Graeme Badger joined the Mountain Lion coaching staff in the spring of 1996 to initiate the men’s and women’s cross country program at CU-Colorado Springs. Now in his ninth season on the job, he has built the cross country program into national prominence, gaining a Division II national ranking each of the last seven years.
He was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s cross country coach of the year in 2000 after guiding the women’s team to a No. 10 national ranking, the highest ever achieved by a CU-Colorado Springs athletic team in any sport.
In 2000, he personally raised the money to begin a track & field program, which immediately began churning out All-American performers. Between the cross country and track & filed programs, Badger has been instrumental in the development of 15 All-Americans (Kira Claussen, Sarah Vigil, Sarah Gray, Maddi Bosen, Amanda Occhi, Greg Augspurger, Trent Briney (who reached that status four times), Tina Gray (twice), Levi Brathall, and Moses Tum (twice).
Badger brought a wealth of coaching and competitive experience to CU-Colorado Springs. He previously was an assistant coach for cross country and track & field at the Air Force Academy for three years before being tasked with establishing and developing the CU-Colorado Springs program. He was instrumental in helping the Falcons capture their first Western Athletic Conference cross country championship and a 14th place finish at the Division I national meet in 1991. Two years later, the Air Force women’s team finished fifth at the Division II national meet. Badger also served as camp director for the Air Force Track Camps.
Badger is retired from his job as a social studies and physical education teacher at Doherty High School in Colorado Springs, where he was the head cross country and assistant track coach from 1979-89. He has coached four marathoners who met qualifying standards for the Olympic Trials between 1978 and 1994. Badger has been an invited speaker at several clinics, including the Converse National Cross Country Clinic, the Garden of the Gods Clinic, the United States Swimming National Level Coaches Class and the Triathlon Federation National Clinic.
Badger received his bachelor’s degree in Russian Studies with minors in Russian, history and geography from the University of Michigan in 1968, then a master’s in teaching from Colorado College in 1979.
Graeme and his wife, Sandra, have been married for 33 years and have one son, Jack.
