Paul Schmaedeke leads the Pipers as the director of track and field operations at Hamline. His responsibilities include serving as the co-head men's and women's cross country coach, head men's track and field coach and working with all middle-distance and distance runners on the track.
The 2015-16 athletic season will be Schmaedeke's 31st in the Hamline athletic program as an athlete and coach, the last 21 of which as the men's track and field coach..
As a head coach in CC, Schmaedeke has coached 17 All-Americans. His men's team has won three of the last four MIAC championships. Not coincidentally, Schmaedeke was named Coach of the Year in the league in all three of those years.
It is an honor he has won 15 times overall in his HU coaching career.
In 2006, Schmaedeke was named Central Region Coach of the Year by the USTFCCCA. The Pipers won the Central Regional before finishing 18th at the NCAA Championships.
In 2005, Schmaedeke led the Pipers to their first MIAC Championship since 1977. The Pipers also finished third in Central Regional and seventh in the NCAA Championships.
Schmaedeke has been involved in Hamline cross country for 30 years as a student-athlete, assistant coach, and head coach. The 2000 team was his first to compete in the NCAA Championships. He was also named MIAC Indoor Track Coach of the Year in 2002 and again in 2005 and 2014. In 2015, he was
named MIAC Outdoor Track Coach of the Year as HU finished second for the fourth time in six years.
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.
Prior to joining the Hamline staff in 1980, Schmaedeke was the head boys' track and field coach at Concordia Academy High School from 1978-79.
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 lectures on training theory as a faculty member of the USA Track and Field Level II Coaches Certification School. He has spoke 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.
Schmaedeke earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from Hamline in 1977. He later earned his master's from the University of Arizona in physical education in 1980.
