Coach still coaching for the fun of it.

Byline: Ron Bellamy / The Register-Guard

The most fun thing for Tom Heinonen, in his first year of retirement after 27 years as head coach of the Oregon women's track and field program?

Darned if it wasn't coaching.

This time, though, it was as a volunteer, coaching the running group in the UO club sports program. Heinonen didn't get paid a dime; he was there six days a week, rain or rain, and often for several sessions in a day; he coached young freshmen through 30s-something graduate students; he coached UO students with a lot of running talent, and students who just wanted to run.

And he absolutely loved it.

"I look forward to meeting the runners every day," he said. "I've enjoyed it every single day. They're great kids. It's really refreshing. They show up to run because they like to run; they want to succeed, but they don't have to succeed.

"It's the kids, and it's athletics without pressure. They don't expect a lot from me. I don't get phone calls from people crying. Nobody asks me for money. Nobody says `You like her better than you like me.' I don't have to prove to anybody that I'm still a good coach.

"We just have a good time."

Such a good time that Heinonen already is looking forward to next fall, when the students return.

Such a good time that you sense absolutely no misgivings on Heinonen's part about his decision to retire, no hint of nostalgia that the NCAA Track & Field Championships will begin today in Austin, Texas, and he won't be there, after 22 straight NCAA meets dating to 1982, when women were first included in that meet, and after five national meets before that with the old AIAW.

Austin, after all, is where Heinonen led Oregon to an NCAA title, the team of Kathy Hayes, Leann Warren, Quenna Beasley, Sally Harmon, Rosa Gutierrez, Claudette Groenendaal, Brenda Bushnell and Shari Collins winning in 1985.

It was a team largely put together under the old AIAW recruiting rules - no paid trips, no home visits - which made teams more regional and recruiting less stressful. For Heinonen, "the coaching was always fun; the recruiting got harder and harder," and he was very ready to retire last year.

He still follows the sport, tracking meets on the Internet. He's run into some of his former athletes, but has kept a low profile.

"I've stayed away on purpose," he said. "Marnie Mason (now the UO women's distance coach) doesn't need anyone looking over her shoulder. I respect Marnie a lot, and I've kept my distance."

He's as busy as he wants to be. He volunteered to read one hour a week to students at Harris Elementary School.

He took on more chores around the house, and helped his wife, Janet, by proof-reading her monthly newsletter, "Keeping Track," which is ending its 12th year and never has been a hotter commodity, because it focuses on drug issues in the sport.

As spring turns toward summer, Heinonen also is making a comeback of sorts - as a softball umpire. He did that in the 1970s, and decided to try it again, and drew games in the city's coed D leagues. He's been such a prominent figure in the community that people recognize him.

"They're cordial until I blow a call," he said. "Then I'm fair game."

But mostly, the track coach hasn't left track. He's helped a couple of former Oregon athletes who are head coaches - Matt McGuirk at Willamette University and Grady O'Connor at Lane Community College - with some of their meets. He's done some meet announcing, and will be one of the announcers for the national Junior Olympics at Hayward Field in late July.

He's taken great joy in his UO club runners, taking them to compete in cross country and track meets. He coordinated hard weekly workouts for as many as 26 runners at Hayward Field, and met his athletes daily in the heart of campus, holding their stuff while sending them out on long, steady runs. He even instigated a fun, year-ending session of capture-the-flag.

"It's delightful," Heinonen said of the club. "It's a whole different version of athletics. It's pure."

And not work at all.