UPDATE (12/18): Caulfield named 2018 PSAC Coach of the Year
Daniel Caulfield – the 2015 and 2018 PSAC Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year – enters his seventh season as the head coach for the Cal U track & field programs, while also beginning his 14th season as head coach of the cross country programs.
Caulfield has mentored a combined 23 NCAA All-Americans during his tenure with the Vulcans in cross country and track & field with All-America honorees in the 800m, 1500m, 1 mile, 3K, 5K, 10K and the steeplechase. Additionally, the programs have combined for 18 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans over the last eight years, plus the only CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year in school history. Caulfield has also coached three Cal U student-athletes that were selected to compete at the USATF National Championships (Christopher Clark 3K-7:58; Aaron Dinzeo 10K-28:40; Julie Friend steeplechase-10:04).
In recent years, Caulfield has led the women’s cross county program to unprecedented success while at the NCAA Division II level. The Vulcans have earned a team qualifier for the NCAA National Championships three times in the last four years, highlighted by winning the 2015 regional title. Cal U has been represented at the national race in each of the past six years, as the program featured an individual qualifier in 2013, 2014 and 2016.
The Vulcans have won nearly 45 league titles in over a dozen events in track & field at the PSAC Championships since Caulfield became head coach in 2014. The women’s track & field program has recorded its highest-ever finishes in program history at the indoor and outdoor league championships under his leadership. On the men’s side, the Vulcans have matched their best finish at the outdoor championships while posting its second-highest showing at the indoor meet.
Caulfield has directly coached six separate athletes that have combined to break four all-time PSAC records and set three PSAC Championships records, plus receive PSAC Athlete of the Year and Outstanding Athlete and/or Outstanding Track Athlete of the league championships honors 17 times.
Additionally, Caulfield has coached the school’s last two recipients of the Pete Nevins PSAC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award (Aaron Dinzeo 2015, Alicia Belko 2019). The prestigious honor is selected by the league’s sports information directors and candidates must have achieved at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA, compete at an outstanding athletic level and have been selected to either the Fall, Winter or Spring Top 10.
Prior to Cal U, Caulfield previously served as the head men’s and women’s track & field and cross country coach at Clarion. He started coaching at his alma mater Adams State in Alamosa, Colorado. As a coach, he helped the Grizzlies capture multiple National Championships, including a sweep of the men's and women's cross country titles in 1998 and 2003, before leaving Colorado in 2004.
Caulfield was a 10-time All-American and a four-time National Champion during his college career while competing at both the NAIA and NCAA levels. He helped the Grizzlies capture back-to-back NCAA National Championships in 1993 and 1994 and set the indoor school record in the 800 meters. Caulfield was named to the inaugural RMAC All-Time Men’s Cross Country Team in 2009 and was inducted into the Adams State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017.
A native of Ireland, Caulfield immigrated to the United States at the age of 13 and attended John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. At Adams State, he earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology and returned to Adams State in 1998 to complete his master’s degree.
Caulfield held the Irish indoor national record in the 800 meters with a time of 1:47.21 for over a decade. He also ranked among the top 50 in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World rankings. Caulfield was the European Cup Champion in both the 800 and 1,500 meters and was the runner-up at the Millrose Games in Madison Square Garden twice.
He and his wife Jackie, an assistant coach for the Vulcans, reside in California with their daughter, Ellie.
