Paul Brueske enters his 13th season with South Alabama’s cross country/track & field program, and his 12th season as head coach for both programs. Under his direction, the USA cross country and track & field teams have produced 104 all-SBC performers and 74 student-athletes who have participated in the NCAA East Region Preliminary Round. Since the spring of 2011, eight individuals have advanced to the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships on twelve occasions, with both Renaldo Frechou, Lindsay Swartz, Sean Collins and Emilie Berge earning first- or second-team All-American honors multiple times. Jan-Lou Kotze earned first-team All-American honors in 2016, while Kaitlyn Beans received second-team All-American accolades that same season. Brueske was honored in 2016 as Women’s Coach of the Year - the first of his career - after leading the Jaguars to their first ever outright conference championship as the South Alabama women’s track and field team took the 2016 outdoor championship.
Since Brueske’s arrival, Jaguar student-athletes have set 49 school records, while breaking a pair of league standards.
In throwing events, the Jags have claimed 21 titles at the Sun Belt Championships collecting all-league honors on 66 occasions. Every school record in the throwing events, except the men’s javelin, has been broken during Brueske’s tenure.
The Jaguars had an all-conference performer in the men’s discus 10-consecutive years (2008-2017), with seven of those years included a Sun Belt champion.
A remnant of Brueske’s first recruiting class at the university, Schwartz was a three-time NCAA All-American, a USTFCCCA Division I Academic All-American, a three-time all-SBC honoree in the outdoor heptathlon and two-time indoor pentathlon champion, while being named the 2011 SBC Most Outstanding Female Field Performer and the 2011-12 USA Female Student-Athlete of the Year. After posting a then-school-record 5,606 points in the heptathlon at the Texas Relays, Schwartz qualified to compete at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., where she set a new school record with 5,614 points for 14th overall.
The nine Sun Belt individual champions to place in throwing events under Brueske include: Michaela Preachuck (weight throw, 2018; hammer, 2018-19), Autavia Fluker (indoor shot put, 2019; outdoor shot put 2019), Hanna-Mai Vaikla (javelin, 2018), Frechou (hammer, 2014-15), Leah Hixon (javelin, 2014), Kotze (discus 2013-15), Angela McCord (javelin, 2010), Joey Torres (discus, 2010-12; hammer, 2011; weight throw, 2011), and Bobbie Williamson (hammer, 213). In all 22 Jaguars have qualified for the NCAA regional round, in the throws events, with four advancing to the national championships. Frechou would pick up first-team All-American accolades after finishing seventh in his first trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, then improving the following season finishing fifth, while Torres - native of Bayamon, Puerto Rico - set a national record in the discus with a mark of 56.23m that also broke the Sun Belt record. Kotze was a first-team All-American in 2016 placing fifth in the discus at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The Jaguars have experienced academic success under Brueske’s watch as well. South Alabama has been named a USTFCCCA All-Academic team on eight occasions, while the Jags have receieved the team award for the highest grade-point average in the Sun Belt including sweeping the honors for both men and women in the 2014-15 academic year. Kotze became the first member of the men’s program to be named Academic All-American by the College Sports Information Directors of America and was awarded the Elite 90 Award as the top student-athlete GPA at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships. The men’s team won the top academic Sun Belt honors for best men’s track team GPA three consecutive years (2015-17).
Formerly the head coach of the boys’ track program at St. Paul’s Episcopal High School, Brueske led the team to back-to-back Alabama High School Athletic Association Class 5A outdoor state championships in 2006 and 2007. The Saints were also the 2007 indoor champions. Additionally, 15 student-athletes earned individual state titles during his tenure.
Prior to his arrival at St. Paul’s High, Brueske worked with the UMS-Wright Preparatory track & field program, helping the Bulldogs to three consecutive state high school championships in both the girls and boys divisions during his time there. At UMS-Wright, he worked primarily with the field events and has worked with 15 individual 4A state champions in the throws, high jump and pole vault. He assisted UMS-Wright athletes establish new school records in the pole vault, javelin and shot put. Brueske was also an assistant with the UMS-Wright varsity football team that compiled a 38-4 winning record and won the 2002 4A state championship.
Brueske spent two seasons as the field events coach at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., from 2000-02. At Ferris State, he produced 14 NCAA qualifiers, three All-Americans and 22 all-conference performers. As an assistant coach, Brueske was in charge of recruiting and coaching all field event athletes. He also helped design strength training programs for the Ferris State golf, hockey and volleyball programs.
A native of Gulf Breeze, Fla., Brueske began coaching at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he spent three seasons. As the Assistant Head Coach, Brueske helped build McGill-Toolen into a 6A county and sectional champion.
A 1998 graduate of South Alabama where he was a member of the track team, Brueske holds USA Track & Field Level II certification in the throwing, jumping and combined events. He is a certified specialist in Sports Conditioning by the International Sports Science Association, a USA (Olympic) weightlifting certified club coach, and a USA Track & Field Level I Instructor. He worked for five years as strength coach for the tennis program at the University of South Alabama. He is a member of the Optimist Club of Mobile and the National Throws Coaches Association. Brueske is also the USA Track & Field Coaching Education Chairman in Alabama. He has been named a Certified Throws Specialist by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. He is also a USAW Certified Sports Performance Coach.
