Michigan State University Athletics
Coach Walt Drenth Headed to MSU Athletics Hall of Fame
9/10/2026 1:19:00 PM | Cross Country, Track and Field
In addition to Drenth, the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2026 includes Lindsay Bowen (women's basketball), Dan Currie (football), Tico Duckett (football/men's track & field), Sue Latter-Addison (women's cross country and track & field), Kalin Lucas (men's basketball) and Leah O'Connor (women's cross country and track & field).Â
The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Celebration will take place on Friday, Sept. 11.  There will also be a special recognition of the 2026 MSU Athletics Hall of Fame Class during the Michigan State-Eastern Michigan football game at Spartan Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 12.
The MSU Athletics Hall of Fame, located in the Clara Bell Smith Student-Athlete Academic Center, opened on Oct. 1, 1999, and displays plaques of the 193 previous inductees. The charter class of 30 former Spartan student-athletes, coaches and administrators was inducted in 1992.Â
Walt Drenth
Cross Country/Track and Field (Coach 2004-20)
Charlevoix, Mich.
One of the most decorated head coaches in Michigan State Athletics history, former Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Walt Drenth will be immortalized in the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2026.
"This doesn't happen without the support of my wife and family," said Drenth. "Coaching is very demanding of time and energy, and to be able to do it at a high level is quite a privilege. After all of the time I was gone and the demands of coaching, I can't say enough about their contributions."
Hired as the head men's cross country coach in 2004 and later appointed as the director of men's and women's track & field and cross country in 2006, Drenth led Michigan State to heights that few coaches have reached in Big Ten history, ranking third all-time with five women's cross country conference titles (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2019) in addition to the 2015 Big Ten women's outdoor track & field championship. His 2014 NCAA women's cross country national championship stands today as the most recent national team title at MSU.
"I feel a great sense of gratitude for the people that I worked with at Michigan State," said Drenth. "The athletes, the staff, and everyone who helped us become competitive. You don't become competitive in a vacuum, so I'm grateful for all of the people at MSU that chose to surround themselves within our program."
Throughout his tenure as a Spartan, Drenth was a six-time Big Ten Coach of the Year (Women's XC - 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2019; Women's Outdoor Track & Field – 2015), a five-time Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year (Women's XC – 2006, 2007, 2010, 2014; Men's XC – 2017) and the 2014 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Women's National Coach of the Year.
"The relationships are what I take away from my time at Michigan State," Drenth said. "The culmination of things that were able to happen are the result of mentoring amazing people, and phenomenal parents, that can have a cumulative effect of a lot of positive influences. For me, one of the great joys of coaching was just watching amazing people grow and recognizing that great people can come from anywhere if they put the work in."
On the track and the course, Drenth's student-athletes combined for two individual NCAA titles, 37 Big Ten titles, 51 NCAA Championships berths and 180 All-American honors. In the classroom, Michigan State tallied 18 Academic All-American teams, 81 individual Academic All-Americans and 729 Academic All-Big Ten honorees. Throughout Drenth's tenure, his philosophy was to help student-athletes become the best version of themselves as not only athletes, but as people and students, too.
The 2014-15 season was a highlight of Drenth's career, where he saw Michigan State capture two Big Ten titles and a national championship in one year. The women's cross country team winning the 2014 B1G title set the stage for another historic performance at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, where MSU placed four individuals in the Top 21 and recorded 85 points to capture the first national championship in women's program history.Â
Later in the year, distance runner Leah O'Connor-Falland captured her second career individual NCAA title, winning the women's mile in record time at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.
Drenth and the Spartans closed out the 2015 season back in East Lansing where they earned the Big Ten women's outdoor title on their home turf at Ralph Young Field. O'Connor-Falland turned in yet another historic performance for Drenth's Spartans, winning the Big Ten 3,000-meter steeplechase, the 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter races. Michigan State's women posted 128 team points, winning the conference title by 31 points.
"Winning the women's Big Ten Outdoor championship was a really special moment in my career," explained Drenth. "It was very hard. My first year at Michigan State we were last at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships for the women, and to see them grow and to see a staff buy into an idea that you could be more than that, I think was probably as hard as anything. We were able to get a group of kids that believed and worked, and grew, and to see the program become competitive was gratifying."
O'Connor-Falland will be inducted alongside Drenth in the Michigan State Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
"I think it's really cool to be going in at the same time as Leah," said Drenth. "She's certainly well deserving as there are not many people in any conference that score 30 points and to win every event she contested. She was a huge contributor to that Big Ten Championship and part of our group that really bought into the vision."
