Head Cross Country Coach Chris Earley pulls the bus around to the back of the school on a cold fall Saturday morning. As his runners cross in front of the bus he blares the horn at them to make sure they’re good and awake. On the ride to the meet the bus is filled with quiet runners focusing their attention on the race or getting in one last power nap. When they arrive the boys set up camp and the girls head on their warm-up run. Coach Earley gives them one last pump-up speech at the start line and then heads to his spot on the course. 

Coach Earley was hired to teach and coach at Truman in the cool fall of 1994. He will retire at the end of the 2022-23 school year. Earley returned to teach at his former high school in 2007. Early became a social studies teacher so he could become a coach. He loves his teams and has led around 15 runners to State. As Earley became more familiar with the classroom environment he found that he enjoyed his students just as much as coaching his runners. Through his 30 years of teaching and coaching, he always loved the consistent groups of kids. Earley believes that it has been a good year to finish his coaching and teaching career on the team and had a very successful City Championship meet.

“This past season was the first time both boys and girls won at the same time,” Coach Early said. “That was really neat.” 

Coach Earley has been inspiring runners from their first steps on a course or track. Sophomore Paige Snodgrass has run for Coach Early since elementary school. He can always put a smile on his runner’s faces and make them see the best out of any situation. He knows how to connect with every runner and makes an effort to know each one of them personally. Snodgrass has enjoyed learning and accomplishing her goals alongside Coach Earley.

“Earley has had a major impact on me,” Snodgrass said. “He has pushed me as a runner to accomplish many of my goals. He has pushed me to become a varsity runner when I didn’t believe in myself.”  

Coach Earley has taught social studies his whole career. Junior Lexus Butler is a current student in Coach Earley’s 4th hour. She believes he is informative and friendly. 

“He’s very informational and he engages with the students well and knows what he’s talking about and makes good friendships,” Butler said.

Over the years Coach Earley has taken his runners on overnight summer trips for training and competition. The team has gone to places such as Colorado, Oklahoma, and Columbia, MO. Coach Earley loved to take the kids somewhere and watch them grow as people and runners. His favorite trip was to Oklahoma when they went down there to race but ended up helping out the community as well. A big storm had just passed through and the team spent the majority of the time cleaning up the streets and homes of people in need. Coach Earley enjoyed connecting with his kids on their adventures.

“The overnight trips with the kids were always kind of a highlight,” Coach Earley said.  

The gun goes off and the race has begun. He cheers as loud as he can for every single one of his runners. He motivates and believes in everyone the whole race. When they finally cross the finish line he is there to greet and congratulate them on their race no matter what place they finish.