Rider mourns the loss of Coach Mike Brady '76

Former Rider University cross country and track and field Head Coach Mike Brady '76 passed away at his home in Lambertville, N.J., on Thursday, Nov. 23. He was 63. Brady, a beloved coach, friend and supporter of Rider, was inducted into the Rider Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.

Funeral services for Brady will take place on Rider's campus on Tuesday, Dec. 5. Visitation is from 10 a.m. to noon in Gill Memorial Chapel where all are invited to pay respects to the family. A service of remembrance for Brady will then be held from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Bart Luedeke Center Theater followed by a reception in the Cavalla Room until 4 p.m.

"Mike was a special coach who made such a big impact on his athletes," Rider University cross country and track and field Head Coach Bob Hamer said. "That impact went far beyond the track. He built championship teams where each of his athletes bought into the idea that they were contributing to something much bigger than each of them. The successes they experienced built such a strong bond that is just as strong today as it was 30 years ago. Every day we try to live up to the championship standard that Coach Brady established for the Rider program."

Named head coach at Rider University in 1980, Brady led the Broncs to Eastern prominence in both cross country and track within five short years. His cross country teams captured five consecutive New Jersey collegiate championships and two straight East Coast Conference titles. Brady also guided the Broncs to three indoor and four outdoor ECC track and field championships. Rider captured the ECC indoor and outdoor crowns in each of his last two years, and the Broncs won their final 64 indoor dual meets. Brady's squads compiled a 121-37 record in cross country, a 71-2 mark in indoor track and a 61-4 record in outdoor track.

In 12 years at the helm of the program (1980-1992), Brady compiled a record of 253 wins and just 43 losses, winning nine East Coast Conference championships and nine New Jersey Collegiate Championships.

In cross country, he won ECC titles in1990 and '91, and had four ECC runner-up finishes.

During the winter, his indoor track teams captured ECC titles in 1985-86, 1990-91 and 1991-92.

In the spring, his outdoor track & field teams also won ECC titles in 1986, '89, '91 and '92.

At the time he was inducted into the Rider Athletics Hall of Fame, 26 of 61 Rider records set by his athletes still stood. Brady also coached the first two Rider runners to ever win a conference cross country meet (Terence Wheat, Lance Hess).

But the victories on the track are not what Coach Brady's athletes remember most about their time at Rider. Instead, they recall his determination to prepare them for success in life as well as the guidance and friendship he displayed in pursuit of that endeavor.

Following a successful tenure at Rider, he became the head coach of men's cross country and assistant coach of men's track and field at Princeton. Brady was named the 1997 and 1998 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Cross Country Coach of the Year. In 1994, his distance-medley quartet of Tigers earned All-America honors with its school record-setting fourth-place NCAA finish. In 1999, two other Princeton student-athletes gained All-America honors in cross country under the tutelage of Brady. A standout athlete at Bergen Catholic High School, Brady twice won the New Jersey Amateur Athletic Union decathlon title. He also captured The Athletics Congress New Jersey decathlon and pentathlon titles in 1982.

Brady coached for three years at Hamilton High School before heading to Rider. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in secondary education from Rider in 1976 before earning his master's degree in physical education from Trenton State College in 1986. In 1987 he was chosen by the United States Information Agency to conduct two weeks of track and field clinics in South America as part of the "Sports America" program.

In addition to his wife, Anita '76, Mike is survived by his father, John "Pat" Brady; sister, Kathleen (Thomas Schulte); sisters-in-law, Jeannette Regan (Hanspeter Tschani), Kathryn "Lynn" Deering, Barbara Regan, Mary Wilson, Margaret Regan and Celeste Regan (Sam Smith), and 16 nieces and nephews.

Brady will continue to be honored for his excellent coaching and mentoring abilities by having the University’s track named after him, the result of a fundraising effort started and led by his former student-athlete Eric Herr '88.

In addition to the naming of the track, those wishing to honor Mike's memory can do so by making a contribution to a new endowed track & field scholarship in the name of Mike and his wife, Anita '76. For more information about The Coach Mike Brady Track Naming & Scholarship Campaign, including how to make a gift, please visit https://alumni.rider.edu/coachbrady.