Viterbo's new cross country head coach Marcia Taddy has always had a strong competitive side in running as well as a passion for coaching and teaching in higher education. High school running led her to a decorated collegiate career with eight national championships and 17 All American honors in cross-country and middle-distance track events.

While attending UW-Platteville, Taddy was a 17-time All-American in cross country and indoor/outdoor track and field, and a two-time NCAA DIII Track Athlete of the Year. She was also the MVP of the NCAA DIII National Meet twice while winning eight national championships.

Five times she was the Regional Track/Cross Country Athlete of the Year. She was the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Female Track Athlete of the Meet six times, won 19 WIAC championships, and was the WIAC Scholar Athlete of the Year. She was named the UWP Pioneers' Female Athlete of the Year three times, the Student-Athlete of the Year twice, and CoSIDA Academic All-America First-Team.

She was named to the WIAC Track and Field All-Century Team and was inducted into the USATFCCCA Hall of Fame in 2022.

Taddy moved to La Crosse in the fall of 2017 from Platteville with her husband, Corey, and their son, Jace. The move was exciting but exhausting, having had their wedding about a month before, bought a house the following week, and made the move Labor Day weekend, all to start graduate school the Tuesday after Labor Day.

“La Crosse excited us as we loved the feel of a big city with small town vibes and that it was on the water.” Taddy said. “I grew up on the east side of Wisconsin in a smaller town of Two Rivers, right on Lake Michigan, and I was definitely enticed by living near water again.”

Taddy graduated in spring 2019 with her Master of Science degree in exercise science—Applied Sport Science from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where she was also an assistant middle distance/distance running coach for the powerhouse NCAA D3 Eagles cross country and track teams.

In the fall of 2019, they welcomed their daughter, Iris. The COVID-19 pandemic allowed Taddy to spend time at home while also staying in her assistant coaching role as mandates permitted.

In summer 2021, Taddy took the position as assistant cross country coach and lecturer at her alma mater, UW-Platteville, under her former collegiate coach, Tom Antczak, who recently retired. “It was exciting and nostalgic to be back at UW-Platteville to coach and teach in the department I graduated from,” said Taddy, who earned a bachelor’s degree in health promotion at Platteville.

La Crosse and all its offerings as a community had a strong pull for Taddy and her family. “Two years was long and short all at the same time, especially with the two-hour commute. As a family, we knew La Crosse is a place where our family can flourish. Opportunities happen when you need them to, and I am thankful for this new chapter as a head coach at Viterbo,” Taddy said.

How (and/or why) did you come to be at Viterbo?

We moved to La Crosse in 2017 as a family because the area was very attractive to us and I wanted to obtain my master’s degree in exercise science. Viterbo cross country head coach Don Fritsch contacted me with the news of his retirement, and we talked about my interest in applying for the position. The past two years I have been the assistant cross country coach and a lecturer in human performance at UW-Platteville while commuting from La Crosse each week. The running community is a tight-knit group, and I am thankful for the connections and mentors I made here in the Coulee Region as an assistant coach during and after my time as a graduate student at UW-La Crosse. I have known Coach Fritsch for many years during my time racing/coaching and his time coaching and it is an honor that he thought of me to take the V-Hawks into their next chapter.

What do you love most about working at Viterbo?

I only started about a month ago, but I love how friendly everyone has been during my onboarding into the campus community. The campus has a small-town spirit where “everyone knows your name” and they truly are there to help everyone succeed. I am also very interested to see more of how the core values are woven into the everyday activities on the campus. During our time in La Crosse, I also realized Viterbo’s strong commitment to academic success, which is also very attractive to me. In my short time on campus, I can feel the importance of the core values and commitment to excellence, and I think it’s a great way to steer a campus.

What inspires you?

What inspires me is seeing other people’s potential. As a coach, this is exciting and what we truly try to pull out in all our student-athletes. Of course, I want them to succeed on the course or track, but I also want to help them reach their other personal goals.

I’ve adopted the bucket theory of stress from my mentor and highly respected coach, Tom Antczak, and use it to help my student-athletes. We are the bucket and stressors in life, good or bad, are the spigots pouring into it. If one of those stressors gets turned on full blast, the bucket is going to fill up faster or overflow. Now the water spilling out isn’t just one color, it’s probably brown, a mixture of them all, meaning all areas in life are affected. The one I completely control as a coach is athletics, and I can help turn this one back or completely off. Sharing this mindset of how overflowing stress in one area can spill into all areas with my student-athletes not only helps them prioritize as young adults, but also helps them reach their potential.

I also love seeing this with my family and my spouse, Corey. It is in a different light, but truly genuine as it is not in the realm of “work related.” I think seeing and realizing the possibilities of potential has made me a much more understanding and stronger coach.

What advice would you give to students regarding heading out into “the real world”?

Moving out of student-life, I would encourage them to continuously seek creativity and knowledge along with being authentically yourself. As a young adult in college, you hopefully get to experience many opportunities through the core values of Viterbo University that help shape your integrity along the way. Put yourself forward and fearlessly seek new ways to better yourself and your community.

Do you have a little-known fun fact about yourself that would surprise students and co-workers?

Besides feeling at home on the course and track, another passion of mine is spending time in the garden, either food or flower! I also hold a degree in horticulture and have always had a fascination with nature and the outdoors. I love watching things grow and the cycle of the year, probably why working at a university has always been so enticing to me.

As far back as I can remember I adored walking in the forest and getting lost wandering from plant to plant. Some of my favorite times to be in the garden are when you can hear the buzzing of bees hurrying around to pollinate, when the wind blows just right to get a whiff of the growing sweet corn, and, lastly, at night as fireflies twinkle in the night garden. Of course, these are even more special times when my kids join in all the fun!

What do others say about you?

I think others say that I take things and people at face value. I don’t like to go off preconceived notions from other sources, and I want to find things out for myself. This probably stems from my coaching background, especially in running when you never know what some miles and determination can do for a student-athlete. I think this allows me to genuinely be myself and be enthusiastic about any adventure I’m on.