Ben Rosario, the executive director of Northern Arizona Elite, a Hoka-sponsored team of 20 professional runners based in Flagstaff, Arizona, today announced that Jack Mullaney will be the team’s new head coach.
Mullaney, 30, has spent the past 6 years as an assistant coach at the University of Portland. He helped lead the Pilots men’s team to two podium finishes at the NCAA cross-country championships and helped the women to their highest-finish ever at NCAAs, 12th, in 2018. He’s also coached Portland alumni in marathons after they finished their collegiate eligibility, including one, Emmanuel Roudolff-Lévisse, who ran 2:11 in 2021.
Mullaney replaces Alan Culpepper, a two-time Olympian who coached NAZ Elite for 14 months, but never moved full-time to Flagstaff from his home in Boulder, Colorado. Culpepper and NAZ Elite parted ways in July. Jenna Wrieden was the interim head coach after Culpepper’s departure, and returns to an assistant role with the hiring of Mullaney.
Until now, Mullaney has had a lower profile than many coaches in pro and collegiate running, but Rosario said Mullaney impressed the athletes on the team, who range in age from their early 20s to late 30s and who compete at events ranging from the 1500 meters to the marathon.
“The search was driven by athlete feedback,” Rosario told Runner’s World. “You could sort of tell pretty early on it was less about résumés and it was about what this person is going to do: thinking, connecting with the modern athlete, staying up to date with the latest methodologies.”
The “modern athlete,” as Rosario called it, is different than an athlete from 20 years ago. “It’s not, ‘Hey, coach, tell me what to do and I’ll do it,’” he said. “People like to be involved. They like to sit down and have conversations with their coach, [be] treated almost like a peer. Jack has that ability.”
Mullaney said he is guided by the principle of coaching the individual first.
“My first objective as the coach is really going to be to build connections with the athletes and earn their trust,” he said. “I think you do that by understanding what has worked well for them in the past and what some of their weaknesses are and building a training plan that works for them.”
NAZ Elite runners—most notably Aliphine Tuliamuk, who won the Olympic Marathon Trials in 2020, and Krissy Gear, who won the U.S. title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in July—have already had success. Mullaney said he’s not being brought in to disrupt what has already been working.
Many current coaches start out as top runners. That was not Mullaney’s path. He did not run in college; instead he entered marathons and ran his first when he was 19. In 2016, he ran his PR, 2:51, at the Boston Marathon.
“I used to hide that about my past, because I think so often in this sport, your currency is how fast you’ve run,” he said. “And after awhile, I realized that for me, my background allows me to be a more independent thinker and pull from a variety of experiences.”
Rosario said he was impressed by the way Mullaney is constantly studying the sport.
Mullaney will help coach the Pilots this weekend at the Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin, before driving to Flagstaff to start his new job.
Kellyn Taylor, in her first marathon back since having her daughter Keagan in late December, will race the New York City Marathon on November 5. Then NAZ Elite expects to send six athletes to the Olympic Marathon Trials on February 3, 2024, in Orlando, Florida: Tuliamuk, Taylor, Stephanie Bruce, Lauren Hagans, Nick Hauger, and Futsum Zienasellassie.
Editor’s note:
This story has been updated to clarify that Jenna Wrieden is remaining as an assistant coach with NAZ Elite.
Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
