Coaches Tom Lyons and Pete Cushman seem to be made for their jobs.

Both can be seen most weekday mornings running with the athletes of the SF State cross country teams, joking and laughing, and looking like they’re just having fun.

“I want [the runners] to enjoy it so I just put myself in their shoes,” said head coach Lyons.

“They appreciate that sort of approach. If someone’s working real hard and it really means a lot to them then... I feel like I have a responsibility to be sure they’re satisfied with being on the team.”

Both coaches say they try to keep a good, friendly relationship with their runners while still encouraging hard work.

“I’m pretty easy going but at the same time [I] expect a lot of people as far as how hard you work,” said Cushman, the assistant coach. “But it’s supposed to be fun and it’s important to me that [the runners] enjoy being out there. I find that generally, your athletes feed off your mood as a coach. I think that’s important to keep the mood serious but fun.”

They have succeeded in creating this atmosphere.

“They want to build a great team atmosphere before anything,” said Kyle Fujitsubo, 20, a returning cross country runner.

Lyons began coaching a few years after graduating with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1987.

“I don’t know what it is about it but I always felt like I knew I wanted to coach,” Lyons said. “After I gradtuated college I started working and I just always felt like I wished I was coaching.”

He got into coaching in 1994, landing a position at Redwood High School in Larkspur where he stayed as a coach of the cross country and track teams until 2004.

While working at Redwood, Lyons brought his team to the State meet six times, sending more than 50 athletes to the State championship.

“I think he’s a great coach and able to get athlete’s to peak at the right time,” said Josh Babiak, who ran for Lyons both at Redwood and SF State.

Lyons took up the head coach position for cross country at SF State in 2004. He cites growing the teams as one of the biggest changes he’s made. When he arrived, both the men’s and women’s teams had just seven or eight runners each, which is the bare minimum of runners allowed to compete as a team.

Lyons seems to have met a counterpart in Cushman.

“Their ideas about coaching just seem to be really compatible,” said Chris Lyons, Tom’s wife.

“That’s huge because I think Tom feels really, really supported by Pete. They have a lot of late-night conversations about the races and times.”

Cushman said he decided he wanted to be a coach in his junior year of college.

After graduating from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash. with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and sports management, Cushman moved to the Bay Area and began pursing his master’s degree in kinesiology at St. Mary’s College.

Lyons hired Cushman as his assistant coach in 2006 after a brief period coaching at Santa Clara University.

“Pete’s a friend to me,” the Gators’ Kyle Fujitsubo said. “[The coaches] are my friends. I can talk to them about anything, I can walk into their office anytime. It’s very personal.”

Both coaches continue to compete in sports on their own.

Cushman still runs competitively and Lyons did as well for many years until a knee injury last year forced him to switch from running road races as far as 100 miles to biking in similar races.

Cushman also coaches a women’s running team in San Francisco, the Impala Racing Team, which practices Tuesdays at Kezar Stadium.

“He really brings a certain energy and enthusiasm to it,” said Allison Howard, an Impala runner. “He is really passionate about what he does. He feels confident that he has the best job in the world. It’s admirable to see someone who is young but so confident that he is doing what he was made to do. He’s really where he’s supposed to be.”