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Harding University Athletics

Don Hood

  • Title
    Head Cross-Country and Track Coach
  • Email
    dhood@harding.edu
  • Phone
    501-279-4360
Don Hood Pole Vault Camp Website

AT HARDING
Don Hood became Harding's head cross-country and track coach in 2019.

2022-23 Summary
  • Men placed second and women fourth at the 2022 GAC Cross-Country Championship
  • Won the men's 2023 GAC Track and Field Championship
  • Named the men's 2023 GAC Men's Track and Field Coach of the Year
  • Had 16 student-athletes earn All-America, including three national championships (Vlad Malykhin, indoor pole vault; Dakarai Bush, outdoor 400 meters; Vlad Malykhin, outdoor pole vault)
2021-22 Summary
  • Won the men's 2021 Great American Conference Cross-Country Championship
  • Won the men's 2022 GAC Track and Field Championship
  • Named the men's 2021 GAC Men's Cross-Country Coach of the Year and the 2022 GAC Men's Track and Field Coach of the Year
  • Three men earned All-America honors in the 2022 indoor season and three earned All-America in the 2022 outdoor season, including sophomore Dorian Chaigneau winning the 2022 outdoor pole vault national championship.
  • Pole vaulter Sierra White earned All-America in the 2022 indoor season.
2020-21 Summary
  • Won the women's 2021 Great American Conference Track and Field Championship
  • Named the women's 2021 GAC Track Coach of the Year
  • Freshman Dorian Chaigneau won the national championship in the indoor pole vault in 2021
  • Four men and two women earned All-America honors in the 2021 outdoor season
2019-20 Summary
  • The women's cross-country team to a third-place finish at the GAC meet and a 15th-place finish at the Central Regional. The men's team placed second at the GAC meet and 21st at the Central Regional.
  • In his first indoor track season at Harding, his athletes broke 10 school records, including seven by the women's team, and Kinga Szarzynska earned All-America honors in the 800 meters.

BEFORE HARDING
Hood, a native of Abilene, Texas, coached at LeTourneau for two seasons, helping start the program in January 2018. In his first season there, Hood helped three athletes qualify for NCAA Division III national meets.

Hood went to LeTourneau after serving as the Girls Athletic Coordinator and head boys and girls track and cross-country coach at Brownwood High School beginning in 2009. His track and cross-country teams won nine district championships.

Prior to Brownwood, Hood spent four seasons as the head track and field coach at Abilene Christian University. During his tenure, Hood led the Wildcat men's program to three straight NCAA Division II outdoor national championships (2006-08) and directed the women's program to the 2008 outdoor national title, the program's first team championship since winning the 2000 indoor title. In 2008, he received USTFCCCA Men's National Coach of the Year.

Before his time at ACU, Hood served as an assistant to Wes Kittley at Texas Tech from 2002-05. During that time, he coached men's and women's horizontal jumps and the pole vault.  He helped coach the Tech men to the 2005 Big 12 outdoor team championship, the school’s first track & field conference title.

During his three seasons at Texas Tech, Hood coached five All-Americans, two school record-holders and 14 NCAA Division I championship meet qualifiers.

From 1996 to 2002, Hood was the head cross country and track & field coach at Texas State (formerly Southwest Texas State), where he led the Bobcats to five Southland Conference championships.

Hood accepted his first collegiate coaching position as the assistant track and field coach at Sam Houston State University from 1994-96. During his two years, the Bearkats set 15 school records in the events Hood coached.

Before his time coaching college athletes, Hood was the head coach for the Temple High School cross-country and track and field teams as well as an assistant coach for the football team from 1988-94.

EDUCATION
Hood was a six-time TAPPS state champion in cross-country and track in high school before earning four letters at Abilene Christian University in both cross-country and track. He was also a member of the Wildcat cross-country teams that qualified for Division II national meets. During his time at ACU, Hood was named to the Dean’s Honor Roll seven times and earned the Bud Clanton Award twice for having the highest GPA among track letter winners.
 
After finishing his undergrad degree, Hood earned his master’s of science at the United States Sports Academy in 1988.

FAMILY
Don and his wife, Rachel, have three daughters—Victoria, Julianne and Annabeth--and a son, Jeremiah.