By Jim Hague
L.J. McKenzie came to Rutgers-Newark from a humble family background. McKenzie’s family originates in Guyana. The history and family origin of a simple life didn’t prepare him for what lied ahead - namely Rutgers-Newark track and field coach Juan Edney.
You see, Edney is not the calm, cool, coddling type of guy. He has more of a simple approach - like in your face.
“L.J. came to us out of Bloomfield High School and I already thought he had a body type to be a good distance runner,” Edney said. “It was all how he approached running out of high school, how much that he understood the roles. He didn’t want to come in and upset people.”
McKenzie was excited about going to a fine college just down the block.
“I knew how much I wanted to go to Rutgers,” McKenzie said. “It was close to home. I would get to see my family. That was important to me. I always wanted a school with a campus. I had 7:30 practices in the morning and I had to get there on time. It was everything I desired.”
But when McKenzie arrived at R-N, he brought an attitude that didn’t work with Edney.
“He approached things the wrong way,” Edney said. “I didn’t want him to come in here and upset the team that took two years to build. I had to get it into his head that he didn’t have the strength to run college track. He had no strength in his body. He had to develop that body.”
McKenzie respected Edney’s words – but they were not hitting home.
“Coach Edney is really like no other coach I ever had before,” McKenzie said. “I had faith in him that he was going to make me be the best athlete I could be. At first, I was stubborn and didn’t want to listen to him. I knew I wasn’t doing the right thing. For some reason, I thought my way was the best way. I was a little cocky to think I knew what I was doing when I really didn’t know.”
Edney tried hard to get his message across.
“He had to develop that body, but he stayed up late nights playing video games,” Edney said. “I finally took him off the team. His grades suffered. He was just hanging out in the dorms until like 1, 2 or 3 in the morning. Then he would have to be in the gym for practice at 7:30. I put him off the team until his grades improved. We were constantly butting heads with this.”
But then, the light bulb went off above McKenzie’s head and he started to see things Edney’s way.
“It took me three years to realize what I was doing wrong,” McKenzie said. “I sat down and had a talk with myself. I knew I needed to do better. The first two years here, I did not work at all. But now, since I started working, I can feel my body change. I’m bigger and stronger. I have more stamina.”
Edney said that he had nothing to do with the transformation.
“It was all self motivation,” Edney said. “He didn’t understand that’s what it took for him to succeed. Right from the beginning of the offseason, he worked his tail off and started to put up some incredible times.”
Last fall, McKenzie set a personal best of 27:12.7 over the eight-kilometer course at the NCAA Division III Atlantic Regional at Rowan University. The mark is the second fastest in school history, trailing only standout Taqueer Qazi’s mark in the 2010 NJAC Championships. McKenzie set a new personal best by almost 20 seconds.
“He said that he’s going after Taqueer’s records,” Edney said. “He’s gone above and beyond anything I could have imagined. He just needed to get on the right page. He’s a very respectful kid. He’s just stubborn.”
Plain and simple, McKenzie didn’t realize that the only way was Edney’s way.
“I just say ‘Wow! I was wrong’ to him all the time,” McKenzie said. “It’s all clicked in now. I must have been doing something right. My body is stronger and my academics are better. I’ve also gotten a bit more mature now since I first came into the program.”
McKenzie will now run the mile and 3,000-meter runs during the indoor season. He will also compete in the 5,000-meter run when the outdoor campaign begins.
“Always the distance races,” McKenzie said. “That’s what I do best.”
He’s majoring in economics and wants to get his Master’s degree in marketing.
“Perhaps I can get a Ph.D. in economics,” McKenzie said.
He’s certainly turned his life around _ and in a hurry.
“He believed he was right,” Edney said. “I had to break him of that. I told him, ‘Stop fighting me. I’ve been on this earth for 49 years for a reason. You have not been where I’ve been.’ He had to open up and let me in and stop being stubborn.”
Sometimes, the hard way is the only way.
“I just have to be an ‘in-the-face’ kind of guy,” Edney said. “There’s real and then there’s reality.”
