Love & Compassion: Mellanee Welty's Motherly Influence, Affable Nature Bring Gators Together
Wednesday, December 9, 2015 | Track and Field
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Deep inside the University of Florida Lemerand Athletic Center, past the second-floor lobby's trophy cases bursting with championship mementos, all the way down a seemingly never-ending hallway of coaches' offices, track and field assistant coach Mellanee Welty's room is surprisingly vacant.
Ordinarily the program's epicenter, athletes are constantly drawn to this place. Even when Welty isn't present.
Seeing it completely unoccupied on a weekday morning is an incredibly rare occurrence.
"People have always wanted to hang out in my office," said Welty, now entering the ninth season of her second stint at Florida. "I like it because then I can ask, 'How's class? How's home?' and just make sure they're fine away from the track. It makes it easier for me to coach them out there if I know them from an outside-of-track perspective. I don't know why it's happened, but that's how it's always been."
Discerning why her office remains a popular hangout spot for team members is actually a relatively easy task.
It's equipped with a flat-screen television. There's a bucket filled with assorted snacks under the round coffee table covered in Track & Field News magazines which centers the room. The view is pretty good too, as a wide single-pane window overlooks Percy Beard Track at James G. Pressly Stadium.
Most importantly, a cozy microfiber couch awaits the tired arms, legs, and minds that enter. Many naps and earnest conversations have been enjoyed on its three cushions over the years.
"I would go right after class and just spend time in there all the way up until practice would start. I always knew she would have the magic words to calm me down, keep me motivated and have my head in the right place. She was a comforter for me during my first two years," said former Gator Gray Horn, who Welty helped mentor to four All-America honors and five Southeastern Conference titles in the multi events from 2009-12. "It's just a known thing you're always welcome, and you'll always get what you're looking for. When I was having trouble adjusting to the college scene and college athletics, I would go to her office."
The countless heart-to-heart talks, the myriad of days she watched someone visit her office seeking answers to life's mysteries and possibilities for their future, seeing those phases of maturity unfold before her eyes are Welty's favorite memories within these four walls.
"She and I really connected on a different level," said Alishea Usery, an assistant coach at Southern Illinois University who, from Welty's perspective, developed more on a personal level than any Gator she's coached. "Spending time with her, because I was really dependent on my twin sister, she helped me see that I can be independent. She just kept encouraging me. Even when I didn't see it, she saw it in me."
This room is also a candid reflection of Welty's identity. In every way. From its tidiness, to its contents.
Intentionally or not, Welty makes it challenging for one to discover her most treasured keepsakes.
Only a thorough examination will unearth the fascinating subtleties hidden within. First glances provide little insight, as several distractions shield the deeply personal intricacies.
Fifteen miniature NCAA Championship trophies—each representing a top-four finish at the national indoor or outdoor meets—line the upper shelf of a desktop organizer adjacent to the window, easily captivating wandering eyes (Welty's actually been a part of 20 top-four national finishes by the men's and women's programs as a Florida assistant, but there's no space left for the missing five anyway). A framed commemorative photo of the Gators' 2010 NCAA Indoor Championship victory, the first of three consecutive men's indoor national titles, hanging above the couch is equally alluring.
Then there's the windowsill. The keys, both literally and figuratively, to understanding Welty at her core rest on that white marble ledge.
Just below an assortment of trinkets, keys to a silver Camaro with tinted windows and custom rims lie atop a bundle of paper clips in a small metal basket.
Welty's always driven a sports car, and couldn't imagine being without one. This new acquisition is a serious upgrade from the convertible she drove back in high school, though. Speed and power are two of a track athlete's most important characteristics. It seems fitting her ride shares those traits. However, you won't see her speeding around town. And those dark windows help her maintain some of the privacy she savors.
"I don't drive that fast," Welty chuckled. "I just like the feel of it. It feels tough. It fits my personality."
Peering further down the windowsill, a trifold calendar sits directly to Welty's left. When questioned, she flips through it, revealing a different family photo each month.
Coming from a close-knit family that remains a "very big part" of her life today, returning home to Wichita, Kan. at least once a year is a top priority. Between those trips, the calendar, a gift from her younger sister, Heather, keeps them at her side. All the time.
"I know that I'm supposed to be here and be away from them … but it's a big deal," Welty said. "It's nice to see them every day."
Inches left of the calendar, a laminated blue sign the size of a notecard is taped to the windowsill. Its powerful message serves as a motto for Welty and her visitors.
The orange font reads: "Is that as good as you can do?"
***
Recruiting is the centerpiece of Welty's work at Florida.
Saying she and the staff have done quite well is a significant understatement. Year after year, the Gators' roster is loaded with national champions and future Olympians and World Championship medalists.
Two of her recruiting stories stand out above all else. Neither involves a UF athlete.
Even after a "pretty successful" (her words) athletic and academic career at Wichita State University—during which she won eight Missouri Valley Conference titles across five different events, including consecutive heptathlon titles, two MVC Outdoor Field MVP awards, and an All-America laurel—ended in 2001, Welty had zero coaching aspirations.
Medical school beckoned.
Well, until Florida alum Jeff Pigg, then the head coach of track and field and cross country at Illinois State University, another MVC program, talked her into coaching his jumpers and multi-eventers.
"I said, 'Eh, I'll give it a shot,'" Welty said. "For a year or two, I thought it'd be fun. It just seemed like a good opportunity for a couple years and then I'd maybe go in the direction I originally thought I was going to go."
Right from the start, she was hooked. Everything about the profession—traveling, recruiting, working with college athletes—fit Welty's affable personality.
Welty followed Pigg to his alma mater in 2002, spending two seasons as the Gators' assistant distance coach before moving on to gigs with three different schools over a four-year stretch. All the while, Welty and Mike Holloway, a member of Florida's staff since 1996 who was promoted to men's track and field head coach in 2003, stayed in touch, forging a deep friendship. The two talked four or five times a week, often sharing family stories and reminiscing about Welty's time at UF.
One conversation in 2007 turned into a discussion of viable candidates for an opening with Florida's newly merged men's and women's program. Welty's name never came up. Until the next day.
"She called me back and said, 'You know what, I could do that job,'" said Holloway, who interviewed Welty at the United States Track and Field Outdoor Championships later that year. "She convinced me. The passion she showed and what she thought we could do here, that was the turning point for me."
Since returning to Gainesville, Welty's been a jack of all trades.
She helps coach sprinters, hurdlers, high jumpers, and, when on the roster, multi-events athletes. She serves as recruiting coordinator. She organizes practices and meet preparations. She keeps everyone in line, knowing best when to soothe or be stern. As Holloway puts it, "She's my right arm—an extension of me, my thoughts, my drive and passion for the team."
There's an unofficial title Florida's athletes bestowed to her as well.
"We call her Momma Welty," said Brittany Harrell, a six-time All-American who broke UF's pentathlon and heptathlon records with Welty's tutelage. "She is the root of the whole team."
Others describe her as a stabilizer, a big-hearted pillar, an outlet to talk to about absolutely anything. They say the compassion she has for them as human beings, not just as athletes, is always apparent. In return, none of them ever want to let her down.
While Welty uses her intensity to motivate the Gators during practices, she opts for a calm, positive approach during meets. Especially when things aren't going well.
"Because of her attitude and positivity, it made me so comfortable and relaxed," said Taylor Burke, Florida's indoor and outdoor high jump record holder and a four-time All-American from 2012-15. "Multiple times, I would be high jumping and do something that was not at all what I was supposed to be doing.
"Instead of her yelling at me, she would look at me and say, 'Go jump over the bar.' That helped me a lot."
Welty's comfortable being the motherly influence. Holloway views it as a necessity.
"In any program, especially when you have females on your team, you need a female presence. That's very important," Holloway said. "Because of her ability to communicate and relate to them, they trust her."
***
When Welty leaves her office and isn't busy with practice, she spends the majority of her down time at home.
Once there, her cell phone gets left on the table. She'll check her messages, e-mails and call log a few times afterwards, but, other than that, she completely avoids track and field.
"I work really hard when I'm (at the office)," Welty said. "When I'm at home, I don't want to talk about track. It helps me do better (at the office). I love track, but there's a time and place."
Away from coaching, she might as well be in a foreign country. Most summers, she actually is.
Welty's white-water rafted in Costa Rica. She's hiked and scaled cliffs in Puerto Rico. Canopying, zip lining and rappelling down waterfalls round out a short list of wild adventures she remembers off the top of her head. This past August, she spent a week in Ireland.
In a place like Florida, though, why not the beach?
"Everybody can go to the beach," Welty said. "I like to get out of the country and see different things, be around non-Americans, and just get into other cultures. That kind of stuff is really fun to me."
Welty enjoys simple activities, too. She recently took up golf. Baking remains a hobby, with the coaches and support staff reaping the tasty rewards. Television shows and movies consume any free hours remaining.
Exercising also serves as a source of freedom. She loves pushing her limits.
"She goes hard. Every day." said Matt DeLancey, the program's strength and conditioning coach.
DeLancey will never forget the angry e-mail he got during one of Welty's trips. He'd assigned her a grueling dumbbell circuit. The excruciating training session delivered all the punishment he expected it to. And then some.
But she still finished it. Not even the toughest workout he ever gave Welty managed to break her. Not for a second.
"I don't think she gets slowed down," DeLancey said. "Ever."
That's as good as she can do.
