Head Coach Mark Drummond (2nd season)High School: West Deptford
College: Rowan University (1997)
Major: Small Business Management
The Mark Drummond era is off to a good start at Rutgers University-Camden.
In his first scholastic year with the Scarlet Raptors’ cross country, indoor track and outdoor track programs in 2013-14, Drummond experienced plenty of highlights while laying the foundation for improved and sustainable success in the future. Drummond’s programs earned 13 berths on the All-New Jersey Athletic Conference teams, including five NJAC championships, captured a pair of NJAC academic honors, and saw senior Matt Curtis earn All-American honors in the 400-meter hurdles during outdoor track season.
With no time to recruit after being hired during the 2013 summer, Drummond jumped into the collegiate cross country season with a bang. Joe Meehan earned All-NJAC Second Team honors for the men’s program, while a young and talented women’s team finished with 166 points at the conference meet, their best showing in four years.
During Drummond’s first indoor track season, his men tied for their highest NJAC showing ever (fifth place) and set the program’s record with 61 points at the NJAC Championship meet. They featured three conference champions and saw Curtis earn honors as the Outstanding Male Athlete at the event.
In outdoor season the men and women compiled 51 and 11 points, respectively, at the NJAC Championships. It was the most points for the men since scoring 56 in 2010 and most for the women since 13.5 in 2012. Curtis’ All-America honors capped a huge first year for Drummond.
Drummond's Rutgers-Camden recordA 1993 graduate of West Deptford High School where he was a member of the first cross country team in program history to qualify for the state championship meet, Drummond has been coaching on the high school level since 2003, most recently at his alma mater. He also has coached at Haddon Heights High School and Rancocas Valley High School.
Drummond rebuilt the Haddon Heights Girls’ Cross Country program in 2003 and within two years led the Garnets to a Colonial Conference title. He also started the first full Girls’ Winter Track team at Haddon Heights High School and led them to two state titles within the first three years: one relay title and one team championship.
Drummond, who also has coached spring track and served as an assistant swimming coach, helped rebuild the West Deptford Boys’ Cross Country program over the past seven years. He helped the team qualify for the state championship meet three times during that span, helping him play a role on four of the seven teams in school history to reach the state meet – once as an athlete and three times as a coach.
Drummond has coached numerous individual state champions and place winners in track and cross country. He also has served as a camp counselor at the Runningworks Cross Country Camp and as Vice-President of the Gloucester County Running Club youth program.
A USATF Level 1 Certified Coach, Drummond will be reunited with his former scholastic stars Matt Curtis and Leo Impagliazzo at Rutgers-Camden. He also has coached athletes who have gone on to compete in track and cross country at New Jersey Conference rivals Richard Stockton College and Rowan University, as well as LaSalle, North Carolina-Wilmington, Elon, Fairleigh Dickinson, Towson and East Carolina.
Drummond graduated from Rowan University in 1997 with a Bachelor’s degree in Small Business Management and received his Master’s in Educational Leadership from Delaware Valley College in 2012. He has been teaching at West Deptford High School since 2006 as a Business Education teacher and serves the school as the Marketing Education Coordinator.
Drummond lives in Gibbstown with his wife Colleen and three-year old twins.
