Keeper of the flame who still burns brightly

It's a short walk from the office, across the old basketball court and on to the Jumbo Elliott track. Marcus O'Sullivan has spent the morning behind his desk and for the rest of the day he can concentrate strictly on the running.

It's almost the same job he's enjoyed all his life, only now he's greeted as a coach as arrives at the track. The schedules in his hand are not for him, but for the dozen or so young athletes awaiting his orders.

O'Sullivan looks assured as he directs Villanova's select group of athletes through their daily training. The three-time World Indoor champion has experience to burn, yet coaching was not exactly where he planned to use it.

"I certainly never wanted to coach and I'm not going to pretend I did," he says. "All through my running days on the track circuit, myself and Frank O'Mara would talk about what we'd go into down the road. We were very close and always aspired to some kind of business where we could use our skills as well as our competitiveness. The idea of going into coaching wasn't even mentioned."

When O'Sullivan took the American scholarship route to Villanova University back in 1980, following the likes of Ronnie Delaney, Noel Carroll and Eamonn Coghlan, this was the breeding ground of champions. So much of the athletic tradition within the intimate environment of the small Pennsylvanian college was created by the devout coaching of James "Jumbo" Elliott, who for 47 years sustained a dynasty that included 32 Olympians and 50 world records.

After his death in 1981, Villanova athletics drifted into something of a decline, but this past year has marked a resurgence and it has O'Sullivan at the head of the table.

Since taking the position at the start of the academic term, his women's team came from nowhere to win the American collegiate cross country championship (last year they didn't even qualify) and at the end of the season O'Sullivan was voted American Colleges' Cross Country coach of the year.

"When the Villanova job came up last summer, I was interviewing with some corporations and investment banks," he says. "Frank had gone into law and I had done an MBA with a business future very much in mind. The irony of the whole thing is that the CEOs, and all the people I was interviewing with, said that I had to try this. They are going to be there for a long time and if eventually I go back to them, then they'll still be there.

"Tom Donnelly, my coach for 12 years at Haverford College, was another important factor because he showed great confidence in my ability to coach at this level. Finally, there was the family support. Putting everything into the mix in the decision-making, it really seemed like the appropriate choice."

O'Sullivan had figured on the main challenges that would come with the job, beginning with the transition from runner to a coach, although there were aspects of his professional running days that he would soon miss. "It's hard for any athlete to slow down. The other thing was going from a nonworking to a working environment and that was tough because I didn't realise how good I had it. Looking back, you had your training to do and it was stressful in periods with a lot of travel, but then I was home a lot and getting the kids off to school and that. Plus I made a lot of money doing it.

"I didn't realise how essential it was to my well-being until I had to start showing up early in the morning and staying to seven at night. Still, I was very prepared for the amount of work I was willing to do if going into business and I'm applying the same hours here."

As it is, there are six assistant-coaches working under O'Sullivan in the various disciplines and events. Long-serving assistant-coach Jim Tuppeny spent 13 years working with Jumbo Elliott and describes the Villanova tradition as a lot like running for your country. "There is something about putting on that Villanova vest which can bring out the best in so many athletes here," he says. "Down through the years nobody ever wanted to lose in that vest, especially if it was somewhere like to Millrose Games or Penn Relays."

THERE are still those among the athletic community in Ireland who throw words of caution on the talent drain of American scholarships, but O'Sullivan's defence is that it worked for him and he plans to make it work for more Irish athletes during his term.

"You have the best opportunities to race and that's the most important. Together with the facilities and the coaching structure, it's a totally professional set-up and that's something you're just not going to get in Ireland. I know there's a lot of problems about athletes dropping out after college, but that's as much to do with the other side as anything that goes on over here."

Out on the track, O'Sullivan's attention to the athletes is particularly impressive. "I try to teach them something about track and field as a whole," he says. "You really only have two hours a day to work with the athletes and in that time you want to instill as much as you can and yet be careful not to get too close.

"It can get frustrating at times if they're not doing exactly what you'd like, but already I can say that the satisfaction of seeing some kid on the team doing well surpasses the joy of doing it yourself."

The work, of course, doesn't end there. So much of American coaching involves recruiting and that means scouting for athletes. In addition, there is the homework - each week he corrects the athletes training diaries, remarking on the content and highlighting the mistakes. If the athletes aren't getting enough sleep, they can expect the coach to be on their backs about it.

There was never any real question on whether he would settle in America. He met his wife while a student at Villanova and now, aged 38 with two kids and a very close relationship with his wife's family, his roots here are as strong as his native Cork.

Whenever the thought of home hits, all he does is drive to his 60-acre farm a short journey north in Sussex County, New Jersey. A few hours of planting or harvesting brings him right back home. It takes a bit of probing to get O'Sullivan talking about his achievements. The reserved confidence and modest nature which brought such respect during his 15 years at the top of international athletics remains intact. There is much to highlight, although O'Sullivan is most proud of the one which he accomplished just before his retirement last year.

"I'd say that the 100 sub-four minute miles is something I feel particularly proud of. In a way it reflects the consistency throughout my career, but more importantly John Walker and Steve Scott are the only two other men that have done it. They were always the two guys that I really looked up to and still regard as the last of that sort of old-school generation."

Similar to Eamonn Coghlan, the American indoor circuit brought out the best in O'Sullivan, but there's nobody who can rival his World Indoor Championship achievements. In 1987 he won his first title in a hard-fought 1,500 metres in Indianapolis. He successfully defended it in Budapest two years later, finished fourth in Seville and then regained the title in Toronto in 1993. He also made the final in Barcelona in 1995.

Outdoors, his commitment to the major championships was equally significant. His participation at four Olympics - from Los Angeles in 1984 to Atlanta in 1996 - is matched only by John Treacy and in Seoul he became just the third Irishman ever to make a 1,500 metre final. Even if major medals never came his way, his impact was significant.

"I can say that in my 15 years of competing, I learnt the most in the last three or four and that's really what I'm bringing here. A lot of it has to do with a certain scientific approach in terms of using heart-rate monitors and putting more attention on the training that matters and the recovery necessary to do it. It's going to take some time to rebuild the strength of the program here and there's a lot of work to be done."

American coaches are paid for results and not for just maintaining a tradition. O'Sullivan is aware of his challenge.

"It is a huge commitment and you do sense a certain amount of pressure, but I'm well able to accept criticism and I'll be the first person to admit when I've done something wrong. Still, if you look at someone like the basketball coach and you have the whole university screaming for you every week, now there's a pressure job - and definitely not one I'd like."