As part of this role, Dr. Denison will be working closely with newly appointed Associate Director Brian Kropman in an effort not only to strengthen current initiatives but to install exciting new coaching development opportunities. Kropman, an employee at the CACC since 2005, has become an integral figure in the sport through his involvement with the Run Jump Throw program, the Little Big Run and managing the Centre’s website, a world renowned resource for athletics coaches.

Below is last month's press release with more details about these new developments:


Edmonton, Alberta, December 16 2009 – Research and practical application will go hand in hand at the Canadian Athletics Coaching Centre (CACC), which today announces the appointment of a new director, James Denison, to take the helm.

Denison, a leading sport sociology scholar and seasoned coach educator in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation at the University of Alberta, will officially assume the leadership at CACC in January 2010. The CACC is the legacy of the 2001 World Championships in Athletics and is the premiere hub for coaching education in athletics in Canada.

“My primary objective will be to concentrate on forming productive relationships locally, nationally and internationally to make the CACC a force for positive coach and athlete development,” he said.  “My role will entail bringing a strong education and applied research emphasis to the Centre by connecting with our partners, the University of Alberta, Athletics Canada and Athletics Alberta as well as coaches across Canada.”

Denison has been actively involved in coach education at the Centre for the past three years, and brings extensive experience as an athlete, coach, educator and researcher to the Centre’s helm. He is a member of the Coaching Association of Canada’s Research Committee and the program leader for the IAAF’s Academy Courses for Coaches.

A former competitive middle distance runner, Denison was head coach of a boys’ cross-country and track team; he was an assistant coach in men’s cross-country and middle distance at the University of Toledo, where he completed his master’s degree in educational psychology and served as a volunteer assistant coach in men’s middle distance cross-country at the University of Illinois, where he completed a doctoral degree in sport sociology.

Denison’s extensive body of research includes numerous scholarly publications on coach effectiveness, coach education, athlete development, athletic identity, coaching ethics, and coach-athlete relationships, and regular contributions to prestigious international coaching magazines and newsletters.  He is the former editor of the “The Coach” and also the author of the official biography of Ethiopian running legend, Haile Gebrselassie, “The Greatest,” and “Bannister and Beyond: The Mystique of the Four-Minute Mile” – a collection of in-depth interviews with sub- four-minute milers.

“My vision is to establish the CACC as a resource for the development of innovative, ethical and healthy training practices relevant to our current cultural context that hopefully inspires today’s generation of coaches and athletes to find meaning in participating in athletics,” said Denison.

Mike Mahon, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation said, “With his combination of experience as an athlete, coach, educator and his exceptional knowledge and vast body of research in coach education, Jim is in a unique position to strengthen this Centre as a strategic hub of practical knowledge translation and dissemination for the benefit of coaches and athletes across Canada.”