Coach Dennis Licklider tends to send a message in the non-traditional way.

"Milk toast," high jumper Cali Fitzpatrick said. "It's literally toast that you poured milk on and ate. One of the guys had to ask... Is it good? And he said, 'No, it sucks. For the rest of the season... That's what we referred to it as... If a jump was bad we said that's milk toast," said Fitzpatrick.

Licklider hasn't seen much "milk toast" in his years on the track. His teams won 9 state championships and 39 district titles.

"That's crazy... That's amazing. He absolutely knows what he's doing," hurdler and jumper Erin Alewine said.

And so does the Jefferson City school board. In April it named the new high school track Licklider Track at Adkins Stadium.

"Overwhelming... The neatest thing is this is a place where the kids can train and they have deserved this and many that came before them deserved this for a long time," Licklider said.

He has given a hand to hundreds of Jefferson City track athletes, but doesn't settle for past success.

"We're here trying to get this group to reach their potential. We can't hold up ghosts from the past in front of them because nobody can measure up to a ghost," said Licklider.

And soon enough the ghost will be him. After more than two decades of ruling the runners, jumpers, and hurdlers on the Jefferson City track team, Licklider shocked the team in March.

"He brought us into the film room up there and he got a little chocked up and said... This is my last year... Let's make it count," said pole vaulter Turner Abernathy.

Licklider compares the feeling to a relationship.

"It's like how do you know when you're in love? You just know when it's time to turn it over and let somebody else try it," said Licklider.

The news hit the team hard.

"We all were sad and crying. It was a rainy day outside so I guess it was showing the tears, you know," said sprinter Devin Whittler.

But, Licklider recovered quickly.

"Soon as he was over that... He goes... But this doesn't mean we're getting soft for the rest of the season," said Fitzpatrick.

So now the kids are trying to make his finale a perfect 10.

"It made me work harder this season now that he's not going to be here.... to just kind of do it for him," said Fitzpatrick.

The team wants Licklider to leave on top.

"Everybody wants to send him out on a state championship," said Turner.

And nobody wants milk toast.

"He said i get two jumps and at 5'3" I get a steak dinner. We were working on it... I was like this close, but barely missed it," said Fitzpatrick.

Expect Licklider to help Fitzpatrick make the corrections by state one way or another.

"Kind of one of those coaches that you hate him... And then at the end of the season you love what he did for you," said Fitzpatrick.

Licklider's hopes for his legacy are simple.

"I would like to be remembered as somebody that came everyday and worked hard everyday and did a good job," said Licklider.

Coach Licklider says he doesn't know exactly what he is going to do in retirement. He says he has been too busy to have hobbies,but he is looking forward to his son Ross coming home from Iraq this summer.