Meet Marion boys cross country coach Scott Gill
MARION, Ill. — Coaching a two-time individual state champion in a sport like cross country can sometimes just be the luck of the draw. The right athlete in the right place at the right time.
Coaching a team state champion in cross country, especially at a school from Southern Illinois, is a once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment. For achieving that, we will talk with Marion High School boys cross country coach Scott Gill.
Gill took over as Marion’s cross country coach in 2022. He has also been an assistant for the boys track team the last two years. At one time, he was the one-mile and two-mile record holder at Marion, where he ran before they had a cross country team.
“I always had it in the back of my mind to coach one day,” said Gill, who is a graduate of Marion High School. “Coaching for my alma mater is especially satisfying and something I didn’t think would ever happen, but I’m grateful and thankful for the opportunity.”
Coaching the current record-holder for all of Marion’s cross country records in current senior Dylon Nalley certainly helped bring excitement to the program. But prior to this year, no team south of Interstate 70 had ever won a team cross-country title in Illinois. Gill says he hopes that title will lead to bigger things.
“God has definitely blessed me with talent my first two years,” he said. “Hopefully the state championship will motiviate more students to give cross country a try. Getting people started running is the biggest challenge I face. Once they start and put the work in, most people realize you feel good and have a sense of accomplishment from running.”
As far as how the Wildcats won the title, Gill says there is no magic formula.
“Just keep working day after day,” he said. “That’s one of the things I love about cross country. It’s a sport that you get out of it what you put into it. You don’t need tons of talent to get to an all-state level.”
Gill, who recently retired after 30 years at UPS, enjoys reading, watching movies and exercising in his free time. After graduation, he went to John A. Logan College for two years before making the SIU Cross Country team as a walk-on. An injury cut his college career short.
Now, Gill says one of the biggest things he has learned in coaching is how important attitude is.
“You have to believe you can accomplish something to even have a chance,” he said. “At sectional, the meet before state, we were edged 70-78. That team beat us by 56 points earlier in the year. I told the team we would be ready and peak at state.
“We didn’t talk a lot about being state champs during the season, but I felt something special going on between the team. They pushed each other day after day. On November 4, they wanted to bring home a trophy more than any other team on the course. I can’t imagine being any more proud of a team.”
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