Dr. Ted Bulling is in his 35th season as the Nebraska Wesleyan men’s track & field coach and his 33rd 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 30th season as the men’s cross country coach and his 25th year in charge of women’s cross country. Over the years, his teams have won a combined total of 71 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 five top-four finishes.
Last season he led the NWU women to a pair of 5th place finishes at the NCAA III Championships. At the national level, Bulling oversaw the women’s 4x400 relay win the national title during the indoor and outdoor seasons, giving them seven straight national titles. The Prairie Wolves women claimed another indoor conference championship, this time as American Rivers Conference champions. In 2019, Bulling had 20 All-American award winners and five CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. He was named the 2019 American Rivers Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year.
They added to the total of NCAA top four finishes in 2018 as the Nebraska Wesleyan women tied for 4th at the NCAA III Indoor Championships to bring home a trophy. The women went on to finish 11th at the outdoor championships led by the 4x400 relay team that won a fifth straight NCAA III National title. NWU women won the IIAC Outdoor Championship, snapping Wartburg’s streak of 18 straight titles. Coach Bulling was the IIAC Outdoor Coach of the Year for the women and earned Central Region Coach of the Year for the indoor and outdoor seasons.
The previous year, Bulling led the NWU women to the IIAC Indoor Team Championship in their first season competing in the new conference. He also led the Prairie Wolves women to a 7th place finish at the 2017 NCAA III Outdoor Championships, their second straight top ten finish. He had 11 athletes earn 18 All-American awards and had six CoSIDA Academic All-Americans. Bulling was the 2017 IIAC Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year.
In 2016, Bulling coached two national championship performances at the NCAA III Outdoor Championships and led NWU to a 6th place team finish. He had 12 athletes earn 22 All-American honors and also had four athletes named CoSIDA Academic All-American.
During his tenure at Nebraska Wesleyan, Bulling has guided the Prairie Wolves to national prominence. He has coached 49 national champions, and 163 of his athletes have earned a total of 680 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 32 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 19 years at the indoor and/or outdoor NCAA Div. III Track & Field Championship.
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 18 years. Twice the Prairie Wolves have had athletes been named CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year, including 2019 with Elizabeth Jones claiming the honor. Since 2000, Bulling has had 31 athletes earn 52 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. He was inducted into the NWU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.
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. Bulling and his wife, Denise, have two adult children, Emily and Elliott.
COACH BULLING BY THE NUMBERS
National Coach of the Year Awards - 6
Men’s Track & Field NCAA III Top 10 Finishes – 32 (16 indoor, 16 outdoor)
Women’s Track & Field NCAA III Top 10 Finishes – 19 (9 indoor, 10 outdoor)
Men’s National Championship Performances – 30 (21 individuals, 9 relay teams)
Women’s National Championship Performances - 19 (11 individuals, 8 relay teams)
Men’s Track & Field Conference Championships – 35 (16 indoor, 19 outdoor)
Women’s Track & Field Conference Championships – 4 (3 indoor, 1 outdoor)
CoSIDA Academic All-American Awards - 52 (31 men, 21 women
