A familiar face returns to MHCC athletics after a two-year absence to take over as head coach for the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams.

When former head coach Tony Baracco resigned, the position opened up over the summer.

“It was great to come back. I’ve grown a lot in the last two years, and the entire (MHCC) athletic department has grown as a whole,” said Hart.

Hart spent the last season as an assistant track and field coach for Barlow High School. He kept busy with school by getting four years worth of schooling out of the way earning both his bachelor’s degree in health studies and a masters of education at Portland State University in the past two and a half years.

As a former student at Mt. Hood, he earned his AA degree in the spring of 1995. He competed in track in the 400 intermediate hurdles, both relays, 800-meter, 400-meter dash. Undefeated in the 400 intermediate hurdles, he won NWAACC in 1994.

He was then invited to become a member of the coaching staff under Keith Maneval. He held the position as assistant track coach for eight years. After his first two years, he also became the assistant for cross country. In the 2002-03 season, he was an interim head coach for track when the men and women won the NWAACC Southern Region for track and field.

Maneval gave him a rare opportunity: to become an assistant coach at a collegiate program.
“From then on I started learning that learning was fun. I’d learn how to learn.”
Hart is the third head coach on staff that competed for MHCC, joining softball coach Meadow McWhorter and baseball coach Gabe Sandy. “I feel a rapport with them:They were warriors at Mt. Hood, and I was a warrior at Mt. Hood,” said coach Hart.

In his days as a student at MHCC he described himself as “a little bit raw, chaotic, and misguided,” by the way he “flipped out, flaked out, flunked out,” the chaos child, as he would describe himself. He now shares that perspective to help guide people away from going that same path. “My path worked, for better and for worse. I’m happy where I am, but I think other people could get there a lot faster than I got there, by skipping the horse crap,” said Hart.

His perspective has changed since the last time he was here. “I was more about track and cross country. Now I’m all about Mt. Hood, the baseball, the volleyball, etc. and about getting the community involved.”

“To have all individual athletes improve is my number one goal,” said Hart.
Hart is confident that he can bring back this program back to the elite level that it was at prior the last two years.

He didn’t always want to be a coach; Hart said he once wanted to be an architect, cook, and work in criminal justice. He still would like to teach high school, “because you have to do what you got to do in high school to get where you want to be in college,” said Hart.

He can teach health and P.E. and plans on doing some substituting for the local high schools this winter.

Recruiting will be big for Hart.

“From an athlete’s perspective, weight training is key; from a coach’s perspective, recruiting is key,” said Hart. “We are going to have significant impact our first year back for track. Next year it’s going to be lights out.” He and Maneval coached numerous individual NWAACC Championships. “It was great to compete and succeed at this level as an athlete, but the reward you feel as a coach, to impart your knowledge even just a little bit to someone else and have them take that into themselves and achieve greater than you ever achieved, is a great reward,” Hart said.

Athletic Director Fred Schnell said, “We feel his close association with the Mt. Hood Conference and his familiarity with the area high school coaches will help funnel some of the top local students/athletes to the Mt. Hood Community College campus.”

Hart likes to sculpt and in his office he has a picture of one of his sculptures: his rendering of the Incredible Hulk. He also does a little bit of painting. Staying fit is also a necessity for him, not just for the body but also for the mind. He enjoys listening to music that evokes thinking.

When he has a point to make, he likes to get it across to others. “I yell so you can hear me, plus I’m a loud guy, but don’t take it personal. I’m just trying to get the job done. I know how to get the job done so just plug in.”

At times Hart can seem very intense but as he says: “I’ve been described as intense, but what they perceive as intensity, I call passion.”