Paul Schmaedeke leads the Pipers as the director of track and field operations at Hamline. His responsibilities include serving as the head men's track and field coach, while specifically working with all sprinters and sprint relays on the track. He also served as Hamline's head cross country coach from 1989 until August, 2016 when Devin Monson took over the program.
The 2019-20 academic year is Schmaedeke's 45th in the Hamline athletic program as an athlete or coach, the last 21 of which have been spent as the head men's track and field coach.
After graduating from Hamline in 1977, Schmaedeke began his coaching career as the head boys’ track and field coach at Concordia Academy High School from 1978-79.
The following year he joined the coaching ranks at Hamline, being a volunteer assistant coach from 1980-1984. From 1985 to 1989, Schmaedeke became a part-time coach and adjunct professor in health and physical education. He would later serve as the department chair in the physical education program from 1998 to 2004.
In 1989 Schmaedeke was named the head cross country coach and in the summer of 1999, he added head men’s track and field coach to his title after Coach Kent Stahly retired.
In 27 years as a head cross country coach, Schmaedeke has coached 10 All-Americans and won four MIAC Championships. In 2005, Schmaedeke led the Pipers men’s team to their first MIAC Championship since 1977. The team also finished third in the Central Regional and seventh in the NCAA Championships. The men's team went on to win three straight MIAC Championships, in the 2009, 2010, and 2011 seasons with Schmaedeke being named MIAC Coach of the Year after each of the first-place finishes.
In 2006, he was also named Central Region Coach of the Year by the USTFCCCA after the Pipers won the central region meet en route to finishing 18th at the NCAA Championships.
As the head men’s track and field coach, Schmaedeke has coached 41 All-Americans in his 21 seasons and has been named the MIAC Coach of the Year nine different times between the indoor and outdoor seasons. He earned his first Coach of the Year honor after the 2002 indoor season, after the Pipers took second, improving 68 points from their 2001 finish.
Schmaedeke earned three straight indoor season Coach of the Year awards in 2009 to 2011, guiding the Pipers to three-straight second-place finishes. He was also given the honor in the 2005 and 2014 indoor seasons, as well as the 2010, 2012, and 2015 outdoor seasons.
As an athlete, Schmaedeke was a four-year letter winner in cross country and track at Hamline. He competed on teams that won two MIAC cross country championships (1973, 1975) and four track titles (1974-1977). As a senior, he was co-captain of the Hamline cross country team.
As a coach, Schmaedeke is noted for his persistence, patience, and well-organized training that prepares his athletes to be competitive and steadily progress to their potential over the course of four years. Schmaedeke also lectured on training theory as a faculty member of the USA Track and Field Level II Coaches Certification School from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s and has spoken numerous times at the Minnesota High School Coaches Clinic for track and field.
In recognition of his accomplishments as a student-athlete and a coach, Schmaedeke was inducted into the Hamline University Athletic Hall of Fame in January 2008. In 2015, he was added to the Row of Fame that adorns the north wall of Klas Field.
Schmaedeke has a bachelor's degree in physical education from Hamline and later earned his master's from the University of Arizona in physical education.
