The University of Akron Athletics
Newt Engle: Akron’s Longest-Tenured Head Coach
March 15 | Rifle
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NOTE: This week the University of Akron rifle team was set to make the first appearance in the NCAA Championships in program history. The team arrived in Lexington, Ky., and went through practice rounds on March 12.
Later that day, all participation at every NCAA Championship (winter and spring) was cancelled.
Today we finish the series with the final feature story as we believe our hard-working student-athletes and coaches deserve to have their stories told.
Read the Series:
Lauryn Cinadr: Born to be a Zip
Andre Gross: All-American Zip
Kera Kaufman: Hard Work Pays Off
Wyatt Openshaw: Team Chemistry is Key
Patrick Schnupp: All in the Family
Newt Engle: Akron's Longest-Tenured Head Coach
Imagine you're a junior in college, going to class, going to practice, studying for exams, then bam ... you've been moved up from team captain to head coach of your team in the blink of an eye.
That's exactly what happened to Newt Engle, the University of Akron's rifle coach.
"My coach (Nancy Worsencroft) had a bad accident where she was burned, and she had to go to a dry climate for the skin graphs to take," Engle explained.
She asked her team captain to take over coaching the team, afraid the University would drop the sport with no coach.
"I told Nancy ok. I'll take over just until you come back. And I'm still waiting!" he laughed.
That was 42 years ago.
Akron's longest-tenured head coach in UA history, Engle is among the most respected rifle coaches in the nation. In 2020, he guided the Zips to the highest national ranking in program history (No. 4), the best finish at the Great America Rifle Conference Championship (third), and the first appearance in the NCAA Championships.
But success is nothing new to Engle's UA teams. In fact, it has become a part of its tradition as the program has consistently been ranked as one of the Top 15 teams in the nation. Over the past 40-plus years, no name has become more synonymous with Akron rifle than Engle's. During that time, he has had the opportunity to work with hundreds of exceptional student-athletes.
In 2009, Engle mentored Jenna Compton to the NCAA individual national title in air rifle and a place on the USA Shooting National Development Team. Several other Zips have individually represented Akron at the NCAA Championships with then-freshman Andre Gross earning silver medalist honors in individual smallbore in 2019 with his second-place finish. Gross also earned a position on the prestigious USA Shooting National Development Team.
For the first time during his tenure, Engle expected to take his entire team to the 2020 NCAA Championships, qualifying for the first time in program history.
"We have not been the NCAA Championships (before)," Engle said. "It's always been almost embarrassing to me when I'm recruiting somebody, and they say, 'when's the last time you went to the NCAA Championships?' I haven't been there yet. 'Wait, you've been coaching for 40-some years, and you haven't been there?' Nope, but we're trying. Well, now I don't have to say that anymore."
So what was the difference this season to warrant this success?
"(Team chemistry), that's the key. I know a lot of attention is going to the five people that are travelling to this championship. This was 16 people that put this team together and got all of the pieces moving in the same direction to allow us to perform at the levels we performed," Engle shared. "Just because they're not travelling and not firing, does not mean they're not a part of the team. And I really think that's what put this team over the edge this year. Because it wasn't a superstar. We don't have a superstar smallbore or a superstar air gun, but what we have is 16 people that are all moving in the same direction."
Unlike regular-season matches where a coach can select the top five participants for smallbore competition and the top five for air rifle competition, the NCAA Championships require teams to select five individuals total who will shoot both guns. It presents quite a dilemma to most coaches, including Engle.
"And that was really hard for my assistant coach Connor O'Mara and me. We really toiled on that," Engle said. "It's the hardest part of my job. It's a vote of confidence for the people who are performing well. The flipside of that is I feel like the people that aren't picked it's a vote of no confidence. And I have to try really, really hard (to tell the rest) I know you're not going, but I do believe in you."
Belief in the rifle program is what has led to Engle's longevity at UA, where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science.
"It was not one of those things where I grew up and said I want to coach a rifle team when I get older. I went into it, because I wanted to save the rifle team," Engle recalled. "Sometimes I still feel that way. I am really proud of the University of Akron, because they celebrate all 20 sports here. We all know about football, basketball, soccer, but the University of Akron holds them all up. I see things about the tennis team, and the swim team, and the golf teams. Everything that's going on. When you look at the billboards, the posters, and all the stuff that's all around campus, it's everybody. I'm pretty proud of that, because I get to talk to a lot of my counterparts at other schools, and some are really, really big schools, and it's not quite so at other schools even though they could. But here at Akron, I think we've got our ducks in a row.
Toward the beginning of his coaching career, in the late 1970s, was a busy time for Engle. He not only became head coach in 1977, but also joined the UA Police Department in 1979. Over the next 30-plus years he worked his way up to the position of Assistant Chief of Police, retiring in the summer of 2011.
In 1979, Engle married Sandy Barco, his wife and best friend of over 40 years. The couple has two daughters– Angie and April, both Akron alumni and four-year letterwinners in rifle. Angie and her husband Adam Booth have four children– Amelia (10), Adeline (8), Avery (6), and Archer (4).
Angie and April both followed in their father's footsteps, entering the Olympic sport of rifle by joining the Ashland Eagles junior rifle club where their father served as an assistant coach. With help of the three Engles, the Eagles earned many national championship titles and national records. April is the head coach of the Zips collegiate club team where she has claimed three collegiate club national championships, the last being in 2019.
Engle, whose legal first name is Marling and was nicknamed Newt by his German grandmother because of his blond locks, has earned individual honors along the way as well. Named the 2019 Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) Coach of the Year and the 2019 NRA Distinguished Collegiate Coach, Engle was inducted into Akron's Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
This week, Engle, who turned 65 on Monday, was prepping to take his rifle team to its first appearance in the NCAA Championships. The team departed for Lexington, Ky., on Wednesday. After firing their practice rounds on Thursday, all were informed that the NCAA had canceled the 2020 Rifle Championships along with all other winter and spring championships. All teams promptly returned home to their respective campuses.
Upon return to Akron, he shared this sentiment:
"The coach from Kentucky (Harry Mullins), who was the host, requested some time to speak with the athletes. I really liked what he said, 'Only worry about and put time into controlling the controllables. If you don't have any control over a situation, then channel your energy in another direction.' That's how he felt. They were ranked No. 1 and hoped to win the championship at home. They lost a lot when it was cancelled. It was the same for Akron. We were poised to move up. He thinks Akron had the next-most to lose. For both teams, it was out of our control. We have control over preparing for next season."
Under Engle's leadership, the Zips will be poised for another run at the NCAA Championships next season.
NOTE: This week the University of Akron rifle team was set to make the first appearance in the NCAA Championships in program history. The team arrived in Lexington, Ky., and went through practice rounds on March 12.
Later that day, all participation at every NCAA Championship (winter and spring) was cancelled.
Today we finish the series with the final feature story as we believe our hard-working student-athletes and coaches deserve to have their stories told.
Read the Series:
Lauryn Cinadr: Born to be a Zip
Andre Gross: All-American Zip
Kera Kaufman: Hard Work Pays Off
Wyatt Openshaw: Team Chemistry is Key
Patrick Schnupp: All in the Family
Newt Engle: Akron's Longest-Tenured Head Coach
Imagine you're a junior in college, going to class, going to practice, studying for exams, then bam ... you've been moved up from team captain to head coach of your team in the blink of an eye.
That's exactly what happened to Newt Engle, the University of Akron's rifle coach.
"My coach (Nancy Worsencroft) had a bad accident where she was burned, and she had to go to a dry climate for the skin graphs to take," Engle explained.
She asked her team captain to take over coaching the team, afraid the University would drop the sport with no coach.
"I told Nancy ok. I'll take over just until you come back. And I'm still waiting!" he laughed.
That was 42 years ago.
Akron's longest-tenured head coach in UA history, Engle is among the most respected rifle coaches in the nation. In 2020, he guided the Zips to the highest national ranking in program history (No. 4), the best finish at the Great America Rifle Conference Championship (third), and the first appearance in the NCAA Championships.
But success is nothing new to Engle's UA teams. In fact, it has become a part of its tradition as the program has consistently been ranked as one of the Top 15 teams in the nation. Over the past 40-plus years, no name has become more synonymous with Akron rifle than Engle's. During that time, he has had the opportunity to work with hundreds of exceptional student-athletes.
In 2009, Engle mentored Jenna Compton to the NCAA individual national title in air rifle and a place on the USA Shooting National Development Team. Several other Zips have individually represented Akron at the NCAA Championships with then-freshman Andre Gross earning silver medalist honors in individual smallbore in 2019 with his second-place finish. Gross also earned a position on the prestigious USA Shooting National Development Team.
For the first time during his tenure, Engle expected to take his entire team to the 2020 NCAA Championships, qualifying for the first time in program history.
"We have not been the NCAA Championships (before)," Engle said. "It's always been almost embarrassing to me when I'm recruiting somebody, and they say, 'when's the last time you went to the NCAA Championships?' I haven't been there yet. 'Wait, you've been coaching for 40-some years, and you haven't been there?' Nope, but we're trying. Well, now I don't have to say that anymore."
So what was the difference this season to warrant this success?
"(Team chemistry), that's the key. I know a lot of attention is going to the five people that are travelling to this championship. This was 16 people that put this team together and got all of the pieces moving in the same direction to allow us to perform at the levels we performed," Engle shared. "Just because they're not travelling and not firing, does not mean they're not a part of the team. And I really think that's what put this team over the edge this year. Because it wasn't a superstar. We don't have a superstar smallbore or a superstar air gun, but what we have is 16 people that are all moving in the same direction."
Unlike regular-season matches where a coach can select the top five participants for smallbore competition and the top five for air rifle competition, the NCAA Championships require teams to select five individuals total who will shoot both guns. It presents quite a dilemma to most coaches, including Engle.
"And that was really hard for my assistant coach Connor O'Mara and me. We really toiled on that," Engle said. "It's the hardest part of my job. It's a vote of confidence for the people who are performing well. The flipside of that is I feel like the people that aren't picked it's a vote of no confidence. And I have to try really, really hard (to tell the rest) I know you're not going, but I do believe in you."
Belief in the rifle program is what has led to Engle's longevity at UA, where he earned his bachelor's degree in political science.
"It was not one of those things where I grew up and said I want to coach a rifle team when I get older. I went into it, because I wanted to save the rifle team," Engle recalled. "Sometimes I still feel that way. I am really proud of the University of Akron, because they celebrate all 20 sports here. We all know about football, basketball, soccer, but the University of Akron holds them all up. I see things about the tennis team, and the swim team, and the golf teams. Everything that's going on. When you look at the billboards, the posters, and all the stuff that's all around campus, it's everybody. I'm pretty proud of that, because I get to talk to a lot of my counterparts at other schools, and some are really, really big schools, and it's not quite so at other schools even though they could. But here at Akron, I think we've got our ducks in a row.
Toward the beginning of his coaching career, in the late 1970s, was a busy time for Engle. He not only became head coach in 1977, but also joined the UA Police Department in 1979. Over the next 30-plus years he worked his way up to the position of Assistant Chief of Police, retiring in the summer of 2011.
In 1979, Engle married Sandy Barco, his wife and best friend of over 40 years. The couple has two daughters– Angie and April, both Akron alumni and four-year letterwinners in rifle. Angie and her husband Adam Booth have four children– Amelia (10), Adeline (8), Avery (6), and Archer (4).
Angie and April both followed in their father's footsteps, entering the Olympic sport of rifle by joining the Ashland Eagles junior rifle club where their father served as an assistant coach. With help of the three Engles, the Eagles earned many national championship titles and national records. April is the head coach of the Zips collegiate club team where she has claimed three collegiate club national championships, the last being in 2019.
Engle, whose legal first name is Marling and was nicknamed Newt by his German grandmother because of his blond locks, has earned individual honors along the way as well. Named the 2019 Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) Coach of the Year and the 2019 NRA Distinguished Collegiate Coach, Engle was inducted into Akron's Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
This week, Engle, who turned 65 on Monday, was prepping to take his rifle team to its first appearance in the NCAA Championships. The team departed for Lexington, Ky., on Wednesday. After firing their practice rounds on Thursday, all were informed that the NCAA had canceled the 2020 Rifle Championships along with all other winter and spring championships. All teams promptly returned home to their respective campuses.
Upon return to Akron, he shared this sentiment:
"The coach from Kentucky (Harry Mullins), who was the host, requested some time to speak with the athletes. I really liked what he said, 'Only worry about and put time into controlling the controllables. If you don't have any control over a situation, then channel your energy in another direction.' That's how he felt. They were ranked No. 1 and hoped to win the championship at home. They lost a lot when it was cancelled. It was the same for Akron. We were poised to move up. He thinks Akron had the next-most to lose. For both teams, it was out of our control. We have control over preparing for next season."
Under Engle's leadership, the Zips will be poised for another run at the NCAA Championships next season.
Players Mentioned
/ Rifle
/ Rifle
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