After being part of the Otterbein University’s athletic department for over 40 years, women’s track & field coach Dave Lehman announced in December that he’s stepping down at the end of the track & field season this year. But don’t expect the veteran coach to go very far away from the Cardinals. “When people ask me ‘What are you going to do now that you’ve retired?’ my wife (Claudia) likes to say ‘Probably the same thing he does now but he won’t have the responsibility,’” says Lehman who coached the men’s and women’s cross country team from 1970-2000 and the women’s team for the 2011-12 season and was the head coach of track program from 2009-14. “I’d love to continue to be involved in some way and help out with events here. If they want some volunteer help, I’ll be around.” “Dave has coached decades of athletes at Otterbein,” Otterbein athletic director Dawn Stewart adds. “In a lot of ways his retirement is an end of an era.” LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Whoever the university hires as the new track & field coach won’t have to look very far to find Lehman for advice. The outgoing coach’s backyard is right next to the school’s Memorial Stadium. When he was starting out as the school’s cross country coach in 1970, Dave and Claudia Lehman were looking for a house. As any good realtor will tell you, it’s all about location. Once a house opened up on West Avenue, the search was over. “I called my wife and said I think there’s a house we should buy,” Lehman says. “She asked, ‘Where is it?’ I said it’s near the stadium. She asked me ‘What is the house like?’ I said ‘I don’t know. I haven’t been in it yet but it’s near the stadium.’” “I don’t think Claudia really had a choice in the matter,” Stewart jokes. That story tells so much about Lehman. It’s not uncommon to drive by the athletic complex and see Lehman setting up a cross country course or organizing things for a track meet. “Dave spends an endless amount of time preparing that course so his kids and the athletes coming in can have the best experience here,” Stewart says. “Some time ago, the university put up some fencing around the neighborhood Dave lives in. Dave was the only one of his neighbors that asked to have a gate be put in so he could easily get through. “Dave’s one of the most giving and caring coaches I’ve ever come across. His interest is always in what is best for the athletes and for Otterbein. He is just first class all the way.” AN EXTENDED STAY Lehman has spent more time as a part of the Otterbein community than he has outside of it. He graduated from Otterbein in 1970, earning seven varsity letters in cross country and track & field and setting school records in the 880 yards, 600 yards and as a part of the 4x400 relay. When Lehman graduated in 1970, former track coach and athletic director Bud Yoest asked Lehman if he’d be interested in coaching the Cardinals cross country team. Lehman agreed, figuring he’d coach for a few years there before moving on. That was 44 years ago . “That first year I found out how little I knew about coaching. They were the guinea pigs; we learned on the fly, so to speak,” Lehman says. “I just thought ‘this could be fun for a while.’ But (coaching) just gets in your blood. The opportunity and the privilege to work with college kids just kept me going.” During Lehman’s first 30-year stint as the cross country coach, the men’s team won seven Ohio Athletic Conference championships and qualified for the NCAA Division III national championships 10 times. Lehman was named the OAC’s Coach Of The Year seven times. He stepped down as head coach in 2000, but remained on as an assistant coach for 12 years. He returned to be the head coach of the women’s team again for the 2011-12 season. In addition to coaching the cross country teams, Lehman also served as an assistant coach for Otterbein’s track & field program from 1971-2009. He was the school’s head track & field coach from the 2009-14. During that 42-year span, the men’s and women’s teams won a combined total of 11 OAC titles. Lehman earned the Service to Otterbein Award from the Otterbein Alumni Association in 2005 and was inducted in the Otterbein Athletic Hall of Fame in 2012. Ryan Borland, who coaches the girls cross country and track & field teams at Westerville Central High School, says Lehman’s compassion for his athletes is one of the things that makes him successful. Borland, who was a runner on the 1994 team that finished eighth in the nation and was a captain on the 1995 team, wasn’t sure what to make of Lehman the first time the two met. “When I was transferring to Otterbein from Ohio University, a friend of mine set up an appointment for me to meet with (Yoest) and coach Lehman, who was the distance coach,” Borland says. “I was a fairly outgoing person and the track coach was a pretty outgoing person. I don’t think coach Lehman got in two words the whole time I was there visiting. That says a lot about his personality. He’s a pretty laid back guy.” However once Borland became a part of Otterbein’s program, the Lehmans became like his surrogate family. “He always had an open door policy at the house,” Borland says. “His wife was always cooking meals for the team and sewing running pants when they’d tear. They provided us the different things you’d expect your family to do.” Lehman says being involved in a student’s life on and off the course is part of a formula of being a good coach. “The kids want to know that you know the sport and how to train them,” he says. “But kids also want to know that you care about them as individuals. Once they get the sense you do care, they’re going to work really hard for you and have success for themselves.”