Joe Downing Named Interim Head Coach for Skiing
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Joe Downing, who has served as assistant ski coach and head alpine coach, has been named interim head ski team coach, replacing Fredrik Landstedt. Landstedt coached as both an assistant and a head coach for 21 years at UNM was named Director of Skiing at the University of Utah earlier on Friday.
Downing is entering his seventh season with the Lobos, having joined the program in 2012 as alpine coach. In his six years coaching UNM’s downhill squad, he has seen 23 All-Americans for UNM in alpine, including two national titlists in Joonas Rasanen and Mateja Robnik. Last year the Lobos picked up four All-Americans.
Downing joined the Lobos with over six years of head coaching experience and plenty of passion for ski racing. The Puyallup, Wash., native joined UNM’s ski staff after having spent the 2011 season as an International Ski Federation (FIS) coach at Aspen Valley Ski Club in Aspen, Colo. As part of his coaching duties, Downing served as the divisional and regional project coach as well as an event coordinator and operational lead. From 2009-11, Downing was the lead FIS coach at Schweitzer Alpine Racing School (SARS) in Sandpoint, Idaho where he also served as divisional and regional project coach. Four of the six elite athletes he worked with at SARS are currently members of Division I ski teams at NCAA institutions. Downing spent nearly five years (2005-09) with Loveland Racing Club as the head alpine coach/FIS ability lead coach. His goal was to create a sustainable FIS program while at Loveland. He managed several aspects of the club, including overseeing all other lead coaches and their training/education in addition to managing all on-hill operations.
Downing got his coaching start right out of college. After graduating from Western State College in 2002 with a degree in business administration, he accepted a position as an FIS coach with his home ski club, Team Alpental Snoqualmie (TAS). During the three years he spent with TAS, Downing worked with a strong group of skiers who won the Northwest Cup Team Title twice. A two-time NCAA All-American and Western Regional Champion in Giant Slalom (2001) for the Mountaineers, Downing’s passion for ski racing was sparked by his father, who raced for the University of Denver in the 1960s.
Downing also has experience in coaching with the US Ski Team (Development Team) and has served as seasonal coaching staff with the Western Region Development Project, including every summer session since 2001. Downing and his wife Bryn have enjoyed all that being a resident of New Mexico has to offer, “My wife and I really love it here,” he said. “… the culture, environment and we enjoy the architecture.”