Women’s head track and field coach, John Craft, is retiring, effective May 30 after 33 years of coaching.

Craft has been at the helm of the women’s track team for 22 years and will conclude his coaching career at the end of the outdoor track season this semester.

“It was a personal decision based on the advantages for my family and myself,” Craft said of the decision. “It was advantageous to end my career this semester and pursue other things.”

Craft was an All-American athlete during his undergraduate years at Eastern, became an Olympian and coached and served as an administrator for the university.

Craft became Eastern’s first NCAA Division I All-American with a third place finish in the triple jump with a distance of 51 feet, 2-and-a-half inches. Craft went on to a 56-foot-2-inch jump that took him to Munich for the Olympic Games in 1972. He jumped 55 feet, 2-and-three-fourth inches for a fifth place Olympic finish.

Track and field has been a part of Craft’s life for decades; he has been earning honors and setting records that will leave his name imprinted in the history of Eastern. But despite the retirement from what has been his life, he will not receive much free time after his departure from the university.

“I’m still going to be busy. My wife already has a number of ‘Honey,do … ‘ projects for me,” Craft joked. “I don’t think I’m going to have much spare time.”

Time with his family was the main motivation to retire, but after decades of time immersed into track and field, Craft will always have the memories of his time at Eastern.

“As a coach, my most memorable experience … there’s just too many memories,” Craft said. “But all of them were brought about by dedication and hard work my student athletes have put in.”

Craft has watched athletes grow and improve as competitors over four-year intervals, with seniors graduating and new faces to take into his team.

“Over the course of four years, you learn the nuances of competition,” Craft said. “There are a lot of lessons in athletics. It’s learning how to finish what you start. It serves you well in life to finish it – both in professional and personal life.”

But while retirement is in the near future for Craft, he is still a coach for the time being. The team is now in the indoor portion of the track season, hosting its first invite Saturday at the EIU Mega Meet in the Lantz Fieldhouse. While Craft will be able to watch the seniors finish what he started, he still had to tell the rest of the team that he would not be back next season.

“It was a very emotional moment,” Craft said.

In his final season, Craft will take these last memories and hope for the best ending possible to his career.

“We’re going to make those memories together,” Craft said. “I mentioned to them that, as a coach, you always remember your first team and your last one. There is lots in between, but I will always take with me this team.”