Bill Hodge

Bill Hodge, a multi-time coach of the year honoree in four different Division I conferences and a highly successful recruiter with an emphasis on success in and out of the classroom, is in his first year as the head cross country coach and second year as track and field coach at Belmont Abbey College. Hodge joined the Abbey after two years at Mount Olive College, where he started the men’s and women’s track and field program in 2008.

In just his first full year of recruting, Hodge has brought in the largest combined recruiting class ever (35 athletes). In addition, two of his throwers were ranked in the top ten in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region in just the Abbey's first year of competition.

Hodge spent seven years as head cross country and track and field coach at Rider University and five years at Robert Morris College. A three-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, he guided Rider to the 2004 women’s outdoor track and field conference championship, the first in school history, and produced the men’s cross country team’s highest finish in school history. Hodge led Robert Morris to two track and field conference championships, the first two in school history, and won Northeast Conference Coach of the Year honors in back-to-back years. 

He spent seven years as head assistant coach at Bucknell University, which won Patriot League Coaching Staff of the Year honors in four of his seven years. Hodge was also a women’s two-time East Coast Conference Coach of the Year, during his five years at Lafayette College, where he started the program. He was also head coach at Columbia University and Wagner College.

Hodge is originally from New Jersey. He and his wife, Jadwiga, have four children: daughters Gina, Ada and Roksana, and a son, Cyprian.