Plumer named Track & Field assistant coach

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Track & Field Head Coach Edrick Floréal announced the addition of PattiSue Plumer to his coaching staff on Friday. Plumer, a two-time Olympian, previously coached with Floréal at Stanford. She will serve as an assistant Track coach with the women's distance events and also lead the women's Cross Country program.

"I am thrilled to have PattiSue join us here at The University of Texas," Floréal said. "She brings a great pedigree and a wealth of knowledge to share with our student-athletes as a two-time Olympian. I am excited to have her working with our women's distance group and cross country program and lead them to great success."

"I have the utmost respect for Coach Floréal as a coach and somebody who brings passion, excitement and commitment to everything he does," Plumer said. "I have enjoyed working with him in the past and I believe this is a place that we can accomplish great things together."

Most recently, Plumer has served as the Cross Country and Track & Field head coach at Gunn High School in Palo Alto since 2013. She also coached the Stanford Running Club.

"It's always tough to leave a place, but this is a great job at the right place, the right time and with the right coach," Plumer continued. "Texas is a place that values academics and athletics and sees them as a complement to each other. This opportunity is great as UT has incredible facilities, a strong commitment to the sport and a great history of Track & Field."

At Gunn, she has guided student-athletes to two California state championships and multiple Central Coast Section championships, as well as a team fifth-place finish at the California state meet which was Gunn's best finish ever. She has earned her numerous Coach of the Year awards throughout her career. Plumer has also coached athletes who have set national junior records in both the indoor and outdoor 3000m.

Additionally, Plumer has coached athletes to the Olympic Trials finals and medalist honors at Junior Nationals. With the Stanford Running Club, she has coached National Intercollegiate Running Club Association (NIRCA) National Champions in the 4x800m Relay, 800m and 5000m. She also guided the SRC to a NIRCA Regional Cross Country Championship.

One of Stanford's all-time best distance runners, Plumer earned nine All-America honors with the Cardinal. She is a two-time NCAA champion and won four U.S. national championships, winning twice in both the 3,000 (1989, 1992) and 5,000 (1990, 1991). At Stanford, Plumer won the NCAA indoor two-mile title (9:45.54) in 1983 and the outdoor 5,000 (15:39.38) in 1984. She ran on three NCAA runner-up teams in cross country while at Stanford.

Plumer embarked on an incredible post-collegiate career following her time at Stanford. In 1989, she set an American record in the 5,000, running a 14:59.99 in Stockholm, Sweden. She then finished fifth in the 3,000 and 10th in the 1,500 in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She also qualified for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, finishing 13th in the 3,000. She also ran a 4:16.68 in New York City's Fifth Avenue Mile to set a course record that still stands today but was tied by Jenny Simpson in 2017.

Prior to coaching under Floréal at Stanford, Plummer had coached cross country and track at Los Altos (Calif.) High School for six years after working as a lawyer for several years. She also served as a volunteer coach at Stanford in 1992 and 1993.

She is a 1985 graduate of Stanford with a degree in earth sciences, and graduated with her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Stanford Law School in 1989. She was inducted as a member of Stanford's Athletics Hall of Fame after retiring from competition in 1998. Plumer is married to Steve Levere and the couple has two daughters - Jacqui and Jenna Levere.

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics