Jason Dunn Added to OU's Track & Field Staff

Distance coach has worked with cross country and track programs since 1996.


Jason Dunn

July 20, 2013





NORMAN, Okla. -- The University of Oklahoma track and field program has added another member to its staff as Jason Dunn has been named the Associate Head Cross Country Coach/Assistant Track & Field Coach, OU head coach Jim VanHootegem announced Saturday.

Dunn joined the staff at the University of Kentucky in 2012, working as the head coach of the men's cross country team and assisting with coaching the middle-distance and distance portions of the combined track and field program. Before his stint Kentucky, Dunn worked at Stanford, Virginia, Arizona State and his alma mater of William & Mary. While at Stanford, he coached six sub-four minute milers.

"We are elated that Jason has agreed to join the Sooners," VanHootegem said. "He will be a great leader of our distance runners and a great fit for our coaching staff. I did a very thorough search for this position as I was looking for someone who had proven, successful experience with both women and men plus had a track record of developing athletes in both the middle-distances and longer distances. Based upon that criteria, Jason definitely stands out from the pack."

Dunn spent four years at Stanford, and during that time, he led one of the nation's top distance programs as head coach for both the men's and women's cross country teams. Under Dunn's guidance, the men's cross country team claimed a No. 1 national ranking for much of the 2009 and 2010 seasons, taking home Pac-12 Team Championships in each. In 2010, the women's team also won the team title, giving the Cardinal a sweep for the first time since 2005.

The Stanford teams claimed five top-10 finishes under Dunn, and he was twice named the Pac-12 Men's cross country coach of the year. He was also named a USTFCCCA coach of the year on seven occasions (two cross country, three indoor track, two outdoor track). In 2010's indoor and outdoor track seasons, a total of 10 student-athletes earned All-America honors.

Dunn coached 16 student-athletes to 59 individual All-America honors, including an NCAA champion, four NCAA runners-up and seven third place finishers. With Dunn as his coach, Chris Derrick earned 14 All-America honors, set the American collegiate record in the 10K (27:31.38) and finished fourth at the 2012 Olympic Trials. Other accomplishments achieved by Dunn-coached Stanford student-athletes include two American Junior records, five school records and six Pac-12 Champions.

While at Virginia, Dunn coached four men's and four women's teams to the NCAA Championships and let the men's squads to Atlantic Coast Conference titles in 2005 and 2007. Both the men's and women's teams qualified for the national meet in 2005, marking the first time in school history both advanced in the same season. Dunn was named the ACC Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2007.

Seventeen of Dunn's cross country runners earned 28 All-ACC honors during his time with the program, and eight runners earned nine individual ACC Championships under his direction. Seven Cavaliers earned conference honors in 2005, when the men's team won the conference title for the first time since 1984. Additionally, Dunn led 23 runners to 40 all-region honors and five to All-America status.

As an assistant to the track and field program, Dunn coached six All-Americans and saw the distance runners record 18 NCAA qualifying times and set three school records.

Academics also reflected success while Dunn was at Virginia as both the men's and women's cross country programs were named All-Academic teams for five years in a row. On 22 occasions, Dunn's student-athletes have earned All-Academic status in both cross country and track and field.

At Arizona State, Dunn served as a graduate assistant and helped transform the cross country program, which went from having never qualified for the NCAA Championships to finishing 14th (men's) and 12th (women's) in 1999.

Dunn began his coaching career in 1996 as the assistant cross country coach at William and Mary, sharing duties in an interim volunteer position for a team that ranked in the top 20 nationally and won a Colonial Athletic Conference title.

"I always admired Jason's coaching, and in our initial talks we had good conversations about our shared enthusiasm for OU," VanHootegem added. "However, when I actually studied his coaching record, I was really blown away. We are fortunate to have him."

While at William & Mary as a student-athlete, Dunn served as team captain and was part of two cross country teams who made NCAA appearances. He earned all-conference honors in cross country and in track, where he won the 1996 CAA conference championship in the steeple chase. Dunn received All-East honors in the event and later qualified provisionally for the NCAA Championships and Olympic Trials.

Dunn graduated in 1996 from the College of William & Mary with a B.A. in government. He later received his master's degree in curriculum and instruction with a physical education emphasis from Arizona State in 1999.