BERKELEY – After spending the past 37 years on the California track & field staff, Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Tony Sandoval announced his retirement on Monday. Sandoval, who will coach through the end of the 2019 outdoor track & field season, has coached numerous All-Americans, national champions and Olympians throughout his tenure with the Golden Bears.
 
"It's been an honor and pleasure to coach and mentor at the University of California, Berkeley," Sandoval said. "I have proudly watched young athletes persevere through adversity to become fine men and women who graduate and begin successful careers. I'm thankful for the outstanding friendship and professionalism from some truly outstanding administrators, staff, and track & field assistant coaches, both as a head coach and as a fellow assistant. I'm humbled to be connected with a university and athletic department with such rich and storied history of excellence and diversity. Just as I knew when it was time to hang up my spikes as a collegiate runner, I know it is now time to give up my stopwatch and pass the baton onto someone else to serve this great university. Go Bears!"
 
A national search for Sandoval's replacement will begin later this spring.
 
Sandoval has served in many roles for the Cal track & field program, including the last 12 as Cal's Director of Track & Field and Cross Country. He initially came to Cal as the head coach of the women's team in the fall of 1982 and served in that capacity for nine years before the men's and women's teams combined into a single entity. Sandoval, who coached All-Americans in everything from the 800m to the 10,000m, served as associate director of track & field from 1992-2007.
 
Under Sandoval, the men finished in the top-25 for three consecutive seasons from 2009-11. The men also claimed the 2014 MPSF Indoor championship for the first time in school history, garnering Sandoval NCAA West Region and MPSF Coach of the Year honors.
 
The women's squad finished in the top 20 of the NCAA Outdoor Championship three times between 1987 and 1990 while Sandoval served as head coach. The Bears also claimed a fourth-place finish at the 1990 NCAA Indoor Championships when Sheila Hudson won two of her Cal-record six national titles in the long jump and triple jump. Cal's women scored a program-best 23 points at the 1990 outdoor meet to claim 11th place, tying the 1987 team for the program's highest finish ever.
 
Over the course of his tenure, Sandoval has coached 12 individual national champions: Louise Romo (1982 outdoor 800m) Sheila Hudson (1987, 1988, 1990 outdoor triple jump, 1990 indoor triple jump, 1990 indoor and outdoor long jump),  Alysia Johnson (2007 indoor & outdoor 800m), Katie Morgan (2008 pole vault), Martin Maric (2009 discus) and Mike Morrison (2011 decathlon).
 
He has coached Olympians in Hudson (triple jump, Atlanta), Bolota Asmerom (5000m, Sydney), Magdalena Lewy (marathon, Beijing), Johnson (800m, London), Kari Karlsson (marathon, London) and David Torrence (5000m, Rio De Janeiro). In addition to Johnson and Hudson, Cal Hall of Famers Louise Romo and Kirsten O'Hara worked with Sandoval throughout their careers as Bears. Romo was the first Cal woman to win an individual title when she claimed the 1982 AIAW Championship in the 800m while O'Hara earned five All-American honors on the track and in cross country.
 
Sandoval has also coached some standout student-athletes in his mid-distance specialty. Torrence, a Sandoval pupil, went on to set the American record in the indoor 1000m with a time of 2:16.76. After switching nationalities, Torrence ran at the 2016 Rio Olympics for Peru where he took 15th in the 5000m. He holds the Peru national records in the 800m, 1500m, mile and 5000m races. Sandoval has also coached numerous notable All-Americans such as Richie Boulet, Michael Coe, Kevin Davis, Thomas Joyce, Mark Matusak, Sebastian Sam and Steve Sodaro.
 
On the women's side, Johnson (now running as Alysia Montaño) is a seven-time USA champion who represented the United States in the 800m at the 2007 and 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics. She had the fastest time in the world in the 800m in 2010 and completed her collegiate career with six All-America awards in addition to two NCAA championships. There have also been a host of conference champions and All-Americans to don the blue and gold under Sandoval's tutelage, including Erin Belger, Marilyn Davis, Sabrina Han, Chloe Jarvis, Deborah Maier, Sofia Oberg, Chelsea Reilly and Elissa Riedy.
 
Sandoval and his wife, Barbara, reside in Pleasant Hill and have two daughters, Lisa and Marcy, who both graduated from Cal. Lisa was a two-time letterwinner in the 3000m steeplechase for the Bears while Marcy served as the team manager during her time on campus.
 
"I want to thank Tony, his wife, Barbara, and the entire Sandoval family for their many years of service to Cal," Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton said. "Tony has dedicated the better portion of his life to the Golden Bear track & field program, and the Cal community and his impact will be felt for years to come. Tony has served as an instrumental leader for our program for 37 years, helping student-athletes succeed on the track, in the classroom and in their preparation for life. He is truly what it means to be a Golden Bear, and we wish him all the best in his retirement.  We will all miss him!"
 
Sandoval began his collegiate coaching career at his alma mater, New Mexico. He started as an assistant coach for the women's team in 1975, before taking over the head coaching duties. Sandoval graduated from New Mexico in 1968 and received a double master's degree from UNM in exercise physiology, and guidance and counseling in 1974.
 
Sandoval was a three-year letterwinner in cross country and track & field for a New Mexico team that won two Western Athletic Conference titles in cross country and three conference championships in track & field. He was an all-time top 10 performer in UNM history in both the mile and two mile.