Cross Country and Track & Field Coaching Staff

BILL CASON

Director of Track & Field

Assistant Cross Country Coach

Bill Cason joined Guilford's staff as assistant men's and women's cross country coach in 2008 before becoming the school's first director of track and field in 2009.

A Clemmons, N.C., resident, Cason has seven years of head track and field and cross country coaching experience. He served as Clemson University's head men's cross country/assistant track and field coach from 1985-88 and won the 1987 Atlantic Coast Conference's Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year Award. The Tigers captured the 1987 ACC men's cross country title and placed 11th at the NCAA Division I Championships. Cason coached multiple distance runners to All-America honors, ACC individual titles and Olympic team berths. In addition to coaching, he also earned his master's degree in counseling from Clemson.

In 1988, Cason took over as head men's and women's cross country coach at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where he also started the Seahawks' track and field teams. Three UNC Wilmington students combined to win four Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) track and field titles, and five Seahawks combined for nine All-CAA cross country commendations under Cason's charge. He left UNC Wilmington in 1992 and Cason embarked on a sales career in Winston-Salem, N.C.

After starting his college career as an All-Southern Conference cross country and outdoor track performer, Cason transferred to the University of Florida. He was an All-Southeastern Conference cross country and track performer and earned his bachelor's degree in health and physical education in 1985.

 

HEIDI PINKERTON - Podcast

Head Cross Country Coach

Assistant Track & Field Coach

Heidi Pinkerton took over as Guilford's head cross country coach in 2008 after spending 2006 as an assistant cross country coach for neighboring Greensboro College. She ran four seasons with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and earned her bachelor’s degree in nutrition and wellness there in 2007. A three-time All-Southern Conference cross country performer, Pinkerton holds five UNC Greensboro track records and has the school’s third-fastest six-kilometer cross country time (22:32.2). A team captain, she placed third at the 2004 Southern Conference Cross Country Championships.

A 2001 graduate of West Wilkes (N.C.) High School, Pinkerton won the North Carolina 2A cross country titles in 1999 and 2000. She placed second in the meet as a sophomore and captured seven state outdoor track titles in her career, including four in the 1,600 meters. Pinkerton won the Mountain Valley 3A/2A Conference Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year award in 2001 and the league’s Runner of the Year prize in 2000.

Pinkerton and her husband, Norman, live in Greensboro.

WADE WILLIAMS

Head Sprint, Hurdles and Field Events Coach

Wade Williams joined Guilford’s athletics staff in 2009 as the Quakers’ head coach for sprints, hurdles and field events. He rejoins Guilford Director of Track and Field Operations Bill Cason after the pair coached together at Clemson University from 1985-88. Williams will also assist other Guilford teams with speed and conditioning.

Williams has 14 years of NCAA Division I track and field coaching experience, plus 14 years as a scholastic track and field coach. He made his first mark at Ferguson High School in Virginia where his teams went 65-2 in dual meets from 1972-74 and won a AAA state title. Ferguson placed second in another state meet and had three regional and four district titles. Williams coached world-record holder Ronald Ray, who ran a 45.8 in the 440-yard dash, and 12 scholastic All-Americans. Ferguson’s 880 relay team in 1974 set a onetime national record (1:28.2).

Williams left Ferguson for the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) where he directed 10 Southern Conference championship teams from 1974-85. He won six Southern Conference Coach of the Year awards and guided the Keydets to five Virginia Collegiate Championships. Williams coached 10 All-Americans at VMI, including an American record holder in the 500. In his last five seasons, VMI sent 20 students to NCAA Division I Championships.

Clemson University hired Williams in 1985 and he spent three seasons with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) school during which time the Tigers won two league titles and had top-18 national finishes in cross country, indoor and outdoor track. The 1987 ACC Men’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year, Williams directed five student-athletes who combined for 11 All-America honors in his tenure, including Terrance Herrington, a U.S. Olympian and national champion in the 1500 meters. Clemson also featured Israeli Olympians Dov Kremer (5,000 meters) and Yehezkel Halifa (10,000 meters). Williams also served as the speed development coach for Clemson’s football team from 1987-88.

Williams was at Western Branch H.S. (Va.) from 1989-2007 as a track & field and assistant football coach. The Bruins won 15 district championships, three regional crowns and three Virginia AAA State Championships with Williams at the helm. They also produced 10 scholastic All-Americans. Williams taught English and earned the school’s 2006 Teacher of the Year Award.

DANNY CASH

Assistant Track and Field Coach

Danny Cash joined the Quakers' coaching staff in 2009 following a six-year coaching stint at Orange High School in Hillsborough, N.C., where he led the boys' and girls' cross country teams to consecutive top-five finishes at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association State Championships in 2007 and 2008. Several of his students earned all-conference recognition, including one person who finished second in the 2008 state meet. As a track and field coach, Cash helped many of his students to conference and regional titles and has had numerous state-meet competitors. Many Cash-coached students have completed on the college level.

Cash ran collegiately at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington for Bill Cason and earned his bachelor's degree in history with a minor in geography in 1993. He still holds some of the Seahawks' top times in the outdoor 10-kilometer and indoor five-kilometer races.

Cash ran cross country and track at Northern Durham (N.C.) High School and was the team's most valuable runner in 1988 and 1989. The 1989 graduate was a state qualifier in high school. His personal-best time in the five kilometers is 14:52 and his best 10-kilometer time is 30:40.

Cash holds certifications from the NFHS and USATF for coaching, has served as a NCHSAA state meet official and was a board member of the North Carolina Track and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Danny and his wife Kimberly live with their six children in Hurdle Mills, N.C.