Milwaukee Athletics

Six-time Horizon League Track & Field Coach of the Year, Andrew Basler, returns for his ninth season leading the Milwaukee track & field and cross country programs for the 2026-27 season.

Since taking over the Milwaukee cross country and track & field programs in 2018, Basler has guided the Panthers to sustained success at both the conference and national levels. Through his first seven seasons, Milwaukee has captured 23 Horizon League team trophies, including conference championships in women's cross country, women's indoor track & field and women's outdoor track & field, while consistently contending for league titles on both the men's and women's sides.
 
Basler's teams have produced numerous Horizon League champions and major award winners, with student-athletes earning Athlete of the Year, Outstanding Performer and Freshman of the Year honors across cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. During his tenure, Milwaukee has sent 21 student-athletes to the NCAA West Preliminary Championships, with Natalie Block advancing to the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in the 400-meter hurdles in 2024 and 2025. His athletes have also rewritten the program record book, setting numerous school records while competing on the conference and national stages.
 
The Panthers enjoyed one of the most successful stretches in program history during the 2023-24 campaign, as the women's team captured both the Horizon League indoor and outdoor championships while the men finished runner-up in both seasons. Basler was named Horizon League Women's Coach of the Year during both the indoor and outdoor campaigns, while Milwaukee collected multiple major individual awards.
 
Basler has also earned conference coaching recognition throughout his tenure, including sweeping the Horizon League Men's and Women's Outdoor Coach of the Year honors in 2023 after leading both programs to runner-up finishes and producing nine individual conference champions.

Success has extended beyond competition, as Milwaukee has continued to excel in the classroom under Basler's leadership. The Panthers have regularly earned USTFCCCA All-Academic Team recognition, collected numerous Horizon League All-Academic honors and produced multiple CSC Academic All-District selections, reflecting the program's commitment to excellence both on the track and in the classroom.

In the classroom during Basler’s first year as head coach, Peter Andrew capped his career as a Second-Team Academic All-American. The Panther men's cross country program posted a perfect APR score, while the men's track & field team also earned public recognition from the NCAA for its Academic Progress Rate.

Basler came to Milwaukee following five years as the assistant men’s and women’s track & field coach at Central Michigan University. He also served as a graduate assistant coach at CMU from 2005-07.

Most recently at CMU, Basler assisted the head coach with all administration of the program while also writing and implementing training programs for jumps and combined events. He helped in recruiting and planned and budgeted for all team travel. During his first stint at CMU, Basler was in charge of sprints, jumps, hurdles and combined events with the Chippewas.

Under his watch, the program achieved a pair of USA Olympic Trials Qualifiers, three USA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships Qualifiers and three USA Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships Qualifiers.

At the NCAA level, the list included three NCAA Division I Outdoor National Championships participants, 10 NCAA Division I Outdoor East Prelims/Regional participants, two NCAA Division I Indoor National Championships participants and an NCAA Division I Indoor All-American.

At the conference level, the program claimed seven Indoor/Outdoor Mid-American Conference (MAC) champions, 14 Indoor/Outdoor MAC All-Conference selections, three Indoor/Outdoor MAC record-holders, one Outdoor MAC Championship record-holder and 16 Indoor/Outdoor school record-holders.

From 2007-13, Basler was the associate head women's track and field coach and the assistant men’s coach at UC Riverside, where he worked directly with the sprints, hurdles, jumps, javelin and combined-events.

Administratively, Basler managed the program's travel and equipment budgets while also serving as meet director for home track and field and cross country meets, including the Big West Conference Championships from 2008-12.
 
At UC Riverside, Basler coached six USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships qualifiers, five USA Junior National Championships qualifiers, two USA Indoor National Championships qualifiers, five NCAA All-Americans (combined indoor and outdoor), 19 NCAA Division I Outdoor West Prelims/Regional participants, 12 Big West outdoor conference champions and 37 school record holders (combined indoor and outdoor).
 
During Basler's years of coaching, he has also coached multiple post-collegiate athletes on the national and international stages. Highlights of his post-collegiate coaching include guiding Riverside alum Ted Hooper (long jump) to the 2016 Indoor World Championships, as well as second-place finishes at the 2015 Indoor USA Championships, 2015 Taiwan Open Athletic Championships, and the 2015 Asian Athletic Championships. In addition, Basler helped guide Riverside alum Allison Wilder (triple jump) to a third-place medal at the 2016 British Indoor Championships.
 
Under the tutelage of coach Mark Guthrie at Wisconsin-La Crosse, Basler won the 2002 NCAA Division III indoor national title in the long jump. He was a three-time NCAA Division III All-American and was the captain of La Crosse's teams that swept the indoor and outdoor NCAA team championships in 2001 and 2002.

Basler earned a Bachelor of Science degree in art from La Crosse in 2002 and a Master’s of Arts in Sport Administration degree from Central Michigan in 2014.