To understand any profession or way of life, it is wise to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. For distance coach Corey Ihmels, those would be running shoes.

When Ihmels graduated from high school in Willston, N.D., in 1992, he was one of the top cross country prospects in the nation. He won the prestigious Kinney Cross Country Nationals and chose Iowa State to continue his running career.

“Iowa State was a perennial power,” Ihmels said. “They had won nationals in 1989 and finished second nearly every year after that. And being that it was in the Midwest, it was just a good fit for me at the time.”

Ihmels was a good fit for Iowa State.

He won multiple cross country titles and track and field conference titles during his career as a Cyclone. The team was the 1994 NCAA champion in cross country, and Ihmels was key to its success. He finished his career as a two-time All-American in cross country and became the first track and field indoor season MVP of the Big 12 when the conference was formed in 1997.

After graduating, Ihmels earned his teaching certificate and moved on to Arizona State where he continued his education. In Tempe he worked under distance coach Walt Drenth, now the head coach at Michigan State. Ihmels said he had always wanted to coach and saw working under Drenth as a great opportunity.

“Coaching jobs are few and far between, and Drenth is one of the best distance coaches in the country,” Ihmels said. “That’s where I became the most prepared to coach.”

When a coaching vacancy opened at Iowa State, Ihmels said he knew the time was right. Because of his history at Iowa State, he said he knew he’d have a shot at the job. It worked, but there were adjustments to be made.

“Just the fact that we were one of the top teams in the country distance-wise then, and now we’re not,” he said. “People remember me as an athlete, and now I have to build that [national reputation] back up as a coach.”

One of the biggest adjustments was working with athletes on an individual basis.

“What worked for me won’t work for everyone else,” Ihmels said. “You have to see what works best for them. I went out and trained hard, and maybe too hard at times. It definitely gives me a vision of what guys are going through, and I can relate to them.

“I know what it’s like to be tired and to go through training. I think the experience can lend itself as a positive to the group,” he said.

Freshman Joris De Vulder said he enjoys listening to Ihmels’ stories about his college running days.

“It helps motivate me,” De Vulder said. “Last week, he told us he used to run around 100 miles per week during the season. Our average is 70 here. If you want to be good, you have to run all of those miles.”

Just because Ihmels knows what it is like to go through training doesn’t mean he goes easy on his team.

“If you want to be good, I expect 110 percent,” he said. “It’s got to be a whole-life commitment. If I didn’t have full commitment, I wouldn’t expect their full commitment.”

Ihmels’ main goal for the distance program is to first get back to the top of the conference, and then to the top of the country. The commitment and dedication is what it will take for the program to get back to its glory days of the 1990s.

“I approach coaching the same way I approach athletics — I want to be the best,” Ihmels said. “I didn’t just come here as a sub-four-minute miler. I had to work four or five years to get there. I might have to work twice as hard as a coach to get it back there.”

Senior runner Corey Ylinen said he has seen the program progress.

“When Coach Ihmels came here, he laid a new philosophy out that we can’t get away with the minimum,” Ylinen said.

Ylinen said having a former runner as a coach can be both good and bad for the athletes.

“Knowing that he’s been through all the battles, you’d be foolish not to take advice from someone that’s had that much success,” he said. “In some ways, it’s hard for him to relate to us because he was so talented.”