Dr. Ted Bulling is in his 31st season as the Nebraska Wesleyan men’s track & field coach and his 29th year as the head coach of the women. He also coaches the NWU cross country teams in his role as Director of Track & Field/Cross Country. He is in his 26th season as the men’s cross country coach and his 21st year in charge of women’s cross country. Over the years, his teams have won a combined total of 64 conference team titles.
A six-time National Coach of the Year Ted Bulling, is recognized as one of the best college coaches in the country, and his reputation grows each year. Under his guidance, the Prairie Wolves have won nine NCAA team trophies, and been awarded four top-four finishes.
During his tenure at Nebraska Wesleyan, Bulling has guided the Prairie Wolves to national prominence. He has coached 36 national champions, and 143 of his athletes have earned a total of 606 All-American awards. In addition, the Lincoln Journal Star has selected one of Bulling’s athletes for its State College Athlete-of-the-Year award seven times.
Under Bulling, Nebraska Wesleyan finished the 2005 outdoor season ranked No. 1 in the Men’s Track and Field Power Rankings for NCAA Division III for the first time in school history. The power rankings are based on the performances of every team’s top two athletes in each event and finishing the season No. 1 is also commonly referred to as being “dual meet national champions.”
In 2000, Bulling became the first coach in history to be named as the National Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year at both the Div. III and NAIA levels. That same year, he was also honored as the Omaha World-Herald’s Coach of the Year and as the winner of the Roy G. Story Award, given to a Nebraska Wesleyan faculty member or student who has “significantly enhanced the national stature and reputation of Nebraska Wesleyan University.”
The NWU men have finished in the Top 10 at the indoor and/or outdoor NCAA Div. III Track & Field Championships 19 times under Bulling’s direction. His teams have dominated at the conference level as the Nebraska Wesleyan men have won 19 conference outdoor team titles and 16 conference indoor crowns.
The Nebraska Wesleyan women’s track and field program has also grown under Bulling’s direction. As a team, it has recorded Top 10 finishes in 11 years at the indoor and/or outdoor NCAA Div. III Track & Field Championships.
In 1996, Bulling received national Coach-of-the-Year honors from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) during both the indoor and outdoor seasons for NCAA Div. III, as the NWU men placed fifth and third, respectively. He was also named the Lincoln Journal Star’s State College Coach of the Year.
In addition, his track teams have been recognized for academic excellence by the USTFCCCA during each of the past 15 years. In 2006, Erin Powell, was named ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American of the Year in the college division. Since 2000, Bulling has had 21 athletes earn 30 CoSIDA Academic All-American honors.
Bulling graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Nebraska Wesleyan in 1980. He held the school’s discus record for 10 years and was also a four-year letter winner and three-year starter on the defensive line and lettered four years in football.
Bulling completed his Ph.D. in educational psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1992, and is an assistant professor of education in Nebraska Wesleyan’s department of education
