Coach Mike McLean took the reins of Rocky Mountain College’s cross country and track and field teams in 2015.
His coaching career spans over 30 years in the Flathead Valley of northwest Montana. McLean spent the previous eight years coaching cross country and distance track at Glacier High School. In 2013 and 2014, the Glacier boys won the Mountain West XC Classic, the largest cross country race in Montana, which also includes teams from Idaho, Wyoming, and Washington. Three of McLean’s student-athletes were named All-State in cross country in 2014 and two Glacier cross country athletes qualified for the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships.
McLean helped restart the Flathead Valley Community College cross country team in 1996. He coached the Highlanders track and field program for 24 years and spent four years as an assistant cross country coach at Columbia Falls High School.
McLean graduated from Ridgefield Park High School in Ridgefield Park, N.J., and competed for Rowan University in cross country and indoor and outdoor track. He competed in races from 800 meters to 10,000 meters, including the 3,000 meter steeplechase. Coach McLean has run in hundreds of road races, track meets, and cross country races, including 13 marathons across the United States and Canada.
He has coached eight track and field All-Americans over the course of his career. Six of those are with the Battlin’ Bears. At Flathead Community College, he coached a national champion and a runner-up.
Coach McLean believes running should be fun, but stresses academic success and sets no limits for the student-athletes he coaches.His hobbies include most outdoor activities, including running, camping, hiking, fishing, gold mining, and spending time in Montana, Arizona, and Hawaii.
McLean’s family includes his daughter, Ann Marie, and her husband, Alex, and sons Mark and Matthew.