Track & Field Report: Pat Henry brings 10th national title back to Aggieland

The Texas A&M men's track and field team won the 2025 team title at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Legendary head coach Pat Henry joined TexAgs Live to highlight his 10th championship in Aggieland and his 37th in 38 years of coaching at the DI level.

Key notes from Pat Henry interview

• The joy I get from athletics today is just when it's about to get started and when it's over. Both sides of the competition, I really enjoy that aspect of athletics today. Young people aren’t different from they were 30 years ago, but they are in a lot of ways. One way they aren’t different is the competitive aspect of things. It takes certain people to win.
   
• Winning at my sport, people say, “Well, it's track.” People don’t understand how competitive it is. You’re going to see a lot of these guys we compete against are all Olympic-caliber people. It’s a tough sport to win at. I’ve been fortunate to surround myself with great assistants. You have to recruit the best people, not just athletes.
   
• They have a responsibility to each other. They've worked with each other all year long. You have to look into each other's eyes and know what you need to accomplish. Even once it's over, you have to look each other in the eyes and talk about how far you took it, and you have a chance to do something special. We are from Texas A&M, not from anywhere else, so get your chest up and let's go.
   
• I think some people have three that can really run. I'm blessed to have four that can run pretty darn well. If you can stay close, each one has an opportunity. It matters to the person before in the 4x400 that gives opportunities. Our lead-off leg in the national championship, I switched them around because I thought this guy was ready to do something better than our lead-off, and he did. He didn’t run it like I wanted him to, but he did a good job. Kimar Farquharson is as tough a guy as anyone you'll meet. Auhmad Robinson took advantage of it even though he got beat at the line. I don’t even think he saw the guy next to him. If Robinson wins it, we are outright champions. We don’t tie. In the 400, he needed to be one spot up, and we do better.
   
• The NCAA has some crazy touchpads on the starting block. If you lose pressure on that pad, you “jumped.” We don’t use video. I believe the NCAA will start using video. They wouldn’t have disqualified Ja'Qualon Scott if they used video. Bryce McCray was ready to go on that day, and he had the best performance of his life.
   
• We couldn’t have beaten Georgia. Had we hit in a couple of areas, we could’ve changed the score, but we didn’t. I thought we had some areas to improve. We need to get more confident and understand who everyone is. Camryn Dickson will be great before she leaves here, but she wasn’t last week. She’s much more talented than what she showed.
   
• Winny Bii won it on her first jump. She put it out of sight. She has a lower back problem and goes downhill a little, but her first jump has to be her best.
   
• Aleksandr Solovev in the pole vault, our coach did a great job of passing at a certain time. You can lose an attempt and pass to the next bar. Solovev got over that last bar, and the other guy couldn’t. 18-foot-6 is a huge vault. It's like being on a highway overpass and jumping off it, falling backwards.
   
• I grew up in an athletic family with my dad and grandfather. I just grew up a certain way. I was blessed with being able to see talent. You have to recruit talent that is competitive at this level. If you can't evaluate talent, you’re in trouble. Change is demanding. Look around you. You’ve changed. If you were working in the same studio you were 20 years ago, you wouldn’t be successful. You have to be ready for change.
   
• Being a coach at Texas A&M has been a blessing. I have a great boss, and I think our department is on its way to doing some really great things. We have some good coaches.