It’s rare that Tim Daggett attends an event and leaves without a title.

But that was the case Wednesday night in Bismarck, N.D., at the National Coach of the Year Awards Banquet at the Bismarck Hotel and Convention Center.

The Classical Academy track and field coach was named a finalist, but Daggett was not selected as coach of the year during the National High School Athletics Coaches Association’s event.

“Being one of the top eight among these coaches is pretty impressive,” said David Dougherty, NHSACA executive director. “We’ve had some coaches who’ve won other national awards who didn’t win [Wednesday], so if they didn’t get picked, they should feel no shame.”

Daggett learned of the nomination in March and entered a field with a plethora of talented coaches.

The other seven finalists included: Scott Christensen (Minnesota), who won the award; Josh Allmaras (North Dakota); Shane Baltz (Mississippi); David Haliday (Florida); Dave Sellon (Nebraska), Rob Stanton (Montana); and Clinton Tabb (New Jersey).

Daggett helped build The Classical Academy’s track and field program into a formidable team in the mid-2000s when both the boys’ and girls’ sides began to accumulate titles.

In 21 years as the head track and field coach at TCA, Daggett has helped lead the Titans to 19 state championships — 12 for the girls and seven for the boys.

In 2009 and 2010, the Titan boys earned state titles, and they won three in a row from 2012 to 2014.

From 2006 to 2010, the Titan girls won five consecutive titles and earned three in a row on two occasions: 2012-14 and 2016-18.

Both teams took a hiatus from first place until last season, when the boys captured their sixth championship and followed with another state crown this year.

The girls also earned the state title this season to end a five-year drought from atop 3A and gave the Titans their first boys-and-girls sweep since 2014.

“It’s sweet,” Daggett said after the boys’ and girls’ teams won state titles in May. “… They [state titles] are all sweet. But it’s good to get this sweep. … 2023 was so close because the guys finally broke through, but the girls just missed and finished as runners-up. We’ve been, but this year they got it.”