Women's Cross Country Coaches

Mitchell Baker joined the Brown staff as Head Coach of Women's Cross Country and Assistant Coach of Track and Field in charge of women's middle and long distance events in August 2011. Prior to arriving on College Hill, Baker spent four years as an assistant coach at Williams College in Massachusetts, serving first as a cross country assistant and then four years as the primary event coach for the men and women competing in the middle distances.

At Williams, Baker assisted teams that garnered seven finishes in the NCAA top-ten, eleven Division III New England Regional Championships, and eleven New England Small College Athletic Conference titles. As the day-to-day coach of the middle-distance events, ten student-athletes earned a total of twenty-two All-American awards. Of those, ten came by virtue of top-three NCAA finishes, including the men's outdoor 5,000-meter champion in 2010, later named USTFCCCA Outdoor Track Scholar Athlete of the Year. Another of his student-athletes raced to runner-up NCAA Outdoor 1,500-meter finishes in consecutive years, was named New England Regional Athlete of the Year and qualified for the 2009 USATF Senior Championships in Eugene, Oregon, with the eighth fastest time in Division III history. In addition to the All-American performances, student-athletes from his group competed at the NCAA Championships eleven additional times, and fifteen more performances made the NCAA provisional or automatic cut.

During the two fall seasons that Baker assisted Pete Farwell, his former coach and the long-time Head of Cross Country at Williams, the men and women's squads earned third-place, podium finishes in 2008 and three athletes earned All-American honors. Academically, the teams nabbed USTFCCCA Academic honors both years with the 2008 men's team earning National Academic Team of the Year.

One of four children of Drs. Edward and Molly Baker in Macomb, Illinois, Baker followed his oldest sister into running and by the end of high school had placed runner-up at the state meet three times. He was All-New England and competed three times at the NCAA meet for Williams and, as a senior, was cross country captain and recipient of the program's endowed Plansky (cross country) and Creem (track and field) Awards. He studied Art Studio and, after an archaeology fellowship to France upon graduation, pursued architecture in New York City. Inspired by a winter academic term studying public art at Stanford but also shadowing Coach Frank Gagliano, then of The Nike Farm Team, he coupled architecture with coaching high school, first at LaSalle Academy and then Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx.

Baker completed the USATF Level 1 Education School and was certified by the USTFCCCA Track and Field Academy for the jumping events. Encouraged by his former boss at Williams, Fletcher Brooks, in the fall of 2009 Baker traveled to Kenya and learned from Renato Canova, former Head Coach of Italy, Qatar, and current IAAF Lecturer on Endurance. In his personal life, his greatest influence has been the example and support of his parents.

Tim Springfield was named the Interim Director of Track & Field/Cross Country in September of 2012.  He joined the Brown staff as the head men's cross country coach in September, 2010, and has made an immediate impact on the distance program. In 2011, the cross country team improved from eighth to fifth in the NCAA Northeast Region and eighth to fourth in the Ivy League. At the 2011 Heptagonal Cross Country Championships, Brown had two runners earn first-team All-Ivy honors, equaling the best in the league. 

Springfield's impact has been even more evident in the track season. In the 2012 track season, five distance runners qualified for the first round of the NCAA Championships, and two athletes advanced to the NCAA National Championships. Cross Country and Track All-American Dan Lowry broke a twenty-five-year-old school record in the 5000m, running 13:34.49 and qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

In addition to the strengthened national presence for Brown's distance runners, the team's quality depth has greatly improved as well. In Springfield's two seasons at Brown, the distance squad placed 25 marks on the all-time Brown top-ten list, including two school records (5000m and 4x800m) and ten all-time top 4 performances. Bolstered by strong recruiting success, the future looks very bright for Brown's distance program.

Before coming to Brown, Springfield coached at the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) and at the University of Wisconsin.

At St. Thomas, Springfield had a hand in 53 conference team titles over a span of 13 years for men and women in cross country and track. His women's distance medley relay was the 2010 DIII National Champions, and his athletes established 32 school record performances in 11 middle- and long-distance events. He also coached 14 different middle- and long-distance runners to 45 All-American awards. For his efforts, Springfield was named the Division III National Men's Assistant Coach of the Year in 2009.

Springfield also served as an Adjunct Professor of English at St. Thomas, teaching literature and writing.

Prior to his tenure at St. Thomas, Springfield was an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin, during which time the Badgers won six Big Ten Cross Country titles, two Big Ten Track titles, and one NCAA National title. Among the athletes Springfield helped recruit to Wisconsin were two eventual NCAA champions.

Springfield competed collegiately at the University of Virginia, where he was a cross country All-American and led his team to an ACC team title and a 5th place national finish. He also broke the Virginia school record in the indoor 5000m and was twice ACC runner-up. As a freshman at Virginia, he earned a spot on the USA Junior National Team and competed in the 1500m at the Junior Pan-American games in Venezuela.

He graduated with a degree in English Literature from Virginia and also holds a graduate degree in Literature from the University of Wisconsin. As a post-collegiate, he placed 6th in the US Cross Country Championships.

Springfield is married and lives with his wife Mary Heather Smith in Providence.