Daniel Caulfield enters his seventh season as the head coach for the men’s and women’s cross country programs at Cal U. In addition to his work with the cross country teams, he serves as an assistant coach with the men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track & field teams.
Last season, he mentored his second cross country NCAA All-American in the last four years in Aaron Dinzeo. As a sophomore, he captured two individual victories and finished among the top five overall at both the PSAC and NCAA Regional Championships. During the 2012 indoor track season, Dinzeo provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 5,000-meter run. The cross country program also boasted a combined three Capital One Academic All-Americans in 2011.
Two years ago, the Vulcans hosted the PSAC Championships at Roadman Park for the first time in nearly two decades. Led by an All-PSAC performance by Dinzeo, the men’s team posted its best finish since 1986.
In 2009, Caulfield coached two of the top freshmen in the conference with Erin Kling becoming the first Cal U women’s runner to earn All-PSAC honors since 1984 and was named the PSAC Freshman of the Year.
Since arriving in the PSAC, he has coached athletes to 10 combined conference titles in cross country and track & field. He also mentored NCAA All-American and Olympic Trials qualifier Christopher Clark. In 2008, Clark posted one of the most impressive seasons by a runner in program history, earning USTFCCCA Atlantic Region and PSAC Men’s Athlete of the Year laurels.
In addition to their improvement on the course, Caulfield’s teams are also excelling in the classroom. In each of the last three years, both the men’s and women’s team were named a USTFCCCA All-Academic Team. Over the last four years, the program has featured four Academic All-Americans and last year two runners received PSAC Champion Scholar Awards.
Caulfield joined Cal U after serving as the head men’s and women’s track & field and cross country coach at PSAC rival Clarion.
A native of Ireland, he started coaching at his alma mater Adams State in Alamosa, Colo. While serving as a coach with the Grizzlies, Adams State won four NCAA women’s cross country national championships and two NCAA men’s titles.
During his collegiate career, he was a 10-time All-American and two-time NAIA National Champion. He helped lead the Grizzlies’ cross country program to National Championships in 1993 and 1994 after placing in the top five during both championship races. Caulfield also was the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) record holder in the 800- and 1500-meter runs. He was named to the RMAC All-Time Men’s Cross Country Team in 2009.
Caulfield earned his bachelor’s degree from ASC in exercise physiology and in late 1996 returned to Ireland to work in the exercise physiology department of the Blackrock Clinic, one of the country’s most established healthcare facilities. He returned to ASC in 1998 to complete his master’s degree and coached there until December 2004.
The Irish native also holds the national indoor record in the 800 meters. Caulfield was a two-time European Cup champion in the 800 and 1500 meters. In 2001, he was among the top 50 in the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World rankings.
Caulfield was a two-time runner-up at the Millrose Games and was a top-10 finisher at the 2001 World Indoor Championships in Lisbon, Portugal.
