For some, the ever-changing environment of college athletics is too much to handle, but for others like Frank Costello, it helps them find their calling and change lives. 

From recruiting and putting Maryland's first Black female athlete on scholarship, to training Renaldo Nehemiah, one of the greatest hurdlers in track history, to pioneering the strength and conditioning program, Costello played a direct role in shaping Maryland athletics to the powerhouse program it is today.

Costello is one of the most decorated athletes in Maryland track and field history. Competing for the Terps from 1964-1968 under Coach Jim Kehoe, Costello won two NCAA titles in the high jump, set both conference and national records in the event, became a four-time All-American, and was the first collegian to ever cross the seven-foot threshold when he jumped 7'1". 
  "I didn't go over like they go over now," Costello said of the technique he used to clear the bar, which helped him become the top-ranked high jumper in the United States and third in the world in 1966.

"The pits weren't very good," he added. "They were sawdust and sand so you didn't want to land on your back."


The most commonly used high jump technique today is the Fosbury Flop, but it wasn't widely used until after the 1968 Olympics, so for years, high jumpers like Costello perfected the straddle jump. While the modern flop technique allows athletes to arch their back and use the upward momentum created from planting their outer foot during the approach in order to clear the bar, straddle jumpers approach from the opposite side and plant their inner foot for takeoff. Athletes using the straddle technique cross the bar face down with their legs straddling the bar. 

After earning his degree in exercise physiology in 1968, Costello was still competing. He was a  teacher by day and doubled as an athlete still training and an assistant coach for Maryland by afternoon. In the early 1970s, Costello took a facilities job where he oversaw the football team house.

Jim Kehoe, Costello's former coach, had become the athletic director after the 1969 track season and by 1973, Kehoe saw an opportunity for Costello to rejoin the program.

"Coach Kehoe just told me one day, 'I want you to be the head coach'," Costello said. "I had never even thought about being the track coach. It never crossed my mind. I had to think that over because I was really caught off guard a little bit surprised."

Needless to say, Costello accepted the offer and took the helm of the men's program in 1974. Everything Costello learned from Coach Kehoe he tried to implement when he became the head coach.

"Coach Kehoe was very intent. I liked his philosophy and I tried to keep his philosophy when I was the coach. Our mindset was just go in and beat the other person and score points. The more points you get, the more you win," he said. 

Costello took the reins of the program at a crucial point in history, two years after Title IX was passed. Title IX mandated that any institution receiving federal funding create equal opportunities in athletics for women. In a pivotal point in history at the crossroads of Title IX and the Civil Rights Movement, Costello's coaching tenure would set the tone for the program's distinguished history.  
 
"The first person I recruited was a girl named Paula Girven," Costello said. Girven was and still is, hailed as one of the best track athletes in Virginia history. In 1976, she set the state record in the high jump, which still stands today, at 6'0.25" (1.835m). "She was a phenomenal athlete in high school, the first female to ever jump six feet, even then we knew she was incredible."

Girven was the first African-American female athlete to be put on an athletic scholarship at Maryland. 

"She ended up being a national champion, she was on two Olympic teams, and she's probably without question the greatest track and field athlete Maryland ever had," Costello said. 

"She opened the door for countless women in the NCAA and at the University of Maryland," he said after Girven passed away in October 2020. 

Girven wasn't the only superstar Costello coached during his stint as head coach from 1974-1980. 

He said without question the greatest athlete he ever worked with was Renaldo Nehemiah, whose nickname was Skeets back then, Costello recalls.

"Renaldo was just unbelievable, that's all I can say," he remembers. "First day of practice, I remember thinking 'This guy's on another level.' He really challenged the coaching. I had to really work mentally because he was so good. I wanted to let him go!"

Costello said he knew immediately he had to tailor Nehemiah's training to make sure his athlete was peaking at the right meets. The former head coach said he had to be careful with certain aspects of training a world-class athlete, but like a true track and field athlete, Costello took it in stride. 

"Everything's a learning experience," he said. "Every day you run into some situation you hadn't run into before and you have to figure out how to solve the problem. I had run across athletes like Nehemiah before… The football coach Jerry Claiborne wanted me to work with one of his players, Randy White, and get him strong because he had never lifted weights before. His progression was just incredible. He went on to be probably the greatest football player the University of Maryland ever had going on with the Dallas Cowboys, so I had crossed the bridge of working with great athletes before. There are a lot of challenges because you don't want to hold them back, but you've got to make sure you do it right."
  Costello retired from his coaching position after the end of the 1980 season and he was asked to be the strength and conditioning coach for the university's budding program. He was the first strength coach Maryland ever had and he eventually went on to become the strength coach for the Washington Capitals.

However, Costello couldn't stay away from the Terps for too long. He rejoined the coaching staff as a volunteer assistant coach focusing on the high jump at the start of the 2004-2005 season. He spent the next 10 years volunteering for the Terps. 

"I volunteered to help Coach Valmon and I hadn't coached track for 25 years or something like that!" Costello said. "But it all came back as far as how to coach. It was just amazing. I had such a great string of really good athletes to work with who set all kinds of records and won all kinds of stuff."

Costello coached a slew of All-American high jumpers and hurdlers including Dominic Berger, Toni Aluko, Amber Melville, Thea LaFond, Dwight Barbiasz, and Jon Hill.   

"Being a volunteer coach was probably in many ways more enjoyable than being a head coach because you didn't have all the headaches," Costello said jokingly.

"I was very fortunate to go to Maryland," he said. "I was very fortunate to have success. I owe it to a lot of people. I like this area so to stay here and to kind of exploit my success helped me work at Maryland as a strength coach and with the Capitals. It paved the way for other opportunities."