but Phillip is a rare commodity — a man happy in his work and one who can’t wait to start his day.

“It’s been a little hectic getting used to everything,” Phillip said. “This is my first head coaching job. It’s been interesting but I love it. The most challenging part, though, is being that it’s a Division III school there are no scholarships and you really can’t make the athletes do what you want them to do. You can ask them and hope they do what you say. But that’s my biggest obstacle so far.”

When he took the reins of his new job back in August, Phillip did not know if his new athletes would know who he was. But even before they had their first team meeting, he found out they had a pretty good idea of who their new coach was and what he had accomplished. All thanks to the Internet.