John McDonnell

John McDonnell was a soccer player growing up in Ireland when one day his brother, a track athlete, asked him to pace him one day on an 880-yard run. His brother never caught up with him. As the head coach at the University of Arkansas, McDonnell’s teams have won 42 NCAA national team titles and produced five seasons in which the Razorbacks have won the NCAA indoor and outdoor track and field national titles, and cross country crowns in the same year. His athletes have won 105 NCAA individual event championships and he has produced 185 All-Americans. Arkansas’ teams have been even more dominant at the conference level, winning 83 league championships. In the Southwest Conference, where they competed head to head with other powerful track programs like Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Houston and Baylor, McDonnell’s Razorbacks won 45 titles – 17 in cross country, 15 in indoor track and 13 in outdoor track. The Razorbacks switched to the Southeastern Conference in time for the 1991 cross country meet, and league members vowed to show their strength against the Hogs. But while Tennessee, Florida, LSU and others have been strong, the Razorbacks’ dominance continued. McDonnell’s teams sent a signal to the SEC when the Hogs took the first five places for a perfect score in their first league cross country meet. McDonnell began coaching cross country at the University of Arkansas in 1972 and he assisted head track coach Ed Renfrow with the track program. When Renfrow left coaching, Razorback Athletic Director Frank Broyles promoted McDonnell in time for the 1977-78 academic year.