It began as casual curiosity for Cliff English.
As a renowned triathlon coach, he knew the NCAA was moving forward with plans to make triathlon a women's varsity sport. He knew Arizona State was one of 10 schools to receive an emerging sport grant of $140,000 from the USA Triathlon Foundation, making the Sun Devils the first Power-Five conference program to officially adopt the sport.
While he was intrigued by the idea of training athletes at a younger, more impressionable age -- instead of the 30-somethings with whom he regularly worked -- English enjoyed his work as a private coach and this was a busy time of year for him. He had worked with the sport's governing bodies and their competing factions and agendas. He wasn't sure he wanted that experience again.
Then he interviewed for the coaching job at Arizona State, culminating with an on-campus interview on Oct. 13.
"I got more and more excited as I went through the process, especially after the meeting at the university when I met Rocky (Harris) and Deana (Garner-Smith) and (Vice President for University Athletics) Ray (Anderson)," English said. "I could feel their excitement. It felt like such a good environment where everyone was working toward the same goals and supporting each other. By the time it was over, I knew it was an opportunity I had to pursue."
Clearly, the excitement was mutual. Sun Devil Athletics announced English's hiring on Oct. 22, a mere two days after it formally announced the additions of women's lacrosse and triathlon as varsity sports for the 2017-18 season.
"When you find talent, the decision becomes easy," said Harris, senior associate athletic director and Sun Devil Athletics' Chief of Staff.
English has coached a who's who of triathlete stars including four-time U.S. Olympian Hunter Kemper, Leanda Cave, Sarah Haskins, Heather Jackson and T.J. Tollakson. He has coached athletes who competed at the last three Olympics and he coached World Championship medalists Samantha McGlone and Tim O'Donnell.
"Just like the coaches we hired for wrestling and swimming, Cliff brings immediate credibility and status to our program," added Harris, who also competes in triathlons. "The triathlon community, across the board is talking about what we're doing here at ASU."
The sport of triathlon has a robust and tightly knit community in the Valley, may of whom have already pledged their financial support and expertise to the program, Harris said. Arizona hosts more than 100 triathlon events each year and USA Triathlon recently moved one of regional training centers to Scottsdale. But Garner-Smith said the addition of triathlon has implications well beyond the sport's current community.
"When you think about healthy lifestyles for women, we have a unique opportunity to be involved in the various facets of that training and education," said Garner-Smith, a senior associate athletic director and Senior Women's Administrator. "It adds to the uniqueness of this sport."
Through the early 1990s, English was a personal trainer and masters swim coach, but in 1994, he started working with age-group triathletes. He coached at the McGill Triathlon Club in Montreal from 1998 until 2000 and then at the DDO Triathlon Club from 2000-2002. In 2002, he left to work at the national training center in Victoria, Canada where he coached numerous national champions and Kona qualifiers. From 2005 to 2008 he was a coach with the USA National Team, before returning to private coaching.
"Triathlon has been a late-entry sport where athletes come from another sport, so almost all my athletes are in their mid-to-late 30s," English said. "A young athlete would be considered 28 or 29.
"I always saw great potential for development in that gap. College students are at such a great age to work with because they're still acquiring the skills, still building speed and endurance. It was one of those things where I was just looking for the right moment to pursue that opportunity. ASU feels like a really good place to build those true champions."
The program will have 5.5 scholarships its first year and eventually increase to 6.5. Given his ties to the triathlon community at all levels and age groups, English, 45, expects the search for student-athletes to extend well beyond the United States and Canada into Australia and Europe.
"I think we'll always have challenges and we'll have more scrutiny on us because it's the first program of its kind," he said. "Building this from the ground up is both exciting and daunting, but I have a good reputation and name in terms of experience in developing athletes. About two dozen people have already reached out so I'm really pumped."