Stroup was born in Asheville, NC but grew up in Fort Lauderdale Florida, While attending Fort Lauderale high school he competed in cross country and track & field although he specialised in the 400 and 800 meters he also competed his senior year in the postseason decathlon State Championship. Chris was recruited by legendary Appalachian State/Clemson Coach Bob Pollock in 1980 to run for the mountaineers. As a 800 meter specialist, an injury sidelined him his junior year; it was at that time that Pollock asked him to assist with coaching the Middle to long distance squads for indoor and outdoor track.
After college, Stroup worked as an assistant director of a substance abuse facility in south Florida where, in his free afternoons he assisted his former High School coach with XC and track. He moved back to NC in 1991 where he worked as a medical case manager and benefits advocate at the WNC AIDS project, he also co-founded
Loving Food Resourses, a food bank whose mission is to provide food assistance to those navigating the challenges of chronic and terminal illnesses.
It was during this time he was compelled to seek out an activity to balance the emotional impact of social work. So in 1996 he offered his coaching service to Asheville high school. Two years later he became the head boys and girls cross country coach and 1 year after that he became the head track and field coach as well. His experience in doing the decathlon and assisting at the collegiate level made him well suited to work with all the events in track and bring a collegiate structure to the programs as well.
During his time at Asheville his teams were 3-time Team State champions, 10 times Team State runners-up,19 time Regional team champions, 29 time conference team champions. He had 32 individual event state champions, one Gatorade Athlete of the Year, 3 "Most valuable" state meet performers, five all Americans, and one National Champion. His athletes achieved 3 state records in cross country and track, one still stands to this day. Stroup's 2010 team was ESPN/Rivals ranked 16th in the nation among 35,000 + public, private, and parochial schools. And in the Dual meet team challenge rankings was second against all other U.S. state champions in 2010.
Stroup has sent dozens of athletes to NCAA D1, D2, D3 and NAIA institutions. His athletes have gone on to become ACC champions, and all conference selections in the ACC to the Big 10 and other athletic associations. Along with a 2016 Olympic trials qualifier in
Isaac Presson.
Stroup resisted the draw to move to the collegiate level for years as he was grounded in the community and enjoyed the challenges presented by athletes that had never tried the sport before and then guiding them flourish to championship heights in just a few short years. However, Warren Wilson was the opportunity he could not pass up as his family roots go back to the earliest founding of the Swannanoa Valley. His great great grandfather born in 1776 is buried 2 miles from campus in the Riceville Presbyterian church cemetery.
