John McDonnell is a retired head coach who was a coach for the University of Arkansas Razorbackstrack team. He began as the cross country and track head coach for the University in 1972 and became head track coach in 1978. McDonnell retired after the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Early life
McDonnell earned his bachelor's degree from Southwestern Louisiana in 1969. While competing to become a six-time all-American in track and cross country at USL, he became the 1966-67 AAU 3,000-meter champion, and won the mile at the 1966 British Selection Games. He coached at New Providence High School and Lafayette High School before coming to the University of Arkansas.
Coaching accomplishments at Arkansas
McDonnell was hired as the cross country coach in 1972 and added the entire men's track and field program in 1978. Coach McDonnell led the track team to their first national championship at the 1984 NCAA Indoor Championships while the school was a member of the now-defunct Southwest Conference. Since then, the University of Arkansas has won 40 NCAA championships, including 11 cross country, 19 indoor track and 10 outdoor track. Other schools have won only 24 combined NCAA titles in the three sports during the same period. McDonnell's 40 national championships are more than any coach in any sport in the history of college athletics. The next highest is 31 by Pat Henry, former LSU and current track coach at Texas A&M University. McDonnell also won five national triple crowns. Texas-El Paso has won three national triple crowns. No other school has ever won one. In addition, McDonnell team and individual achievements include:
20 conference triple crowns since 1982, including eight straight between 1987 and 1995
25 consecutive conference titles in cross country with indoor track and outdoor track combined from 1987 to 1995
73 conference championships in the last 77 events Arkansas has entered since 1981-1982
84 conference championships overall since 1974 including 38 in the SWC and 46 in the SEC
12 consecutive NCAA indoor track championships
coached 185 track All-Americans, earning 652 separate All-America honors
34 consecutive league cross country championships, including 17 straight in the SEC
23 Olympians coached spanning three decades and six different Olympic Games including gold, silver and bronze medalists
his 1994 indoor track squad won the national championship by the widest margins in the history of the sport as well as scored the most points in the history of the NCAA event
his 1994 squad scored a meet record 223 points at the SEC Outdoor Championships
has been named national, regional or conference coach of the year a total of 140 times
has coached 23 Olympians, including gold, silver and bronze medalists, 105 NCAA individual event champions and 331 individual event conference champions
