Quick Chat: Adam Tribble
July 02, 2024 | Cross Country, Track & Field, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Like so many Athenians before him, Adam Tribble found his way back home.
An Athens native with deep family roots in town, Tribble is a "Double Dawg" Georgia graduate who ran for the Bulldogs in the early 2000s and was a volunteer assistant at the start of his coaching career. Last month, Director of Track & Field Caryl Smith Gilbert announced that Tribble was returning to UGA as the program's head cross country and distance coach.
Tribble returns to Georgia after a great run as the head track and field and cross country coach at California Baptist University, in Riverside, Calif. Tribble was named the Western Athletic Conference cross country Coach of the Year six times, and he led their women's team to three straight conference titles from 2018-20, while the men have won the past four (2020-23). Tribble's Lancers won 19 conference titles in track and cross country and had more than 100 all-conference honorees.
Before taking over at California Baptist, Tribble coached at Alabama, Arkansas and Oregon State, after getting his start as a Georgia volunteer assistant in 2003-04. Tribble first began thinking about a career in coaching while in high school at Athens Christian. He downplays his own running career at Georgia, where he was twice a team captain, but six years after his last race for the Bulldogs, Tribble finished 46th in the marathon at the 2008 U.S. Olympics Trials.
During a Quick Chat on Monday, his first day in his office, Tribble talked about coming home, enjoying being "destroyed" on runs, his deep love for Chipotle, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: Was the plan or dream to always move back to Athens and coach at Georgia one day?
Tribble: For sure. I think it was probably a dream, but I didn't know if it would become reality. Obviously, a lot has changed since I left, but I knew I would always love to come back, especially since my family is here. (Living here) means a lot and it's very special, but it's one of those things you don't want to think about too much because you don't know if it's going to happen.
Frierson: How would you describe yourself as a runner?
Tribble: Mmmm, I don't know. When I was here at Georgia, I had four different (distance) coaches. ... I was OK; I wasn't very good. It was when I was at Arkansas that I dabbled in the marathon and qualified for the Olympic Trials. My whole goal was to qualify, but my boss at the time told me to go. I didn't really care about running it, but he encouraged me to do it. And it was great.
That (competing in the Olympic Trials) was it for me. I'd finally done way more than I ever would have thought I could achieve, and I was good with that. I still run; I came out and ran on track yesterday, just to try not to get too fat or out of shape [laughs].
Frierson: Do you feel all of those miles at this point in life? Or can you still go out there and run some pretty fast times?
Tribble: Everything keeps getting slower. I'm 44, and it's easier for it to be harder [laughs], if that makes sense. That's what I like, to push and to really hurt. That sounds sick, but that's what I like. I like to go hard and be destroyed. I like to do that and then recover.
What's kind of nice, especially with running, is that no matter how old I get or how much slower I get, I can still go do that. That's really rewarding. So far, the body's still holding together, and I love the fact that I can still go hurt, just like the people on the team. It might be a lot slower and a lot sooner, but that's a neat parallel. We can both do a similar thing, and that's not like most sports.
Frierson: I have to ask about liking to "be destroyed" on a run. Were you always that way, or has that come about since you stopped competing?
Tribble: I think it's come out later. When I was in college, I wasn't very good. I think I scored once in conference, but it was just not my level. I think it was later that I embraced everything. It's been a journey, coaching and running. I think experiences and the more people I meet, the more I learn and the more I love it.
I think it's one of the few sports where you're not dependent on anyone else, and you control whether you're going to be successful or not.
Frierson: When did you know you wanted to get into coaching?
Tribble: High school. I went to Athens Christian, and my junior year, my coach (Kent Kramer) was killed in a car accident on the way to practice. After all of that, you're kind of forced to be more thoughtful in things. At that time, I thought I wanted to be a high school coach, but then when I was in school here, one of my coaches, Ben Thomas, who is now the head track coach at Virginia Tech, kind of opened my eyes to how the college thing would be so much better.
Frierson: What is something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Tribble: Chipotle. I go to Chipotle just about every day. They sent out a thing a year ago, and I think I was in the top half of the top 1% of all Chipotle customers.
Frierson: Do you get the same thing every time?
Tribble: I look at what the meat is and what looks the best. I don't know what the routine is going to be here, but in the past, they'd open at 10:30, and when you have early morning workouts, afterward you're kind of hungry, so I'd usually go right when they first open.
Frierson: I've read that you have a daughter named Georgia.
Tribble: Now, she is not named for this Georgia. Hugh Logan, who owned Normal Hardware and was a politician here, he's like my great uncle or something like that. He had a wife named Georgia, and I just really liked her. If I ever had a daughter, I wanted to name her Georgia for her.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Staff Writer
Like so many Athenians before him, Adam Tribble found his way back home.
An Athens native with deep family roots in town, Tribble is a "Double Dawg" Georgia graduate who ran for the Bulldogs in the early 2000s and was a volunteer assistant at the start of his coaching career. Last month, Director of Track & Field Caryl Smith Gilbert announced that Tribble was returning to UGA as the program's head cross country and distance coach.
Tribble returns to Georgia after a great run as the head track and field and cross country coach at California Baptist University, in Riverside, Calif. Tribble was named the Western Athletic Conference cross country Coach of the Year six times, and he led their women's team to three straight conference titles from 2018-20, while the men have won the past four (2020-23). Tribble's Lancers won 19 conference titles in track and cross country and had more than 100 all-conference honorees.
Before taking over at California Baptist, Tribble coached at Alabama, Arkansas and Oregon State, after getting his start as a Georgia volunteer assistant in 2003-04. Tribble first began thinking about a career in coaching while in high school at Athens Christian. He downplays his own running career at Georgia, where he was twice a team captain, but six years after his last race for the Bulldogs, Tribble finished 46th in the marathon at the 2008 U.S. Olympics Trials.
During a Quick Chat on Monday, his first day in his office, Tribble talked about coming home, enjoying being "destroyed" on runs, his deep love for Chipotle, and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: Was the plan or dream to always move back to Athens and coach at Georgia one day?
Tribble: For sure. I think it was probably a dream, but I didn't know if it would become reality. Obviously, a lot has changed since I left, but I knew I would always love to come back, especially since my family is here. (Living here) means a lot and it's very special, but it's one of those things you don't want to think about too much because you don't know if it's going to happen.
Frierson: How would you describe yourself as a runner?
Tribble: Mmmm, I don't know. When I was here at Georgia, I had four different (distance) coaches. ... I was OK; I wasn't very good. It was when I was at Arkansas that I dabbled in the marathon and qualified for the Olympic Trials. My whole goal was to qualify, but my boss at the time told me to go. I didn't really care about running it, but he encouraged me to do it. And it was great.
That (competing in the Olympic Trials) was it for me. I'd finally done way more than I ever would have thought I could achieve, and I was good with that. I still run; I came out and ran on track yesterday, just to try not to get too fat or out of shape [laughs].
Frierson: Do you feel all of those miles at this point in life? Or can you still go out there and run some pretty fast times?
Tribble: Everything keeps getting slower. I'm 44, and it's easier for it to be harder [laughs], if that makes sense. That's what I like, to push and to really hurt. That sounds sick, but that's what I like. I like to go hard and be destroyed. I like to do that and then recover.
What's kind of nice, especially with running, is that no matter how old I get or how much slower I get, I can still go do that. That's really rewarding. So far, the body's still holding together, and I love the fact that I can still go hurt, just like the people on the team. It might be a lot slower and a lot sooner, but that's a neat parallel. We can both do a similar thing, and that's not like most sports.
Frierson: I have to ask about liking to "be destroyed" on a run. Were you always that way, or has that come about since you stopped competing?
Tribble: I think it's come out later. When I was in college, I wasn't very good. I think I scored once in conference, but it was just not my level. I think it was later that I embraced everything. It's been a journey, coaching and running. I think experiences and the more people I meet, the more I learn and the more I love it.
I think it's one of the few sports where you're not dependent on anyone else, and you control whether you're going to be successful or not.
Frierson: When did you know you wanted to get into coaching?
Tribble: High school. I went to Athens Christian, and my junior year, my coach (Kent Kramer) was killed in a car accident on the way to practice. After all of that, you're kind of forced to be more thoughtful in things. At that time, I thought I wanted to be a high school coach, but then when I was in school here, one of my coaches, Ben Thomas, who is now the head track coach at Virginia Tech, kind of opened my eyes to how the college thing would be so much better.
Frierson: What is something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Tribble: Chipotle. I go to Chipotle just about every day. They sent out a thing a year ago, and I think I was in the top half of the top 1% of all Chipotle customers.
Frierson: Do you get the same thing every time?
Tribble: I look at what the meat is and what looks the best. I don't know what the routine is going to be here, but in the past, they'd open at 10:30, and when you have early morning workouts, afterward you're kind of hungry, so I'd usually go right when they first open.
Frierson: I've read that you have a daughter named Georgia.
Tribble: Now, she is not named for this Georgia. Hugh Logan, who owned Normal Hardware and was a politician here, he's like my great uncle or something like that. He had a wife named Georgia, and I just really liked her. If I ever had a daughter, I wanted to name her Georgia for her.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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