Hall of Fame
Gene Brooks was a track and field and cross country coach at the University of Sioux Falls for six years. Brooks coached over 160 national qualifiers while producing over 30 All-Americans and three national champions from 2006-2013.
Throughout his career at USF, athletes owned 88 school records while he helped lead his 2011 women’s track and field team to their first outdoor GPAC Conference Championship snapping a 20-year streak set by Doane College. Brooks and the Cougars then took home an eighth-place finish at the 2011 NAIA National Championships. Following the 2011 season, Brooks was named the GPAC Outdoor Track and Field Women’s Coach of the Year before also becoming the Vice President of Student Development.
Prior to his coaching career at USF, Brooks spent nine years at Concordia University where he served as their Director of Student Life and Assistant Track and Field Coach. He received his M.S. in family life ministry from Concordia in 2003. Brooks also served as a theology instructor for four years at a Lutheran high school in Fort Wayne, IN before transitioning to Concordia in 1996.
Brooks is a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame (2004) as well as the Concordia University-Nebraska Hall of Fame (1995). Currently, he and his wife of 35 years, Janice, reside in Seward, NE with their youngest son Caden. Together Gene and Janice have four more adult children along with eight grandchildren. Brooks now serves as the Vice President of Student Affairs at Concordia University in Nebraska.
