2008 Woodie Awards
McDonnell steps down as Razorback head track coach
Matt Watson
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: News
Arkansas cross country and track and field coach John McDonnell announced his retirement Monday after 36 years and 42 national titles at the University of Arkansas.
The 69-year-old McDonnell will step aside at the conclusion of the 2008 outdoor track season in June.
"I don't know how many years I've got left, but I want to make the best of them," McDonnell said. "There's never a good time [to retire], but I want to spend some time with my family."
McDonnell said he would have stepped down two years ago if it weren't for the NCAA sanctions imposed on the program.
He was offered several jobs during his tenure at the UA and said once thought about taking another job but left it up to his family, and they wanted to stay in Arkansas.
"Once a Razorback, always a Razorback, and that's what I am," McDonnell said.
McDonnell said he won't go far and plans to stay in Fayetteville and help out on a part-time basis, but will leave it up to Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long to choose a successor and continue the traditions of the program.
"With Jeff Long, this program is not going to go backwards, it's going to go forward," McDonnell said.
"I'm leaving a bunch of great athletes," he said, "but I know they'll be in great hands."
McDonnell said leaving the athletes will be the hardest part of retiring.
Assistant coach Dick Booth said he is very interested in taking over for McDonnell, but it isn't his call.
Booth has coached the field athletes under McDonnell for the last 25 years.
"He is the greatest field coach, not in the country, but in the world," McDonnell said of Booth.
Long said he would be crazy not to ask McDonnell for opinion on a successor.
"He is without question the most successful coach in NCAA history," Long said.
McDonnell's 42 national championships are the most of any coach in any sport in NCAA history, 16 more than any other coach.
He also won five national triple crowns at Arkansas, two more than the only other school to win any, Texas-El Paso. The Razorbacks also won 83 conference titles under McDonnell, including 90 percent of the SEC meets they competed in and the last 34 cross country conference titles overall.
"He took a sport most people thought was an individual sport and made it into a team sport," said Frank Broyles, who hired McDonnell while athletic director at the university.
Broyles said he knew McDonnell could be successful when he watched him lead the team on a run through the football stadium and come back an hour and a half later still pacing the athletes.
"If he can outrun them, he sure can coach them," Broyles said.
McDonnell joked one of the keys to his domination of the sport was that he carried a four-leaf clover in one of his pockets at all times, in honor of his native Ireland, and a leprechaun in the other.
Since becoming head cross country coach at Arkansas in 1972, McDonnell has been named to the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and had the UA outdoor track facility named in his honor.
The 69-year-old McDonnell will step aside at the conclusion of the 2008 outdoor track season in June.
"I don't know how many years I've got left, but I want to make the best of them," McDonnell said. "There's never a good time [to retire], but I want to spend some time with my family."
McDonnell said he would have stepped down two years ago if it weren't for the NCAA sanctions imposed on the program.
He was offered several jobs during his tenure at the UA and said once thought about taking another job but left it up to his family, and they wanted to stay in Arkansas.
"Once a Razorback, always a Razorback, and that's what I am," McDonnell said.
McDonnell said he won't go far and plans to stay in Fayetteville and help out on a part-time basis, but will leave it up to Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long to choose a successor and continue the traditions of the program.
"With Jeff Long, this program is not going to go backwards, it's going to go forward," McDonnell said.
"I'm leaving a bunch of great athletes," he said, "but I know they'll be in great hands."
McDonnell said leaving the athletes will be the hardest part of retiring.
Assistant coach Dick Booth said he is very interested in taking over for McDonnell, but it isn't his call.
Booth has coached the field athletes under McDonnell for the last 25 years.
"He is the greatest field coach, not in the country, but in the world," McDonnell said of Booth.
Long said he would be crazy not to ask McDonnell for opinion on a successor.
"He is without question the most successful coach in NCAA history," Long said.
McDonnell's 42 national championships are the most of any coach in any sport in NCAA history, 16 more than any other coach.
He also won five national triple crowns at Arkansas, two more than the only other school to win any, Texas-El Paso. The Razorbacks also won 83 conference titles under McDonnell, including 90 percent of the SEC meets they competed in and the last 34 cross country conference titles overall.
"He took a sport most people thought was an individual sport and made it into a team sport," said Frank Broyles, who hired McDonnell while athletic director at the university.
Broyles said he knew McDonnell could be successful when he watched him lead the team on a run through the football stadium and come back an hour and a half later still pacing the athletes.
"If he can outrun them, he sure can coach them," Broyles said.
McDonnell joked one of the keys to his domination of the sport was that he carried a four-leaf clover in one of his pockets at all times, in honor of his native Ireland, and a leprechaun in the other.
Since becoming head cross country coach at Arkansas in 1972, McDonnell has been named to the National Track and Field Hall of Fame and had the UA outdoor track facility named in his honor.
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