Steve Dolan was hired as the University of Pennsylvania’s Director of Track & Field/Cross Country prior to the 2012-13 season and oversees all aspects of the men's and women's track & field and cross country programs as well as serving as the distance coach for the men's program.
In addition to his duties coaching the Penn programs, Dolan also is the Frank Dolson Director of the Penn Relays, a position he added in October 2021.
One of the most highly regarded coaches in the country, Dolan has transformed the Quakers programs during his time in Philadelphia. Among the many accolades…
*Three of Dolan’s former Penn athletes competed for the United States at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris: Nia Akins in the women’s 800 (after winning that event at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore.), Sam Mattis in the men’s discus, and—mere weeks after graduating from Penn—Bella Whittaker who was part of Team USA’s women’s 4x400 and mixed 4x400 relay teams. In all, 11 current or former Quakers qualified for and competed at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials.
*Dolan’s athletes have accumulated 50 All-America certificates including 14 first-team honors. That includes a pair of NCAA champions—Mattis in the men’s discus in 2015 and Marc Minichello in the men’s javelin in 2022—and runner-up finishes by Akins in the women’s indoor and outdoor 800 in 2019.
*Penn has had a double-figure number of athletes qualify for the NCAA East Regional Championships every year Dolan has been in University City, including a record 28 qualifiers in 2024 (the fourth time since 2017 the Quakers have had more than 20).
*Dolan is a nine-time recipient of the USTFCCCA’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Coach of the Year honor during his time at Penn, earning it once for men’s cross country (2015), four times in women’s indoor track (2018, 2019, 2020, 2024), and four more times in women’s outdoor track (2017, 2018, 2019, 2024).
*Penn has won 10 Ivy League Heptagonal team championships under his watch—two in men’s cross country (2016, 2019), four in women’s indoor track & field (2018, 2019, 2020, 2024), and four more in women’s outdoor track & field (2017, 2018, 2019, 2024). Dolan was named the Ivy League Coach of the Year by his peers following each of those wins.
*Penn’s teams have finished second or third at an Ivy Heps championship event 23 other times under Dolan, with seven second-place finishes and 16 third-place finishes.
*Penn student-athletes have totaled 102 individual titles and 18 relay wins across the Ivy Heps indoor and outdoor track & field championships since Dolan’s arrival.
*In cross country, Tom Awad won back-to-back Ivy Heps men’s titles in 2014 and 2015 while Ashley Montgomery posted the best Ivy Heps finish in women’s history when she was runner-up at the 2016 meet. Overall, the teams have earned 36 All-Ivy recognitions (21 men, 15 women) that includes 14 first-team honors (8 men, 6 women). The Penn signature red-and-blue-striped singlet has also beecome a fixture at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, highlighted by 2015 when the men earned their first team appearance since 1975 and a year later when the women made their debut as a full team.
*Dolan has coached two Penn relay groups to Championship of America wheels at the Penn Relays, the men's 4xMile in 2016 and the women’s distance medley relay in 2019. (That group made history as the first Ivy League women’s relay team to win a Championship of America wheel.) Prior to his arrival at Penn, Dolan coached three Princeton relay teams to CoA wins, twice in the men’s 4xMile and once in the men's DMR. At the 2024 Relays, Olivia Morganti made history as the first Penn woman to win an individual Championship of America title in a track event, taking first in the steeplechase.
*The men's and women's track & field athletes under Dolan's supervision have combined to post program records in 70 different events.
Prior to Penn, Dolan spent eight years at Princeton where he served as the head men's cross country coach and assistant men's track coach. Just prior to Dolan's arrival at Penn, he coached Donn Cabral to an eighth-place finish in the steeplechase at the 2012 London Olympic Games. He also guided Cabral to an NCAA title in the steeplechase - setting the American college record in the process. Under Dolan's leadership, the Tigers' distance runners set the standard in the Ivy League and excelled at the national level. He guided Princeton student-athletes to 21 All-America awards and coached 32 Ivy League individual champions. Dolan also helped lead the Tigers to five of the last six Ivy League Heptagonal cross country championships.
While at Princeton, Dolan was honored as NCAA Regional Coach of the Year on four occasions. Prior to that, Dolan was named as the NCAA Division III Regional Coach of the Year 12 times as the head of the track & cross country programs at TCNJ.
Dolan's ability to develop distance runners was never more evident than the 2011-12 seasons where he coached back-to-back Penn Relays champions in the 4xMile. Dolan's squad also won the Penn Relays DMR in 2012 to become the first Ivy school in 53 years to pull off the Championship of America relay double. In addition to the Relays success, Dolan coached four sub-4-minute milers and had an NCAA qualifier in every distance event which included an NCAA-leading 12 qualifiers.
Before arriving at Princeton, Dolan was the Director of Men's and Women's Track and Cross Country at TCNJ for 11 years. Under Dolan's tenure, TCNJ became a national power. Dolan's teams and top individuals were regularly among the best in the nation. Dolan coached 66 All-America award winners that combined for 126 All-America citations. This group includes five NCAA champions.
Dolan is a native of Bloomington, Minn. He received his bachelor's degree at the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) in business administration in 1992. While at UST, he was the 1992 NCAA Division III national champion in the decathlon and was runner-up in the event in 1991. Dolan set school records in the decathlon, pentathlon and javelin while at UST and was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. He received his master's degree at TCNJ in athletic administration in 1994.
Dolan and his wife, Nicole, have two children, Timothy and Sean. Tim ran for his father at Penn from 2018-22, while Sean enjoyed a decorated career running at Villanova that included seven All-America certificates and nine Big East championships from 2021-24.
