2009 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE | PHILIP ROTICH
Anyone who has been around Philip Rotich for a short period of time could tell you that he is a serious person and is all business. In fact, one time he even went to Head Coach Chris Layne and said to Layne that he did not always understand him because Layne “joked too much.” Now, we aren’t here to talk about whether or not Layne might crack a joke or two, but we are here to talk about the impact that Philip Rotich has on Milligan College and its running programs.
Rotich ran just one year for the Buffaloes, and in that one year, he became the first 3-time NAIA All-American in the history of Milligan College. An individual AAC and NAIA Region XII Runner of the Year, Rotich finished 10th in the 2001 NAIA Cross-Country Championships, and runner-up in the mile and 800-meters at the indoor and outdoor finals in 2002.
Still, after seven years, Rotich holds four Milligan records in indoor track and three records in outdoor track, while his cross-country personal best of 25:21 for the 8K is the fourth fastest time ever by a Buffalo. And maybe even more impressive, at the spry age of 30, Rotich competed on the Milligan cross-country “Alumni Team” this year in the “Stampede at the Shoals,” the season opener for the cross-country teams. Rotich blazed to a first place finish with a time of 19:05 for the 6K and defeated some of the region’s best runners. For those of you who don’t know running…that’s pretty fast.
A 2003 graduate of Milligan College, Rotich earned a Bachelor of Science degree in information technology. Prior to this, he received a B.S. in tourism and hospitality services management from Moi University, in Eldoret, Kenya.
In the past ten years, he has coached and mentored several distance runners across the nation and around the world. Traveling as far as his native land of Kenya and as close by as Milligan College, Rotich has bestowed his knowledge of the sport on up-and-coming stars.
From 2004-2007, he was an assistant coach for the track and cross-country programs at East Tennessee State University while he was earning a master’s degree in sport and leisure management. Now he volunteers as a coach while pursuing a doctoral degree in educational leadership and policy analysis at ETSU and working as a doctoral fellow.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great honor that we induct Philip Rotich into the 2009 Milligan College Athletics Hall of Fame.