Eric Thatcher was named Radford's head cross country coach/assistant track and field coach in August 2015 and is entering his third season in the position.
Thatcher oversees the Highlanders' cross country teams and work with the women's track distance crew.
In his second season, the Highlanders' men's team placed four runners in the Top 20, while taking third place in the Big South Championships. The finish was the highest since the 1998 season.
Radford, meanwhile, put itself in the top third of the conference for the first time since 1990, as its only third-place finishes after that had come with fewer than nine teams in the league.
Individually, Frisco Poole placed 10th in the 83-runner field to become the first male Highlander to earn All-Conference cross country honors since Dawit Legesse did so three straight years from 2006-08. Poole clocked an 8K time of 25:58.73.
In the 2016 NCAA Southeast Regional, Radford placed three runners in the top half of the field as the top five combined for a score of 542, placing the squad 22nd in the 29-team field, one spot ahead of Clemson, and third among Big South schools.
Poole followed up his all-conference performance and led the way again for Radford, finishing 64th out of 203 runners in the 10K race with a time of 31:02.5.
Prior to his first head coaching position, Thatcher spent three years at Bowling Green State, having direct oversight of the men's cross country program while assisting with the women's distance runners.
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During his first men's cross country season at BGSU in 2013, Thatcher guided Jason Salyer to a sixth-place finish at the MAC Championships to become the Falcons' first men's cross country runner to be named First-Team All-MAC since 1995. Salyer added a 51st-place finish out of 207 runners at the NCAA Regional Championships and was third of 289 runners at the All-Ohio Championships.
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In addition to their athletic accolades, Thatcher's student-athletes were equally as impressive in the classroom. His men's cross country teams ranked in the top 10 of the USTFCCCA academic team rankings two of the last three years.
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A Lakeview, Ohio native, Thatcher went to Bowling Green after spending seven years (2005-12) with the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC), where he competed as an athlete and coach.
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Thatcher was an assistant coach at Heidelberg University, working with the cross country and track and field programs from 2010-12. While at Heidelberg, Thatcher's duties included training the mid-distance groups, serving as recruiting coordinator, and conducting operational duties for team travel and fundraising.
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Prior to his stint at Heidelberg, Thatcher participated in cross country and track and field at Ohio Northern University for four years, where he was a three-time all-conference honoree. Thatcher was also part of five OAC championship teams, and was a NCAA DIII National Cross Country Championship qualifier as the team placed 11th.
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Thatcher assisted an Ohio Northern program that had both men's and women's individual cross country conference champions in 2009. The program also won a team championship in women's cross country and men's and women's indoor track and field in his one season as a student-assistant coach.
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While attending Ohio Northern, Thatcher was a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Habitat for Humanity, while also being named to the dean's list four times.
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Thatcher, who is USATF Level I Coaching Certified, graduated from Ohio Northern University in May of 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in business administration and a Bachelor of Arts in sport management. He completed his master's degree from Heidelberg University in education in May 2014. Thatcher and his wife, Erica, have two children: Braden and Lillian.
