Windsor Lancers’ head coaching saga gets Band-aid solution

The University of Windsor, based in southern Ontario, announced the two coaches in charge of leading the track and field team in 2017.

The University of Windsor Lancers track and field team will have two co-coaches for the 2016/2017 season. According to the Windsor Star, Richard Johnston and Kevin DiNardo will be the acting coaches for the next year following the departures of long-time coach Dennis Fairall and Andy Hahn, who quit two weeks after being hired as Fairall’s replacement.

“In due course, the university will make an announcement of continuing the search to fill the head coach track and field position,” reads the official statement released on June 21.

RELATED: Runners share how coach Dennis Fairall shaped their lives.

Fairall, who retired in 2015, spent 29 years as the coach of the southern Ontario-based team, one of Canada’s most successful cross-country and track and field programs. The men’s team won the Canadian Interuniversity Sport indoor championships at York University this year and was headed by the interim coach Brett Lumley, who many believed would become Fairall’s successor.

Lumley tweeted out “Shocked and devastated by today’s Windsor Lancers news,” in May when he was not chosen as the team’s new head coach following the hiring process. Instead, Hahn, a popular coach among the local high school community, was given the head coaching position but quit two weeks after the announcement for personal reasons.

Lumley is currently on medical leave, according to the Windsor Star, just months after winning CIS coach of the year in men’s track and field. The two new hires in Johnston and DiNardo have been with the Windsor Lancers staff as assistant coaches under both Fairall and Lumley.

Johnston will be in charge of track events while DiNardo will oversee the field events.

Windsor does not have a head coach for cross-country though Gary Malloy has been in control of that team for the previous two years. University students compete in cross-country in the fall and indoor track and field in the winter.

Fairall stepped down as head coach in the fall for medical reasons but continues to coach a select group of athletes including Eganville, Ont.’s Melissa Bishop, one of Canada’s top runners and Olympic medal hopefuls and Canadian Running cover girl.

RELATED: Andre De Grasse and Melissa Bishop light up the track on homesoil.

Alumni and people close to the program have started questioning the hiring process and have been vocal on the alumni’s Facebook page demanding a call for action.

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