Steve Kruse always saw the greatness in Northern Kentucky University.

He saw it first back in the fall of 1979 when he arrived as a freshman radio and television major and cross country runner out of Oak Hills High School in Cincinnati, joining a college community that was then no bigger than his high school.

“I mean, there were 850-something in my graduating class,” Kruse said. “So, coming over here, it was about the same size. And I had a great time here."

It was small. The radio and television major he was in was a blast. And he met his wife, Kate, who was then playing volleyball for NKU and then-coach Jane Meier.

But just about two years into his college cross country career, Steve had to transfer to the University of Cincinnati because the program at NKU was part of a massive athletics cut.

“After the university dropped all these sports, it was very disappointing to not only my team, but the teams that got cut,” Kruse said. “I know there were a lot of frustrated athletes. But I always saw Northern, even back then, I always saw the greatness in this campus. The buildings were new, and it was just the beginning.”

It was just the beginning for NKU, and little did he know, it was just the beginning for him at NKU as well. A little more than a decade later, after some time out of town, a wedding to Kate and the beginning of his family, and while he was working as a probation officer in Cincinnati and part-time as a bartender, NKU came back into his life 1994 — this time, for good.

Tim Schlotman, who was Steve’s NKU teammate in 1979 and 1980, had given up the position as NKU cross country coach that July and Steve thought it could be just the thing for him.

“You know, I think I could do that,” he recalled thinking.

“And so, I got permission from my wife, not really knowing what I was getting into. I was catching up with Tim and he said, ‘oh yeah, I stepped down.’ He said he thought they had someone lined up for the job, but I might want to call Jane (Meier). And fortunately, I had known Jane, and she knew I was a very serious runner still at that time. And it worked out.” 

Legendary NKU athletic director Jane Meier took the call and hired Kruse as the part-time cross country coach in 1994 — the seventh men's cross country coach and fourth women's cross country coach in NKU history. He remained part time until Meier made him a full-time employee as both her administrative assistant and cross country coach in the early 2000s.

This is his first and only experience as a coach. 

“So, it's weird because the university recognizes me as the head coach for 31 years” Kruse said. “But the state only recognizes me as a full-timer when Jane kind of changed some things around as of 2002.” 

Back in 1994, though, there was a lot of promise at NKU in Division II. Kruse enlisted the help of the late Mark Delaney, an old teammate from the 1980s. At the start, they had five or six men and one woman on the teams. The first need was to grow the program.

“And so, we just started recruiting,” Kruse said. “Within a couple years, we had 16 girls. We had about that many guys, too. And when you start getting people that will train together, things just start happening. You're not going to be able to do it with a team of five, six people.”

There was no scholarship money for cross country when Kruse took over and back then, NKU was not very aggressive with academic scholarship funding either. He said Meier started putting a little bit more scholarship money toward their cause and that shortly after 2000, the university started getting more involved in academic scholarship money.

“I always saw that potential in the area was growing up around NKU,” Kruse said. “And I was like, this could be something. Yeah, it could really be something. And with Jane's leadership and what she wanted to do with the entire athletic program, once we got the ball running and added women's soccer in 1999, just everything started kind of clicking.”

It clicked for the entire Division II athletics program in the 2000s with successes throughout, including two national championships in women’s basketball and a men’s soccer national championship. They were great years for Kruse and his cross country teams as well as he was the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Coach of the Year in 2006 and KTCCCA Kentucky College Coach of the Year in 2008. He coached two NCAA All-Americans: Zach Koehler in 2007 and Drew Harris in 2009.

“It was a really special time to be here,” Kruse said. “And I really am quite happy that I made that decision and had the few lean years I did because then I could really appreciate the good times that all the sports experienced. I learned so much from Kenny Shields and Nancy Winstel and gosh, the coaching staff back then, just amazing. Bill Aker, Kathy Stewart, who was a softball coach back then, they were just great coaches. I was very, very blessed to be around some incredible coaches that kind of showed me the way.”

With great success came a great leap when in 2012, NKU became a Division I institution in all sports and after nearly two decades as a part-time coach while filling other roles, Kruse became the full-time cross country and track and field coach in 2011 ahead of the jump.

Everything changed. Not only was it a division higher, but there was another set of teams to coach with more than distance running to teach. Track and field certainly has distance events, but there is sprinting as well, along with throws, jumps and hurdles. He hired Paul Longano, a longtime friend from their days as probation officers and at that time the track and field coach for Mariemont High School in Ohio.

“I just said, look, you're going to handle everything but distance, then I'll handle the administrative stuff and all the distance work,” Kruse said. “And together we were able to build the program up.”

And Longano has been in that role since as the pair built the men’s and women’s track and field team from simple extensions of the cross-country program into a team in its own right.

“I’ve always appreciated how Steve has given me the freedom to be myself,” Longano said. “Hands off, no micromanaging. He handled the administrative stuff, allowing me to focus my time developing athletes.

“This is our 15th season together and it’s been a crazy ride. We’ve experienced three athletic conferences (GLVC, A-Sun and Horizon League), four university presidents and three directors of athletics. Just when you get comfortable, change hits like the current shake up in the NCAA with NIL and revenue sharing.”

To date, Kruse’s student-athletes have won 11 women's indoor and 28 women's outdoor conference individual championships, and five indoor and 12 outdoor titles on the men’s side. Kruse’s athletes have earned more than 200 all-conference honors, including 21 women's and 34 men's selections in cross country. They have earned 35 total Academic All-American awards, and the teams combined for 70 USTFCCCA Academic All-America Team awards.

In all, it has been 18 years at the NCAA Division II level and nearly 14 more in Division I, and sometime this spring, Kruse will have coached his last event and his last athlete. He will officially retire from NKU Aug. 1. Right now, he’s coaching as if there is no end date because it could come any time this spring depending on how far his athletes will advance.

“Thirty-plus years in collegiate coaching at the same university is unheard of,” Longano said. “To me, it shows Steve’s love and commitment to NKU. He bleeds black and gold.”

And when the time comes to step away?

“Play a little golf, play a little pickleball, spend time with the grandkids who are starting to come now,” Kruse said. “I'll do a lot of family time, do a lot of travel.”

And of course, there will be time with Kate.

“I always tell everybody to be a college track coach, you have to marry well,” Kruse said. “You have to have a spouse who's very patient, who knows you're not going to be there on the weekend. You're going to be working late nights. And even when you do get home, you're making phone calls. And, you know, track coaches have to marry well or it's just not going to work.” 

And good for NKU, it worked out well.