Olympic gold medalist and former world record holder Mac Wilkins built the region’s best throwing complex and made tiny NAIA Concordia one of the nation’s best college throws programs.

But what happens to those things now — the training center commonly known as The Mac Wilkins Throws Center and the college program that gained 24 NAIA titles — is up in the air with the news that Wilkins will become a coach at the USA Track and Field High Performance Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

Wilkins called the new opportunity a better platform for “evangelizing” the throws events to a broader audience as well as getting to work with more elite athletes.

Yet even without the new job opportunity — Wilkins has also been flying to Ohio’s SPIRE Academy to conduct clinics — he was likely to move on.

Concordia’s move to NCAA Division II was going to hinder Wilkins’ ability to work with throwers at all levels and the support structure he sought to sustain elite throwers in Portland proved difficult to piece together.

Wilkins has proven to be an exceptional coach and an inspirational figure to throwers not only locally but nationally and internationally. But more than that, he put Concordia track and field on the map. And the throws center, which Concordia deserves credit for, was his baby. I vividly recall going out there one afternoon to find Wilkins 20 feet up on a ladder cleaning out the gutters to ward off a rain-water leak.

I’m not sure if anyone else can possibly bring that same level of care to the facility, but hope someone does.

The throws center is already home to the U.S. high school records in the boys javelin (Sam Crouser) and discus (Ryan Crouser) and is an important piece of Oregon’s track and field infrastructure.