Starting off in his 51st season, men's cross-country coach Harry Groves is as light-hearted as ever.

Groves started running in the third grade and has not stopped since. After ROTC in college, Groves was an officer at Fort Eustis in Virginia.

While stationed at Fort Eustis, Grove worked out a few miles up the road at the College of William and Mary. He asked the cross-country coach there if he needed help and is still coaching to this day.

"Coach Groves has been around track and field and cross country forever," Penn State cross country runner Erinn Otterson said. "He really know what he's talking about. We trust what he says."

Groves' former runner Ryan Olkowski said Groves pushed his athletes with his presence more than his words.

"Because of his reputation he's intimidating... You want to impress him," Olkowski said. After five decades of experience including coaching at the Olympics, Groves has seen everything, Olkowski said.

What has kept Groves coaching for 50 years, 36 of which were at Penn State?

"Every ten years you run into a kid who is so godly inspirational he keeps you going for another ten years," Groves said.

People who have unbelievable talent and who overcome shortcomings have motivated Groves to keep coaching.

He fondly remembers one runner with unmatched perseverance.

Groves said he coached this runner all around the country for three years. The runner failed a lot, then one day he ran the No. 1 time in the world for that year and held an American record.

"He loves to win," Otterson said. Although, Groves teaches his team that running is not everything.

Otterson said Groves knows everyone in the sport. Everywhere the team competes, people recognize Groves as a prestigious coach and his runners respect him for that, Otterson added.

"He's not just a coach, he's our mentor. He's kind of like our dad," he said.

Groves taught Olkowski a new mindset that helped him succeed in races. He also taught Olkowski to "beat the guy in front of you and the time will come." Concentrating on the competitor ahead of him instead of beating the clock improved Olkowki's times throughout his career with Groves.

The greatest lesson Groves said he has learned from his runners is that he is still learning.

Olkowski said he probably taught Groves not to judge an athlete by his appearance.

What a lot of people do not know about cross country is that it is on a designated route.

A lot of people have never seen a race, he said, and think it is just a bunch of guys running around in the woods. These days the courses are usually marked with white lines on golf courses for safety purposes, he said.

The race routes are not the only source of confusion about cross-country running. Groves said there's a lot of failure on the way to the top.

"The greatest misconception in college athletics is the win. If you win all the time you're either in a lousy league or cheating like hell."

Financial aid is one way teams "stack the deck," he said.

Direction combined with luck equal success, Groves said, some people can just pull off success and can not always define why or how.

"[Olkowski] is a five time All American and first class kid. I could never figure out how he did it," Groves said.

Olkowski's method for success eluded Groves while luck might have helped an unlikely set of winners.

"In Philadelphia in 1984 we won the championship of America four-by-four relay with two walk-ons from State College," Groves said.

The team was inducted into the Hall of Fame and their time was No. 1 in the world that year -- maybe top five of all time.