UMD's Fulkrod Retiring at End of Season

This weekend, University of Minnesota -Duluth's John Fulkrod will make his final trip to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Indoor Championships as the team's head coach.

After 39 years working in the University of Minnesota system, this spring the 68-year-old Fulkrod (pictured) will retire from his coaching duties as well as from his role as a chemistry professor.

Fulkrod and his wife Linda have plans to retire in Florida.

Fulkrod has been UMD's head women's track and field coach since the 2001-2002 season and has been at the helm of them men's track program since 2006. He has been the head men's cross country coach at UMD for the last 19 years and the women's coach for the last 17 years.

Prior to his arrival in Duluth, Fulkrod coached for 20 years at the now-defunct University of Minnesota - Waseca, a two-year school.

In 2002, Fulkrod led the Bulldog women's track team to NSIC indoor and outdoor titles and was named the league's coach of the year at both meets. He added a indoor and outdoor championship to his resume in both 2003 and 2004, and was again named coach of the year outdoors in 2003.

In cross country at UMD, Fulkrod directed the Bulldog men to a pair of berths in the the NCAA Division II Championships in 2003 and 2004. Fulkrod's teams captured 11 consecutive Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference titles from 1993-2003.

Under Fulkrod's stewardship, the UMD women ran off with 10 straight NSIC crowns from 1994-2003 and qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships in 1994, 2008, and 2009.

A native of East Peoria, Ill., Fulkrod started the Minnesota-Waseca men's cross country and track and field programs in 1972-73 and stayed on as the Ram's head coach for two decades. He also headed the women's cross country and track and field teams for 15 years before Minnesota-Waseca closed in May 1992.

A member of the Minnesota Community College Conference Hall of Fame, Fulkrod earned his bachelor's degree in 1963 from Eureka College, his master's from Purdue University in 1967, and his Ph.D. from Iowa State in 1971.

Photo courtesy of UMD.